So, I have to admit that I don't think I've ever intentionally heard a One Direction song, but after this fairly thorough deconstruction of the song 'Olivia' and it's comparison to marchy Beatles songs, I have to say that I might have to pay more attention to them:
http://www.tuner.show/episodes/2015/11/22/5-if-i-needed-some-one-direction

A songwriting colleague of mine from the February Album Writing Month challenge hosts a website of a whole bunch of elements that the Beatles used to construct their pop/rock gems and this podcast above clicks into a couple of them. Matt calls his website: "Tickets to Write" and you might find it useful. I've used a couple of the tidbits to shake up my pedestrian songwriting like the Minor fourth and Minor 6th tickets.

http://beatlessongwriting.blogspot.com/p/tickets-to-write.html