Actually, Pop Music Rules
Alisha's love letter to pop music but mostly One Direction and maybe even then it's a lot of Harry Styles.
Recently, Alisha Graefe got really into pop music. Specifically, she got really, really, really into One Direction and Harry Styles. I don't know how to explain it, but it's my favorite fandom to have watched develop from a friend I've known for almost a decade. Most of our current conversations involve it somehow. As someone who worked in alternative radio and has been a part of our “rock,” “alternative,” “indie,” “punk,” etc. music scene for years, she decided to write about putting her snobbery to shame.
The absolute mood boost power of pop music is undeniable.
Have you ever been driving on a gorgeous spring day, rolled down all your windows, and blasted “What a Feeling” by One Direction? The power I have felt coursing through my veins in moments like that is unparalleled.
As a teen, I was highly critical of music. I grew up listening to storytellers like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. Each song told a story that made my heart ache for a love I had never experienced, made me feel like a cowboy suiting up to ride in the rodeo, or like a powerful woman getting ready to dance the night away.
On my 12th birthday, my parents took me to a record store and I was allowed to pick out two CDs as my gift. For a reason still unbeknownst to me, I picked the greatest hits of Bob Dylan and Queen. These artists opened up a whole other world of music, introducing me to queer arena rock and twangy singer-songwriter jams.
After that came the first CD I bought with my own money: Alexisonfire’s Crisis. I remember turning around the CD booklet cover so my dad wouldn’t see the grotesque cover art. I had just discovered Alternative Press Magazine and FUSE tv and was obsessed with emo, screamo, and all of the “alternative” bands dominating the scene at the time. I became a huge fan of Taking Back Sunday, My Chemical Romance, and The Devil Wears Prada. I followed their careers by eating up every article, buying every CD and DVD, and pouring over every photograph I could find of them on Tumblr.
Tbh, the pop punk to boyband pipeline is an easy one to follow.
If you had asked me at 16 or 17 if I liked pop music, I would scoff at you and be offended at the very thought. I attended Warped Tour! I drove to Twin Falls on the weekends to see local hardcore bands play in basements! I listened to From First to Last on my CD player at the dinner table! How could I like anything that was being played on the radio?
After high school, I got further into the music scene, distancing myself even more from mainstream pop music. I even turned my back on bands I had loved for years because they would put out dreamy shoegaze albums.
As 2020 rolled around and everyone’s life was shifted in big and little ways, I ended up with a lot of free time. Distanced from friends, the music scene, and social circles in general, I was able to take time and reevaluate the things in my life that bring me joy. One of those things is Harry Styles and the music he has released as a solo artist in the last two years. I had enjoyed his self-titled debut released in 2017. It turned into one of my favorite albums and I genuinely was impressed that this one-time boy bander had released such a searingly intimate album. His second album, Fine Line, was released in 2019 and I was again blown away. I had to know where this boy had come from and how he had so effortlessly shed his boy band persona.
This led me down a path of discovery where my eyes were opened to his previous band, One Direction. When they were blowing up, I was in my final year of high school and early undergraduate years. I didn’t have time for these boys who sang “generic” pop music about non-descript girls being beautiful despite not wearing makeup. Now, I wanted to know what songs he had written for them, what his vocals had sounded like, and if they were a good band at all.
This is the best band photo of all time.
It went from casually listening through the “This is One Direction” playlist on Spotify, to adding a few bops to my everyday playlist, to now owning a physical copy of Made in the A.M. on CD and their documentary on DVD. Y’all, One Direction is good. Okay, okay, maybe there should be a caveat that goes along with that statement - One Direction was made up of 5 genuinely fantastic artists who built a genuinely unique boy band. Their last two albums, Four and Made in the A.M. are full of absolute jams. Their earlier music is very generic, mainly written by producers who knew how to make radio-friendly hits. But soon the members became more involved and started writing more of the music.
Each of them is genuine even though they were put together by Simon Cowell on a singing competition show. They all come from small, humble backgrounds and just happened to click. Their actual talent is evident in the popularity of their solo careers since the band broke up in 2015.
My journey down the One Direction rabbit hole made me realize there had been so much mainstream pop music that I had turned my back on just because I thought I was too cool for it (or really, was worried what people would think if they saw what I was listening to on Spotify). I started listening to different music unabashedly which was honestly so freeing. It’s incredible how the pressure you put on yourself can be dictated by how you spend your free time.
This last year has been one of genuine self-discovery. I discovered that pop music has the power to lift a mood, make you cry on the commute home, and provide a soundtrack to a very weird year. I realized that I should embrace the things that give me joy - and one of those things happens to be a boy band that broke up six years ago.
Now go! Be free! And listen to that band you heard on the radio!
Check out Alisha’s One Direction Starter Pack on Spotify here:
