By now you already know I love a wide variety of music, however you are probably quick to judge me based on this one choice. You may think that their fan base is full of screaming, crying 14 year olds, that their music is just teen pop and that I only like them because they're cute and British. However, your surface level judgements of this band cause you to overlook their talent, their generosity and their music. I'm not Wikipedia, I'm also not going to sit here and preach to you and try and convince you to love One Direction. I just want to share with you why they are one of my favorite bands.
One Direction was formed on the X-Factor in 2010 by Simon Cowell and then made their way to America with their first single What Makes You Beautiful. Flash forward a little over three years later and on a road-trip to Nashville to watch the UGA/Vandy game, a friend plugs in her iPhone and plays some One Direction songs. I recognized a few of them because I had bought them on iTunes months before. All I knew was that they were a band and I owned some of their songs. My friends then started talking about their favorite ones, naming them and telling me they were British. Seriously, two years ago I didn't know any of their names, I didn't know how old they were, I didn't even know they were British. Somewhere between Athens and Nashville, my eyes were opened to the world of One Direction.
Why am I talking about their music before I actually talk about the members of the band? Because that's what I'm here for first and foremost, the music. If you don't know about my love of music then you need to click on that music tab to the right. I go to concerts like it's my job.
I grew up on boy bands, Backstreet Boys, N*Sync, I even loved the Jonas Brothers. One Direction's first two albums are fairly cookie cutter boy band stuff. They did't write their music, they dressed similar to each other and they were all pretty young. You have to remember that they were new to the industry, they didn't know what they were doing. They had a team telling them what to do and what to sing. However, they still did a great job and some of those songs, although rather basic, are super fun to sing along to. I think it's very impressive that over the years you can tell they've grown as artists, that their sound has matured. Even their voices have gotten stronger as they've gotten older.
I would say don't judge their music based on What Makes You Beautiful. Listen to their newest album, FOUR. You can feel the rock influences and hear how strong all of their voices are.
Liam. Louis. Niall. Harry. Zayn. They each have their own strengths, their own sound and their own personalities. Watching their movie, This Is Us, really made me appreciate them as artists and as people. There are plenty of bands and artists I really like, but what always puts me over the edge is when I see that they're awesome people as well. It's amazing to see what motivates them, what drives them and the personality they inject into their music. When you know the artist on a more personal level, their music almost sounds different. It makes you more invested in the music. In my last post of this series I talked about how seeing Ed Sheeran's personality on stage, in video and on social media all made me love him more. It's the same with One Direction.
There are plenty of talented musicians out there, but what makes me like some artists more than others are their personalities. I want to feel like we could be friends (ya know if they weren't uber famous), I want to know what drives them, I want to hear how much they love music. One Direction delivers on this. They care about their families, their fans, music and the world. They're talented, funny and down to earth.
The Future
Zayn quit One Direction and there are always rumors that they're breaking up or that this next album could be their last. I don't pretend to think One Direction will last forever. However, I'm going to enjoy their music as long as it's around. They're in the middle of a world tour, will be releasing their 5th album later this year and then who knows. They are all talented men. Louis already owns a production company, they can all write music and obviously they're talented singers. The music industry is huge and wherever life takes them, I'm sure they'll succeed.
If you're not a fan of One Direction, I hope this blog post convinced you to give them a chance and that you listen to their newer stuff (all the songs below are off their latest album, FOUR). If you are a fan on One Direction, then you already know.
xx Kristen
Where Do Broken Hearts Go - One Direction
Girl Almighty - One Direction
No Control - One Direction
Fireproof - One Direction
Stockholm Syndrome - One Direction
18 - One Direction
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