![]() Looking back on This Is Us, they’re noticing warning signs in the band’s schedule that went over their head. Getting caught up in the day-to-day of stanning meant that fans were oblivious to the glaring red flags that likely pushed the group to its breaking points. It was learned later that Zayn struggled with anxiety while in the band. “ they started to venture into different genres that weren’t the high energy pop rock or emotional ballads that defined the first two albums.”Įverything That Happened Since Zayn Left One Direction: A Timeline “For a while I would be like, ‘It’s my guilty pleasure!’” Hannah Zwick says. Even if One Direction’s music never received Grammy recognition, it directly challenged the belief that having a predominately female fanbase locked them into making thoughtless bubblegum pop. They even made history by becoming the first group to have their first four albums debut at number one. Midnight Memories dove deeper into the stadium rock influences of Take Me Home, but 2014’s Four showed the guys taking more creative control of the group’s sound and demanding more respect as musicians, by contributing more to the songwriting and production process than ever before. Meanwhile, One Direction was evolving musically. “I remember a lot of the pranks behind the scenes at their shows or just them riding around being goofy on scooters.” They were still connecting with fans, but in a more controlled way. “It really showed a deeper side of the band,” Lexi Lane says. ![]() ![]() “It actually made everyone even more excited to have it physically or digitally.”Īlso released in 2013, the full-length behind-the-scenes documentary This Is Us shed light on the hectic life of the world’s biggest boy band. “When their albums or even just 30 seconds of an unreleased song would leak, everyone around you would forcibly lose their minds,” Victoria Kleinau, 21, says. After sophomore album Take Me Home (2012) leaked online - as every future album would, too - fans still purchased copy after copy and pretended they’d never heard it before on its actual release date. ![]() In one of the first memorable “you had to be there” moments for the fandom, they realized in unison the magnitude of success 1D had reached as the group performed “What Makes You Beautiful” at the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony. “The whole fandom felt like something to be a part of during that time in your youth where you felt out of place,” Kaylan Anderson, 20, says.įor nearly every show of the Up All Night tour, fans logged on to live tweet the grainy live streams they watched together. Online, fans shared inside jokes about the guys’ tweets and ridiculous rumors that often sprouted up. There was endless content in the form of documentaries, books, albums, award show performances, perfume launches, photoshoots and more. ![]() Their world tours were getting bigger, rising to stadium levels, giving more fans an opportunity to see them live. This was all made possible by the group’s fervent international fanbase, characterized by its rabid devotion and accelerated by the rise of social media and music streaming, ultimately rivaling the fandom of any other boy band in history.Īs we approach the ten year anniversary of One Direction’s formation - with a new anniversary-celebrating 1D website launching next Thursday - Billboard is revisiting the groundbreaking career of one of the most successful boy bands in history, helped by the memories of the die-hard fans who were there for it all.įrom 2012 through 2014 were the golden years of One Direction. 1 albums on the Billboard 200, six Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits, four Video Music Awards, 28 Teen Choice Awards, two Saturday Night Live appearances, billions of streams - and that’s not even considering the solo success each member found, following Malik’s departure in 2015 and the rest of the group’s official hiatus in 2016. Over 300 shows played across four sold out world tours, four No. The 30 Best Boy Band Albums of the Past 30 Years: Staff Picks ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |