Since I was younger I can always remember loving boy bands. From having an N*SYNC poster on my bedroom wall, to religiously listening to the Jonas Brothers, and then finally One Direction. As I got older, though, and my love for boy bands didn’t end, I came to realize that there is a lot of stigma around loving boy bands. A lot of that stigma has to do with the credibility of teenage girls and pop music.
When it comes to pop music, there tends to be a lot of debate over whether it can be considered good music. Even though pop stands for popular this genre usually has the most negativity following it. One of the biggest reasons people seem to not like pop music is the fact that teenage girls love pop music.
When Harry Styles first dropped his new single a lot of people were surprised at how good it actually was. While reading the countless articles about it there seemed to one main focus; how can this song be so good considering he was in a boy band?
In another interview from Rolling Stone, the interviewer brings up if he feels the need to prove credibility to a younger crowd. He responds back in the most important way:
When many people don’t get why it is offensive to not consider teenage girls credible, Harry Style does. This question of who gets to decide what’s good music and what’s not is silly, but what’s even worse is the fact that suddenly when teenage girls like something it is not credible anymore. Teenage girls can be seen as dramatic or petty when they are anything but that. More and more I see teenage girls celebrating being who they are. Teenage girls support each other, especially because no one else will.
Harry Style was right when he said teenage girls were our future. They can be future doctors, lawyers, mothers, presidents all the while listening to pop music. Pop music is fun and listening to it doesn’t suddenly devalue your opinions.
Teenage Girls can be smart and like pop music and they don’t need you to reaffirm that.