America is long overdue for a British invasion. Luckily for screaming girls everywhere, the U.K.'s Simon Cowell-created One Direction has heeded the hormonal call.
The chart-topping boy band met up with E! News this week and chatted about everything from their reality show roots to being heralded as the next Justin Bieber (and, um, Pink?) and which pop star they'd most like to collaborate with.
You may be surprised.
The Up All Night pop stars have been taking America by storm this week, and while they've humbly and wisely waved off comparisons to Beatlemania, there is another phenomenon they don't mind being measured against: Bieber fever.
"It's incredible; we are [adored like Bieber] over here," Liam Payne said in the wake of their barn-burning Today show performance.
As for the comparisons to the Beatles, what with this being their first trip to the U.S. and all, well, they're not going to get ahead of themselves.
"You almost have to disregard the compliment," Louis Tomlinson said. "It is such a huge compliment that it is hard to take in."
Liam, who in doing his homework in advance of his trip stateside watched the DVD of the Fab Four's arrival, declared the parallels "ridiculous," saying, "You just can't be compared to them."
For those not in the know, One Direction—comprising Liam, Louis, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik—is a bona fide Cowell creation, as all five boys were solo competitors on the U.K.'s X Factor before the judges decided to group them together after they made it into the top 20.
"Simon brought us together at the boot camp stage and it was the best decision that could have happened," Niall said.
And their onetime mentor hasn't stopped doling out advice just because the cameras have stopped rolling. But what have been his best words of wisdom?
"Best advice on the show was to be the group that we wanted to be. This went down to everything…styling and sounding…and here we are."
And as for that sound, Harry said that they're going for pop, but "heavy, guitar-driven" pop.
"It's important to deliver good music that we and fans enjoy…we're described like Pink as a boy band."
While the group is on an undeniable upward trajectory—they're currently opening up for Big Time Rush on tour right now, and their debut album, Up All Night, shot to Nos.1 and 2 on the iTunes album charts (for their deluxe and standard versions, respectively)—they might want to strike while the iron's hot. And that may be why the group isn't playing coy about their dream collaborator.
Are you listening, Bruno Mars?
"He's got everything going on," Liam said. "He's got the image, charisma and voice. He's the one we'd love to collaborate with. It'd be incredible to work with him…It's a long shot."
At this rate, we're guessing it's a lot shorter than they think.
—Reporting by James Chairman