The Moment One Direction became Great
From normal teen boyband to icon status
They need no introduction. One Direction was one of the biggest boy bands of the last decade. With millions of fans, tons of albums sold, year after year sold out tours, it's safe to say today in retrospect that they’re going to be Gen Z’s and young millennials Nyscnc, Backstreet Boys, and New Kids On The Block. But, when did they go from run of the mill teen heartthrob earworm, to being large enough for a fanfiction to be able to become a toxic romantic book series to movie trilogy ? If you ask me, that started in 2013 with the creation of Midnight Memories.
Now, I'm sure if you ask most fans their best album is, FOUR is their answer (and the correct answer as well), but, we’re not talking about their best piece of work, we’re talking about when they stopped being just any band. This album comes right after their documentary, after a perfume, when they left the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater for Soldier Field. Midnight Memories was the beginning of them cementing themselves as something to be remembered.
The album was the beginning of them stepping away from their extremely catchy and romantic bops such as loved you first, over again, and my personal favorite back for you.(All still slap today in my personal opinion)
When my at the time favorite member Louis said that the album would have a "rockier" vibe compared to previous albums, directioners across the world prepared and excited feeling like their boy band was more edgy than the average one.
When Best Song Ever was released with a music video that includes, Louis and Niall getting into heavy old man music executive drag, Zayn getting into sexy secretary realness as Veronica, Liam doing….something, and Harry becoming character Marcel that fans took a love to. Along with that a dance that many people still may know by heart.
The music video beat the Vevo record for most viewers within 24 hours on YouTube with 12.3 million views, and as a fan at the time I remember watching that video on my phone, my computer, my moms phone, my kindle, my sisters ipad, everywhere. And trust me I was doing just barely the amount that my friends were doing as well as basically every other fan in the world.
When the album came out I thank god my mother chose to get me tickets to their tour as well as an ipod that year for christmas because it was the only thing playing in my headphones nonstop. The concert was almost like a religious experience for 14 year old me and every single person in that arena. To me at age 14 it was one of the most amazing things I ever experienced, and I would say to this day is one of my favorite moments of my adolescence. Is it nostalgia? Of course it is. That's the whole point.
That album, that roll out, and the way they focused so much on their fans at the time was an integral part of their rising in status. With singles like Diana and You & I it felt to every person listening that these five random boys deeply understood our dramatic preteen/teenage angst and were singing directly to us.
Along with very targeted songs during this roll out they held a seven hour live special with each hour being held by different members. To be able to watch 1D Day in 2013 was something magical, teenage girls everywhere were plugged into their phones. Hell, I was at a figure skating competition and several girls from my team as well as several of our rivals all huddled around one girl's pink iphone 5c trying to sneak peaks between performances.
The parasocial relationships that we had for the group went from occasional daydreams and a few posters here and there, to obsession. Thousands of fan fictions, fan accounts, and even deep conspiracy theories that some people still hold to this day. But, no matter what, it was truly an iconic era that led to even greater things for all of them individually.