Strong (One Direction song)

"Strong" is a song by English-Irish boy band One Direction, taken from their third studio album Midnight Memories (2013). It was released on 20 November 2013. It reached number one in New Zealand, number 15 in Austria and number 44 in Canada. It was written by Julian Bunetta, John Ryan, Jamie Scott, and Louis Tomlinson.

Background and release
"Strong" was written by Louis Tomlinson, John Ryan, Jamie Scott and Julian Bunetta. In an interview with MTV News, Bunetta said, "We got into this discussion about how when you tell someone like 'I need you, I love you and I need you 'cause you make me strong,' essentially you can scare someone off. It's pressure, so people just kind of run from it. So, that's what the lyric is," recalled Bunetta, who also helped produce songs on the album. "It's saying 'I'm sorry if I say this, but fuck it. And obviously Louis' been in a relationship [with Eleanor Calder] for a long time. It was just sort of a thing that I think all guys feel, having to uphold a man 'I'm strong' philosophy, and kind of throwing that idea out the window."

On 18 November, "Strong" was one of three tracks, along with "Diana" and "Midnight Memories", to be released ahead of the album, which was released the following week.

Reception
Michael Cragg of the Daily Mirror gave "Strong" four out of five stars and wrote: ""My hands, your hands tied up like two ships" sings Zayn to open Strong. I don't think it's about nautical bondage mind you, but more about love and feeling safe with someone that's your soulmate etc. etc. and so on. Again, it's upbeat but quite 'mature', and certainly less teenage than What Makes Your Beautiful. This isn't about a quick fumble, more a recently announced engagement. It's also ridiculously catchy." Writing for Billboard, Chris Payne called the song "a love song in the earnest, mid-tempo vein of previous track "Don't Forget Where You Belong." It's the sort of song plenty of boy bands and well-meaning soft rockers have pulled off before...."

Chart performance
The song reached number one on the Official New Zealand Music Chart, making it One Direction's third number one in New Zealand, after "Live While We're Young" (2012) and "Story of My Life". It also charted at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart, number 87 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 44 on the Canadian Hot 100.