10 Years Later — One Direction Is Still Not A Phase
Since their conception in 2010, now more than a decade ago, One Direction and its members have been a household name akin to the biggest names in music history. Harry, Niall, Louis, Zayn and Liam spent 5 years (give or take) travelling across the globe, breaking $200 million in sales on the 2014 Where We Are Tour alone, releasing two features films, winning 223 awards out of 286 nominations, amassing 8.8 billion Spotify streams and overall becoming, arguably, the biggest boyband in the world. Quantifying their accolades and statistics, however, can never quite explain the love and dedication shown by their fans, something that is so personal and important to tens of millions of people across the world, even 10 years later.
Today is the 28th of July 2020, approximately 55 months into their 18 month hiatus, and a couple of days after the bands significant 10 year anniversary. The ’10 years of 1D’ hashtag was trending with over a million tweets before the day even began, and Harry Styles’ tweet in particular commemorating the occasion broke the record for the fastest tweet to reach a million likes; it took only one hour and one minute. All the boys tweets from that day hit a million likes extremely quickly and the trending page was overflowing with references to the band. Twitter felt like 2013 again with an overwhelming feel of beautiful nostalgia. So what is it about One Direction that has people loving and supporting them 5 years, 8 solo albums and 3 solo tours into their break?
I started liking One Direction when I was about 10 and What Makes You Beautiful was my favourite song on my Now That’s What I Call Music 80 CD. Since then, One Direction have been a staple in my life, an unwavering constant following me through all the pivotal moments of growing up. For me, this is one of the main things that make One Direction so important to me, and why they will never stop being so. I don’t have a single bad memory associated to One Direction (yes, we are ignoring the 25th of March). When I listen to One Direction now, I am transported back to a time of youthful innocence, of being carefree and happy. They were just 5 boys who had fun on stage and it radiated off into the crowd every single time. It’s truly something special when I can feel like this whenever I listen to them again, even if it is not as often as you’d think, but every single lyric rolls of my tongue with such ease it’s obvious that those words never left me. I feel it especially at 1D club nights, yes… this is a thing; it’s exactly like being 13 at a one direction concert again and I soak in the feeling as much as possible. My first ever concert was One Direction at Wembley Stadium when I was 13, and I hold that close to my heart forever; I simply cannot put into words the feeling I got at that show, but it made me feel so alive and now (pre — Covid) you would be hard bet not to find me at any concert I had the chance of going to. I read somewhere once that when you miss someone, you’re actually missing the person you were when you were with them. I think that fits here; my life during One Direction was so uncomplicated, so much fun and this feeling is thus imprinted on my soul for life.
Another reason I think One Direction is so adored in the big year of 2020 is the incalculable impact they had on peoples lives at the time. People have spent years being called overdramatic for saying that One Direction changed their lives, but hear me out. One Direction’s ‘prime time’ was when I was 12/13/14; these are pivotal ages when growing up. We are constantly discovering new things about ourselves, feeling our way through the world and being a teenager and understanding the type of person we aspire to be. Considering I spent these years loving this band, watching their interviews, seeing them live in concert, it is not unreasonable or exaggerative for me to say that One Direction shaped the person who I am today. One of the most notable impacts at the time that is still strong now, is the aspect of friendship and community.
As mainstream as One Direction were, there was definitely a time where being a fan of them was deemed uncool, and being a DIRECTIONER was even worse. One Direction fans were constantly stereo-typed as these crazy, unstable teenage girls with no life, going though a ‘phase’ which they would grow out of and be embarrassed about when they reach the other side of the dark 1D tunnel. This is where the directioner community was so beautiful. Through the gift of social media and the changing terrain of how fandoms interacted, the large fanbase was often a sanctuary online for fans to escape to. It was comprised of like minded people, who loved what you loved and understood exactly how you felt. What’s so special about this, is that these friendships didn’t end with the band. I have friends now who I met through One Direction, either at a concert or online, who I consider some of my best friends now; I have even flown from London to Canada with one and plan to fly to New York with her next year. I also gained friendships in every single continent of the world… I mean… that’s pretty damn cool. And this community has simply never gone away. Here’s an example; my first night at university, I went out with some random people in my building and it was all a bit awkward until the girl next to me noticed that my lock screen was Harry Styles. We immediately started talking about our love for him and the band… fast forward a year and we are moving in together. And none of these things would have happened if I hadn’t have been a fan of this damn band.
I think it’s important that I note that I have moved on with my life since One Direction started their break… my life no longer completely revolves around them. But it is clear that I still love them in a way which is much deeper than, and therefore cannot be categorised as, a phase. As I write this, I am watching the Where We Are Tour concert film, feeling as happy and grateful as I did when I was 13, watching that same show at Wembley Stadium. So yes, dad, here I am, age 19, still loving One Direction.
