When One Direction visited Sweden in February 2012, Niall tweeted, ‘Sweden you legends! Mad day in stockholm! All the interviews n stuff! And directioners everywhere! #1Dinsweden’. Swedish fans loved his message and it was soon trending.
The boys have spent quite a bit of time in Sweden recording for their albums. When they were in the country recording tracks for Take Me Home, Niall tweeted, ‘Great day soo far in the studio!! Got some crackin tunes on the way!.. its been a while since we’ve been in the studio..great t be back’.
Liam explained to Swedish TV channel SVT how things have changed now they have been to Sweden lots of times. ‘When we went there the first time, it was fairly quiet over there, you know,’ he said. ‘We had a few fans and that turn up at the airport and then, when we kept going back and back, there were just more and more people coming outside the studio. By the end of it, there was, like, 500 people outside the hotel every single day, just there all night, all day.’
Zayn was really surprised they had Swedish fans to begin with because he didn’t think they would know who they were. The boys have since done signings over in Sweden and Liam can remember one fan who fainted four times when she saw them. She fainted once, was taken away to recover, came back, fainted again, was taken away, came back, fainted again … FOUR times!
‘One Thing’ nearly didn’t make it onto their Up All Night album. Niall told The Ralphie Radio Show in the US, ‘We actually nearly had the album finished and “One Thing” was one of the last songs we recorded. We actually flew to Sweden just to do “One Thing” and “I Wish” ’cause we felt this was a cracking song and we needed to record it, so it was actually one of the last songs. It’s like the perfect like “cousin” to “What Makes You Beautiful”. It’s the same kinda vibe, a really punchy chorus so, you know, we just wanted to make another good song.’
Sofia is 15 and from Köping in central Sweden. She was one of the boys’ first fans in Sweden and has met them three times. The first time she met them was on 20 July 2011 when they were in Sweden to record their first album. Sofia only discovered them after seeing their X Factor performances on YouTube; they weren’t famous in Sweden at that time.
‘My friend Alice and I got permission from our parents to take the train up to Stockholm to try and meet the boys,’ Sofia says. ‘We took the early train and we went to their hotel. We waited outside for about two to three hours before Harry came outside. Seeing him seriously felt like a dream. He honestly stood 10 centimetres from me and I could see every bit of his face and it just felt unreal. He signed some autographs and took some photos. I also asked him to sign my shoe, but neither of us had a pen (I really should have brought one with me) so he couldn’t do it, but it didn’t matter because I would get another chance later. When he took a cab to the studio, me, Alice and all the other fans went there too. We ran there as fast as we could and, as soon as we arrived, the boys came out from the studio. They took photos and signed autographs and just had a chat with the fans. They were so wonderful! I got a high-five from all of the boys and that totally made my whole life!
‘Alice and I spent the whole day outside the studio and the hotel together with 20 other fans. The boys came out to say hello every once in a while and they were all so friendly and funny! We took the train home at midnight and we were just so happy and thankful for that experience, and we still are. I just hope every fan gets to meet the boys at least once in their lives, because I got the chance to do that and I will remember that day for the rest of my life!’
The second time Sofia met the boys was at the Bring 1D to Me event. She was supposed to go with Alice that time too but, sadly, Alice got sick and couldn’t come. But the event was on 2 October, which is also Sofia’s birthday, so her parents gave her the trip up to Stockholm for the event as a birthday present. When Sofia and her family arrived at the location to get the wristbands that you needed to be allowed in, it was complete chaos! There were policemen everywhere and everyone was going crazy. At last, the fans managed to make a line-up and Sofia happened to come almost last. She figured out that she wouldn’t get a wristband, and that fact totally broke her heart. ‘Even though I was 99 per cent sure that I wouldn’t get the chance to see the boys that day, I didn’t give up,’ Sofia recalls. ‘That one per cent kept me going. It sounds clichéd but the boys have taught us to not give up and just keep going, and that was exactly what I did.’
When all the wristbands were gone and Sofia was left without one, Sofia and her mum and dad walked to Café Opera where the event would take place later that day. They created two line-ups outside the small venue: one for the fans with wristbands and one for the fans without. After a long wait, the lucky fans with wristbands got to go into the venue where they were going to meet the boys. Sofia says, ‘As I stood outside Café Opera with the other fans, we asked the people who were working at this event if there was any chance at all that we could somehow get in even if we didn’t have wristbands. The answer we got was something like, “There is a very, very, very small chance and, if I were you, I would go home and have a nice family dinner instead.”’
Some of the fans left, but Sofia didn’t give up and, after a long wait, she finally got in. ‘I’m not one of those fans who normally cries when they meet their idol, but this time I did,’ Sofia says, ‘I told them I loved them so much and they all replied something like, “I love you too, babe,” and they gave me a hug. I am SO happy that I didn’t leave after I didn’t get a wristband, so a tip to all other fans – don’t ever give up, even if there is a 0.00001 per cent chance that you’ll meet them, don’t give up!’
The third time Sofia met them was with her friend Alice again. It was on The X Factor Sweden and that was the first time she heard them perform live. ‘When the boys announced that they were coming to Sweden to perform, I just thought, “Oh My God, I need to get tickets!” Sofia says. ‘There was such a pressure while trying to get tickets because literally every teenage girl wanted one. I made my mum, dad and my brother Simon sit with a computer to try to get tickets and I was so nervous. Somehow, I was the only one in my family to succeed with the tickets. I called Alice right away and told her that we had tickets and we freaked out together on the phone! It was such an experience to be at the X Factor live show together with my best friend to see One Direction perform live. They were amazing, as always, and I will never forget that day!’