On November 17, One Direction previewed several tracks from the album during a UStream session. The track listing was revealed on October 17 and the artwork on October 21. On October 15 2011, One Direction revealed the album title was Up All Night, after fans completed an unlocking challenge on the official band website. On April 4 2011, One Direction guested on The Alan Titchmarsh Show, where Zayn confirmed their lead single was called ' What Makes You Beautiful.' The single was originally set to be released in June, but was pushed back to August, in order to coincide with the launch of The X Factor's eighth season, and was then pushed back once more, to September. Recording sessions took place in London, Los Angeles and Stockholm. After the X Factor Live Tour ended in April 2011, the group began recording their debut album.
After the seventh season of The X Factorconcluded, One Direction was signed by Simon Cowell to Sony Records subsidiary Syco Music in December 2010.