Frosted tips and upbeat love songs, where did they go?
One Direction, The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, 5 Seconds of Summer – say the name of any of these groups to anyone over the age of 13, and theyâll know exactly who youâre talking about. However, weâre yet to see a new, fresh boyband break into mainstream success since the end of the 2010s. Online, youâll find videos of young girls obsessed with Harry Styles who have no idea who One Direction even were – where is the boyband for them to fangirl over? While yes, with the rise of K-Pop groups like BTS and Stray Kids have seen great success, thereâs been a real drought of successful boybands in the Western Hemisphere.Â
Itâs interesting, in 2020, locked in our homes faced with nothing better to do, we craved nostalgia so deeply that a resurgence happened. I was only 2 years old when One Direction debuted, a little too young to really be into them while they were together. But in 2020, when long-time fans got sentimental over their 10-year anniversary I became enthralled. I loved the interviews and the fan projects and the running jokes in the fanbase. I think thatâs a big part of the appeal of boybands, itâs about more than the music, itâs about the fan interaction and the communities created. Despite missing out on being a fan at their peak, I still felt that sense of community within the safety of the fanbase. I can remember being sat in a service station on July 23, 2020 with my friend and watching the countdown for the One Direction 10 Year Anniversary video on YouTube and it was possibly the most excited I was for anything that year.
Young people nowadays donât have young male popstars to obsess over the way they used to. Itâs probably another impact of the Covid Pandemic – there were no tours or flashy music videos being released so the only people they had to fangirl over were TikTok influences doing the âRenegadeâ on their screens. The same sense of community that exists in stan culture was founded, thousands of edit accounts dedicated to these people were created – some edit accounts even had fan accounts of their own.
Itâs not that no one has tried to bring back boybands – last year the infamous record executive Simon Cowell attempted to do what he did so well with the likes of One Direction and Little Mix – shove a bunch of talented strangers together and hope that it works out. And so December 10 was formed, and despite claims that theyâd soon be selling out Wembley, most of their traction so far has come from being cancelled on TikTok over accusations of misogynistic comments and womanising. Not exactly a great look when your target audience is young girls.Â
Iâd argue that we have social media to blame. Online, we scroll, see something we donât like and speak our minds – weâre all safe behind a screen. But that culture kills authenticity, we end up manufacturing our online personas into whatever we think other people will approve of. If 2010, fresh off of X-Factor One Direction debuted tomorrow, they would be torn apart online – Niallâs bleach blonde hair, their cheesy pop lyrics, all of it filed under âcringe.âÂ
We have let social media completely reshape the music industry. The K-Pop scene, particularly BTS, has utilised social media to gain traction – people all over the internet are terrified of the âBTS Armyâ because they are known for being a strong, opinionated and terrifying mob – well named as an Army. This marketing scheme has largely helped make BTS what it is today, and is something that the management of boybands in the West could really do better. Being attractive and having a single with a catchy chorus isnât enough to gain swarms of fans in a week anymore the way it was a decade ago. Now, we yearn for originality – but not too original. Thatâs cringe too.