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One Direction Lights Up The 'Saturday Night Live' Stage

One Direction returned to the Saturday Night Live stage last night to perform two songs off of their new album, Midnight Memories. The guys not only set hearts aflutter during their performances, but they also might have made a fan out of last night's Saturday Night Live host, Paul Rudd. Or at least they did in a pre-recorded sketch...

One Direction sang their new hit single, "Story of My Life," for their first performance. The song is the only one on Midnight Memories that boasts all five singers as songwriters. Later, the lads returned to the stage to sing "Through The Dark," which has sparked rumors online amongst fans that it might be the band's next single.

Both "Story of My Life" and "Through The Dark" feature Mumford and Sons-esque melodies and reflect the group's recent movement away from the frothy bubblegum pop that made them famous as teens. If anything, both One Direction's song choices and their sharp-suited appearances last night seem to be a signal that the boys want to be taken seriously as men.

Last night wasn't the first time that Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson hit the Saturday Night Live stage. One Direction appeared on the program in 2012 opposite host Sofia Vergara. Back then, they showed up in one of Fred Armisen's "Manuel Ortiz Show" sketches.

Last night, they joined in on the comedy twice. They faced off against Paul Rudd and his Anchorman 2 co-stars, Will Ferrell, David Koechner and Steve Carrell, in an "Afternoon Delight" sing-off during the host's monologue and then later appeared in a pre-recorded sketch where Rudd played their biggest fan: a man named Dan Charles.

Saturday Night Live returns next week with host John Goodman and musical guest Kings of Leon.

[Photo Credit: NBC]