"Live While We're Young" is a song by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released as the lead single from their second studio album, Take Me Home (2012). Written by Savan Kotecha and its producers, Rami Yacoub and Carl Falk, the number was released by Syco Records on 28 September 2012. Falk, Kotecha, and Yacoub had collaboratively helmed One Direction's previous hits, "What Makes You Beautiful" and "One Thing". The track is an uptempo, upbeat bubblegum pop song which features rock undertones, vocal harmonies, hand claps, prominent electric guitar riffs, and repetitive synthesizers. The chorus of the song is predominantly featured alongside the bridge, and is backed by wordless chants. Its opening guitar riff bears similarities with The Clash's 1982 single, "Should I Stay or Should I Go".