By Gracie McNeely
This article does not exalt or support One Direction’s music style or form in any shape whatsoever. I want to get that out there so you don’t flip the page while rolling your eyes. I don’t think One Direction is the best band in the world—far from it, actually. Yes, I have all four deluxe albums, have watched This Is Us (their documentary) multiple times, own the autobiography and its audiobook and yes, ok, yeah I bought a shirt. Whatever. I like them a lot. But instead of talking about their music, I’m going to talk about their popularity. Even if you’ve never heard one of their songs, even if you’ve never seen a picture of any of them, you have probably heard of the band One Direction. They have become so popular in just four years, and I keep wondering why. If you haven’t heard of them, let me give you the backstory.
of their looks, charm, and potential. Eventually, they were all cut after the second round of performances in the “Boys” category (solo male contestants). Simon Cowell, allegedly then made a decision “in about 10 minutes. Why don’t we put these five boys into a group?” Soon after, One Direction formed, performing only covers on the show, such as “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay and “Forever Young” by Alphaville. When they reached the finals, they were defeated by Rebecca Ferguson, which, supposedly, meant the end for the band. Let’s rewind a little bit. While the boys journeyed on The X Factor, their fan base kept increasing. Thanks to social media, boyband-crazed fans would tweet pictures and videos, they’d update their blogs and made it their obsession. After their very first performance on The X Factor, crowds of girls swarmed outside of the studio, waiting to catch a glimpse of the five boys. Cowell states in their documentary, This Is Us, “I thought at the time, ‘This is unusual. This just doesn’t happen after one performance.’” With the help of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and every other social media platform, the group of devoted One Direction fans then spread throughout Europe, bringing the United States along with them, and eventually infected the entire world. By mid-2011, people around globe were obsessed with One Direction, and they had yet to release a record.
X-FACTOR
In 2010, all five members of One Direction— Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson—auditioned for The X Factor (Britain’s version of American Idol, essentially). At the time, they were between the ages of 16 and 18, all dreaming of becoming successful artists. In my opinion, all of their auditions sucked (except for Liam’s). They were put through regardless, probably because
One Direction lose to Rebecca Ferguson on the finale of The X Factor (2010). From left to right: Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Simon Cowell, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Harry Styles.
