The music video for " What Makes You Beautiful " was directed by John Urbano . Filmed over two days in July 2011 , it premiered on 19 August 2011 . On each of the five days preceding the video 's premiere , One Direction posted a teaser trailer of the video online . Each teaser showed footage from the video and behind the scenes , and one member of the band announcing how many days were left until the video premiere . The video opens with One Direction spending time on a Malibu , California beach intercut with scenes of them driving an orange campervan . During the second verse , a group of three girls joins the band at the beach ; in Styles ' bridge solo , he intimately sings to one girl , Madison McMullin , individually . During the final choruses the band and girls are shown sitting around a fire , lighting sparklers and taking photographs . On video sharing website MUZU TV , the video was the fourth most-watched music video of 2011 in the UK . The video won two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Pop Video and Most Share-Worthy Video , and earned the group the award for Best New Artist on 6 September 2012 . As of October 2018 , the music video has received 1 billion Vevo and YouTube views
MTV Video Music Awards
2012 MTV Video Music Awards
What Makes You Beautiful