The One Direction Effect

I am a 21 years old normal female graduate with a sound mind with healthy decision making capability, but one thing that really does make me insane is The-British-Irish-Boy-Band called ONE DIRECTION!!! Pop boy band based in London, comprising Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They signed with Simon Cowell’s record label Syco Records after forming and loosing at third position in the seventh series The X Factor U.K. in 2010. Till date they have released three albums, Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012) and Midnight Memories (2013) broke records, topped charts in most major markets. I love everything about them from their music to lyrics, from their personality to their super cool British accent, from their care-free-I-don’t-care attitude to their yet so humble down to earth aura, it just soo intrigues me. When I think about this band, all notions of rationality, credibility and legitimacy go out the window, and are replaced by nothing but a weird feeling and then I have this dreamy look on my face. This makes me a directional and am cool with it.

It’s hard to imagine this all-consuming love I have for 1D didn’t exist until 2011; I was barely aware of their existence until one day about three years ago when my teenage sister ordered me to sit down and watch the video for “What Makes You Beautiful.” She had previously introduced me to other musicians like Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj,Lady Gaga,Imagine Dragons and the list goes on; so I trusted her opinion when it came to pop music. But this  time it  was different I did not get any power rap verses or stories about unrequited love. Instead, I got a bunch of clumsy teenagers wearing  suspenders , shirts buttoned up till their necks and tripping over one another on the beach, while singing a song .  I thought they were just another pop band that would fade in and out of relevance within a few months, and I’d never hear their names again. But  I was definitely wrong after listening to their music I did fall for them. And look after four-years they are still strong in their career.

 
I’ve cycled through a lot of obsessions in my life, from early attachments to Twilight and The Vampire Diaries by bragging about how much supernatural creatures meant to me. I have painstakingly memorized every piece of trivia from Harry Potter.  Knowing my tendency to fade in and out of obsessions like this, I figured my interest in One Direction would be just as brief. But now, three years later, I have a picture of Harry wearing a flower crown set as my phone lock screen. I painted my phone cover to British Irish flag, I want The moments and You and I perfume. I perfectly remember few days back I went to a mall a friend told me that makes charm bracelets so I can have my own 1D bracelet. Yes my friends really think I am crazy and lunatic but I really can’t help it!! 

I know the boy’s middle names and who their celebrity crushes are and how their voices sound when they sing high notes and what tattoos they got this year, but we don’t know them, not really. But I love them anyway. We love them because they make music we can relate to and enjoy, and because they behave and talk like regular people. I love them because they’re grateful for how far they’ve come—from mostly working-class backgrounds to playing hundreds of stadiums all over the world. 
Because of these five boys and their undeniably catchy and earnest songs, I’ve learned is how nice it feels to just enjoy something, to forget about what makes me cool and relevant.

BY BASMAH ANSARI