Anna Rinaggio, Campus Carrier copy editor

I can imagine that many of you, like me, went through a boyband phase at some point in your life. Perhaps you were normal and it only lasted for a year, or maybe you’re like me, and it occupied the better part of your teenage years. In any case, there’s a kind of love for boybands that only a 14-year-old girl can have, and no matter how hard you try to push her down, some part of her will always exist within you. We’re running into a problem now, though, and it’s that boybands just aren’t boybanding like they used to. So, what are the 14-year-old girls of this age to do?

While this op-ed may partially be an excuse for me to bring up One Direction yet again, I firmly believe that this boyband issue is a serious problem that we need to address as a society. Being a fangirl was a crucial part of growing up for me, and it still plays a major role in who I am now. If teenage girls aren’t going through this critical part of development, I don’t know that they can really say they had a true teen experience.

One Direction, of course, is the epitome of this point I’m trying to make, but we can also throw in some other fan favorites, like 5 Seconds of Summer (5sos), the Jonas Brothers, NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys. Whether or not you’re an active fan of these bands, you’ve most certainly heard of them, if not for their music, then for how attractive or how funny they are. Because in this day and age, boybands are about more than just their music — their image is derived from interviews, behind the scenes videos and photoshoots, too. 

I remember that when I became a fan of One Direction, watching their old video diaries and interviews played a huge role in how I perceived them. Yes, I loved their music, but it was infinitely more fun to watch edits of the “funniest 1D moments” and look at photos of them from awards shows. I’ll even admit that I read novels worth of fanfiction about them back then. And you know what? Some of it was really good. There were just so many ways to interact with the band beyond streaming their music, and that’s what made being a fangirl so fun: connecting with people you would never meet otherwise to share your love for your favorite band. 

Perhaps I’m just out of the loop now, but it doesn’t seem like boybands are creating fandoms like this anymore. The Jonas Brothers and 5sos fandoms have grown up for the most part, and I can’t say I’ve really heard of any other crazy popular boyband in recent years. K-pop would be the only exception, but I think that belongs in its own separate category. So if the 14 year olds aren’t spending their time writing bad fanfiction and obsessing over a band’s latest music video, what are they doing? 

I mean, I know plenty of them are fans of Harry Styles and Taylor Swift now, but stanning a solo artist is nothing like stanning a boyband. I think it’s way more fun to choose your favorite member and see the band interact together than it is to watch just one person take up the whole spotlight. And that’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with liking a solo artist, but you need a healthy mix of boybands in there, too. 

All of this is to say that the teenagers of this generation need a One Direction to base their personalities off of. There’s something so formative about being obsessed with a band, and I don’t think these kids are getting enough of that. It’s time to make boybands start boybanding again.