“What is your
favorite band?”
“One Direction.”
This something I've never really been able to grasp about my
sister. She for whatever reason has been obsessed over this band for the better
part of three years. She has gone to concerts, read blogs, and even has a
cutout of Harry Styles in her room. For whatever reason I have detested them
ever since I have discovered their existence. I wanted to interview my sister
about this because I wanted to comprehend her infatuation and maybe get over
this unnecessary hatred of them.
“Why do you like
them?”
“I don’t know, their
cute, and….. they are upbeat…”
My sis is not helping their cause. This is what I have
always been worried about when it comes to this weird craving. I worry that it
is superficial and truly there is nothing special about them. That there is
nothing really to get except that they are a guilty pleasure,
“What
meaning do you find in their lyrics?”
“I don’t
know, I think it is that they sort of create their song so as to sing to every
girl. It doesn't matter how you look.”
This got me thinking. Is One Direction taking advantage of
girls? I automatically reacted negatively. Are they preying on girl’s insecurities?
The way fans react to them and to artists like Justin Bieber is unwarranted and
a little crazy. It almost seems as though they are on a drug or that the
artists are the drug. Then again everything can be craved like this. Food, the
internet, Christmas, heck anything can be used excessively. All products goal
is to addict you and the best way to do that is through desires already in
place.
“Why is it that girls
love them and boys hate them? All bands sing about girls what makes them
different?
“To me it’s because
they are positive. They don’t cuss up the place and sing about things that aren’t
violent. Guys are afraid of being seen as not macho. They see opening yourself
up is weakness and that is not deemed what a man should possess.”
This made me think of my choice of music. Do I like certain
music because I’m insecure in the same way? That is why guys like the music
described earlier. It appeals to their insecurities about their own manliness.
In the same way I thought One Direction preyed on the insecurities of girls my
own music was doing the same trick.
I
learned during this interview to not judge a book by its cover. It may seem
that certain music is lame and plain bad, but somewhere down the road somebody
likes that music and that is ok. We all have are different quirks and choices
on things. It doesn't have to be divisive.
