BRAVADO

What made me love One Direction in the first place was their personalities. I used to watch a bunch of their interview clips and X-Factor video diaries at the beginning of my entry into this fandom, and in the past year, it feels like their personalities have been sucked out of their promotion, with their team keeping them in tween purgatory. Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with trying to appeal to the sensibilities of super young fans! It’s just hard to evoke any semblance of authenticity and enthusiasm when the band has so clearly moved on and are trying to reach more mature audiences.

So it’s definitely frustrating to get this stock version of these pop stars who have become boy band archetypes (Zayn as the “mysterious one”; Harry as the player) when they have been so much more dynamic and accessible to the fans in the past, building an audience off of social media. A lot of protective walls have gone up, and I think their team genuinely feels this is for the best.