We’re friends right? If you’re taking the time to read this, then I consider us friends. And as friends, I’ll give you a free pass to know a little bit about my obsessive One Direction phase. Now, let me establish that I still really do enjoy One Direction’s music and them as people, but I am nowhere near the level of extreme craziness that I was my freshman and sophomore year of high school. But my music taste changes as much as the trends do, so I thought I’d tell you a little bit about a transition in music taste that many others have had as well.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of the band The 1975. And for all of you that have been living under a rock, you probably listen to Top 40 hits radio stations. Most likely, you’ve heard of their song “Chocolate” which is most definitely, not about chocolate. But there is a reason that I’m bringing up two music groups that are from completely different genres, they have more in common than you think.
The biggest similarity between the two groups? Their fans. They’re actually the same. Not entirely, but more recently, One Direction fans have made the transition.
As members of One Direction have gotten older, the fans have matured as well. Fans that once only listened to them have now branched out into other genres, some of which including indie rock and alternative. People are allowed to change their taste or widen their interest in music. But, there is a slight problem when it comes to these two bands in particular.
This past May, I saw The 1975 along with Sir Sly, Wild Cub, The Orwells, and Bastille at 97X Backyard BBQ in Tampa, Florida. Before this year, I had never attended the BBQ festival and I didn’t quite know what to expect. When I arrived, I saw very trendy girls wearing all black and others dressed for Coachella 2014.
As I stood jam-packed in the crowd during The 1975 set, I realized that all these girls had one thing in common. Harry Styles was their phone background.
I didn’t have a problem with it considering that I had been that same girl once before. But it didn’t sit well with the die-hard The 1975 fans. Especially the ones that were buried behind the One Direction girls. But now in retrospect, I questioned the transition between genres. So many fans of mainstream pop have now ventured to the dark side of the moon when it comes to music.
When I finally realized there were younger faces in the crowd, I immediately thought about how a younger crowd would change the bands on stage. If you’ve ever seen The 1975 live, you’d be familiar with their casual drinking and smoking a cigarette on stage. But with a younger crowd, is the band responsible for demonstrating actions that these kids aren’t accustomed to seeing yet?
If you were to ask Matt Healy from The 1975 if he thought his music appealed to a 15-year-old girl, I doubt his answer would be “yes”. He sings a song about how 17-year-old girls are too young for him, but now 17-year-old girls are half of his fan base.
The transition is noticeable if you wear it like a new hair cut. If you just fall into the genre and don’t think about how different it is from your previous taste, I promise you’ll enjoy the music much more. If you find yourself leaning to a new genre of music, don’t fight it! Listen to music that makes you happy and don’t do it because it’s a trend.
So if you mistake The 1975 for the book 1984, don’t be embarrassed. Give new music a taste and if you genuinely like it, continue to listen to it. Then you can proceed to change your phone background to something other than Harry Styles. The people behind you at a concert will love it even more than you do.
Written by: Rafy Evans
Written by: Rafy Evans