FUSE TV - Inside One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful' Music Video, 5 Years Later

It’s an early 2016 afternoon when music video director John Urbano strolls up to a little taco joint in Malibu with his wife and 2-year-old daughter. They had just gotten off a five-hour flight at LAX, and Urbano is wearing sweatpants and looking for a place to grab some sustenance before heading to a friend’s house. There are photographers swarming the restaurant’s outdoor garden — paparazzi, he presumes, not too uncommon for Southern California. Craving some Los Angeles sunshine, he asks to be seated on the patio. Instead, they look him up and down and lead him to the darkest corner of the restaurant. Out of desperation for some grub, he obliges. Then he hears a deep, familiar, British voice.

“John? Urbano?”

It’s Harry Styles. He’s wearing a bright blue t-shirt, and his brown hair is the longest it’s ever been, curls rolling past his shoulders. Styles gives Urbano a hug, and meets his daughter, whom he affectionately names “Baby Urbano.” That’s when a server approaches the Urbano family again: “Hey, if you want, we can seat you outside now, in the garden.”

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Just 20 miles from the restaurant, Urbano shot One Direction’s first music video in July of 2011, and, coincidentally, it was his first music video, too. Back then, the five British teenagers, thrust together by Simon Cowell on the U.K.’s The X Factor, joined a small crew for the two-day shoot of “What Makes You Beautiful.” Posted to YouTube on Aug. 19, 2011, the video earned the guys their first Video Music Award (Urbano wasn’t invited to the 2012 VMAs ceremony) for Best Pop Video, and kisses from Katy Perry. It currently has 789 million views on YouTube.