11 Years of One Direction
Be still, my beating, teeny-bopper heart!
It has officially been eleven years since that fateful day when the Boyband Gods and he-who-shall-not-be-named put together five boys into a band they later called One Direction, to compete together on X Factor UK.
Each year, this day is so bittersweet and confusing for me because I have such an immense amount of love for One Direction but I know none of it was good for anyone involved. The boys and their teams were traumatized from the sheer amount of exploitation they were subjected to. 1D was also the first big boyband of the social media era, which set the stage for some of the most intense parasocial relationship marketing society had ever witnessed. The personas of the band members were commodified and then sold directly to their fans. Their marketing teams exploited the loneliness and isolation that a lot of young girls felt and used that to sell us a manufactured idea of community. A lot of what went on in and surrounding One Direction was unethical and downright reprehensible.
But it was also so much fun! Who could forget the video diaries, the lore of the band, and their inside jokes! At the very beginning when we all wanted to dress exactly like them! The hours and hours of watching all of the interviews they did; earnestly reading all of the 1D imagines… It all seemed so innocent and cutesy at the time. It’s so hard for me to look back at that time with anything other than unadulterated nostalgia.
Even though middle school was arguably the worst time of my life, nothing compares to that time in my young adulthood: the very beginnings of my 1D obsession. It was before 1D was a household name in the States, that time between 2011 and 2013, when everything seemed so perfect from my vantage point as a fan. Back when Zayn used to contribute in interviews more than anyone else, when Harry still spoke at a somewhat normal speed, when Liam and Louis were still kind-of rivals, when Niall had braces. It was corny and cheesy and every other patronizing word you can think of, but it was fun. It was lighthearted and exciting and everything they did back then was an instant boost of serotonin to my brain. Some days, I think I would give up all of my organs for the chance to have one day in the summer of 2011 back. Oh, to be sitting in the car while blasting “Everything About You,” writing my little blog posts in my iPod notes, all while dreaming of my future with such a beautiful unfettered sense of possibility.
I don’t really know what it was about that band that made me feel so good about both myself and about the rest of the world. Maybe it was just that the 1d boys were hot and funny. Maybe it was the fact that they were the gateway for my discovery of so many passions, hobbies, and interests (Oh, all the many books I read just because Zayn said he wanted a smart girl! All of the artists I listened to relentlessly because Harry said he loved them!) Or maybe, it was that the idea of 1D (their story being that of five boys from no-name households who faced their fears, formed a family, and then became the biggest boyband in the world) – and the opportunities for connection that idea provided me with, made me feel like I could do anything and be anything I wanted.
Like I said, I’m not sure where any of it really came from. But I know that I loved it — every minute of being a 1D fan has been worth it to me. And I miss those early days— and the spirit I had and my capacity for loving life like that — so much. Nothing about One Direction or who I was when they were together was perfect, I know that much (despite all of my crushingly beautiful nostalgic feelings.) But everything felt lighter back then. And for that gentle reminder of those lighter days, I’ll always be a 1D stan.
Happy 11 years.
I leave you with one of my favorite 1D interviews, as a treat ❤️