1D releases new single

MANILA, Philippines - One Direction (1D, photo) announces Steal My Girl as the first single from its new album Four. Steal My Girl premiered on radio and released globally yesterday, excluding the UK and Ireland where it will be released on Oct. 12.

Over cascading stadium piano chords, Steal My Girl shows the band continuing to expand their influences and song-writing ability while retaining widescreen pop sound. Steal My Girl is written by Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne with Ed Drewett, Wayne Hector, Julian Bunetta and John Ryan — the collaborative team behind last year’s massive Best Song Ever — and is produced by Bunetta, Ryan and Paro Westerlund.

Four was announced earlier this month and fans have already had a taste of it with Fireproof, which became the most downloaded free track ever in the 24 hours it was available. Four then debuted at No. 1 in the iTunes album charts in 65 countries in its first 24 hours of being made available for pre-order — comfortably beating third album Midnight Memories, which debuted at the top in 39 countries and went on to become the top-selling album of 2013 worldwide.

As the band’s songwriting becomes more personal with each record, Four is set to be the band’s most stunning yet. The album follows the global success of its huge sellout Where We Are stadium tour, which will be shown in cinemas globally for one weekend only on Oct. 11 and 12, and released to DVD from Nov. 29 (international release dates vary).