When boy band One Direction won third place in Britain’s “The X-Factor” last season, fan girls around Europe were left disappointed. They stood behind the boys, along with 1D’s mentor Simon Cowell, and maintained that they possessed the makings of an It-Brit pop band.

Despite “X-Factor’s” outcome, One Direction, composed of teenagers Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson, went on to sign a £2,000,000 record contract with Syco. (The wrath of fan girls now finally avenged).

Anyone who follows the British social networking circuit knows that One Direction has been a pop phenomenon abroad for more than a year now. But the boys are just now making their way to the states.

With the release of its first single “What Makes You Beautiful” Sunday and a music video to match, it’s a sure thing that One Direction is about to blow up, American style.

One Direction is silly, corny and dreamy — all of the necessary things that qualify it as any girl’s guilty music pleasure. One thing that sets the band apart from the likes of another guilty pleasure, say Ke$ha? These boys can actually sing and they take their craft seriously.

However lame and playful their music comes across, One Direction produces the type of tunes that you can’t help but dance to. It pumps you up for Friday nights, makes you blush in a way that’s reminiscent of Bieber fever, and has you obsessing over its articulate British fashion sense in no time.