Background and release
Who wrote "What Makes You Beautiful?
What Makes You Beautiful
After being formed and finishing third in the seventh series of "The X Factor" in 2010, One Direction were signed to Syco Music, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. "What Makes You Beautiful" was written by Rami Yacoub, Carl Falk and Savan Kotecha, and was produced by Yacoub and Falk. Instrumentation was completed by Falk and Yacoub. Serban Ghenea handled the audio mixing, Tom Coyne the audio mastering, and John Hanes the mix engineering, for which Phil Seaford served as the assistant. After recording the song at Cosmos Studios and Kinglet Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, the band felt relieved to have a song that they were happy to release as their debut single. Band member Liam Payne called the song "perfect", and Harry Styles said, "When we were recording in the studio we knew instantly that we wanted this track to be our first single." Styles spoke to MTV News, "I think for us we wanted to release something that wasn't cheesy but it was fun. It kind of represented us, I think it took us a while to find it but I think we found the right song." Payne added, "We always wanted single to be something that people didn't expect and then when we heard it, it wasn't what we expected either so it kind of fitted perfectly." "What Makes You Beautiful" premiered on BBC Radio 1 on 10 August 2011, and was released by Syco Music in Europe, Australia and New Zealand via digital download on 11 September 2011. A CD single was released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2011, and followed in Australia and Germany on 25 November 2011 and 2 December 2011, respectively. For the North American release of "Up All Night" on 13 March 2012, Columbia Records executives used social media to shape its marketing campaign. Columbia Records co-chairman Steve Barnett and his team decided to reverse the usual pattern of releasing a single on radio. Instead the label mounted a four-month marketing campaign aimed at building a fan base through social media before a single was ever released or played on the radio. The social media campaign asked fans to sign petitions and to enter video competitions to win a concert in their town. The campaign was a success as One Direction's Facebook followers in the United States rose from 40,000 to 400,000. As a result, "What Makes You Beautiful" sold more than 131,000 copies in its first week, even though it had yet to be played on the radio. Radio programmers were flooded with calls from fans. Johnny Wright, who managed New Kids on the Block, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, said: "Now they are calling the radio station, and the radio station is scratching its head, saying, "We don't even have that record yet". It's almost like the return of The Beatles. I call it hype, but it's positive hype because it's all real. It's not manufactured. No one paid these kids." The single was released in Canada via digital download on 31 January 2012. "What Makes You Beautiful" was released 14 February 2012 in the United States and was sent by Columbia Records to US contemporary hit radio (CHR) playlists on 28 February 2012.