One Direction Reveal Why Their New Album Is Their Favorite One Yet 

One Direction Reveal Why Their New Album Is Their Favorite One Yet

Whew… it’s been an absolutely crazy, thrilling day for Directioners.

First, One Direction announced their upcoming fifth album,

, the last one before the band goes on hiatus next year. Accompanying that reveal, the guys also dropped “Infinity,” a brand new jam to tide us over until the album’s Nov. 13 release date. And THEN, 1D stormed the stage at London’s Apple Music Festival, where they blazed through a set of fan-favorite tunes, delighting everyone in the audience (except for maybe Gemma Styles, but that’s a different story).

One Direction Officially Announced Their Fifth Album Title

Needless to say, there’s a lot for 1D fans to look forward to. Sure, the excitement is tainted with a bittersweet reminder that we’ll be seeing a lot less of the guys come March 2016. But before that, we have

: a parting gift that — judging by the way they’re teasing it — might just be the band’s best album yet.

“It just kind of started at the end of last year, start of this year,” Niall Horan told Apple’s Beats 1 about the album, during an interview on Tuesday morning (Sept. 22). “We took a lot of time out to write and we’re very proud of it. It’s definitely our favorite.”

Niall’s bandmates all agreed on that last point, and Liam Payne further explained what’s so special about

, revealing they got to collaborate with each other like never before.

“I think the best thing about this album is that we all kind of went off, away in a different direction actually, and wrote with a lot of different people and then kind of brought it all together,” he said. “So I guess that’s why it’s our favorite — because it’s the most we’ve ever written together, which is nice.”

So far, 1D fans have gotten to hear two cuts from the album: “Drag Me Down” and “Infinity,” the latter having been chosen because, they said, it shows off a different side of their sound. “It’s actually one of my favorites,” Niall said about the anthemic track.

The guys remained tight-lipped about what else we can expect to hear from

, but they did do us a solid by reassuring us their impending break will ultimately be worthwhile.

“We’ve been very… fast with the way we’ve had our career so far, and the way things have moved for us has been so amazing,” Liam said. “I actually think having a break will bring nothing but better music, and also more energy to perform, and give more to our craft. Not that our albums are rushed or anything… but it’s gonna be nice and I think we’re all going to go and explore music a little bit more.”

Hard as it is to admit, Payne-o’s got a point: the guys deserve a break after a whirlwind five years in the spotlight together, and it’ll be exciting to see what each of them is capable of doing on his own. But enough about that; let the countdown for