Watch One Direction's video for 'Story of My Life'

Watch One Direction’s video for ‘Story of My Life’

By Mikael Wood

Nov. 4, 2013 7:17 AM PT

It’s as official as it’ll ever be: One Direction is going Mumford & Sons.

That’s the transformation this British boy band seemed to be hinting at last month with the release of “Story of My Life,” the latest single from its upcoming “Midnight Memories” album.

Strummy and earnest, with a beat that suggests the stomping of vintage riding boots, “Story of My Life” moves decidedly away from the slick pop rock of past One Direction hits (including the new record’s lead single, “Best Song Ever”); it’s a clear play for the kind of grown-up respect the group evidently feels it’s missing.

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And now, with the appearance Sunday of the music video for “Story of My Life,” we know just how the group plans to gain that respect: by trading its old carefree pool-party ways for the somber dignity of hunching over ancient equipment in dimly lighted rooms.

Behold the sight of Harry Styles and his mates developing old family photos by hand, then (through the new-fashioned magic of digital technology) entering said photos in order to ponder just how much has changed, man.

It it painfully on the nose? Sure. And the living-photo thing is a bit creepy, too.

But the video, which you can watch below, gets the job done. Let nobody say that the members of One Direction aren’t in touch with the value of hard work. (Or banjos.)