One Direction Cover Song About Crack Addiction in Concert

Columbia RecordsOne Direction have a pretty squeaky-clean image, so it's surprising that they'd choose to cover a song about the harsh realities of drug addiction in concert.  At their concert on Sunday, the British boy band did just that, performing a little bit of "The A Team," a song by rising British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran.   The ballad is about a woman who turns to prostitution to support her addiction to crack.

The group decided to sing the song after receiving a tweet from a fan in the audience, which they displayed onstage on a screen.  It said, "Sing a snippet of your favorite Ed Sheeran song."  They did about a minute-and-a-half of the song, with Niall Horan handling most of the vocals.

Ed, whose debut album + ["plus"] just came out in the U.S., is an award-winning, highly-acclaimed star back in the U.K.  His profile is rising in the States due to the fact that he's been collaborating with Taylor Swift on songs for her new album, and she's been tweeting her support of his album and urging her fans to buy it.

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