The hottest take yet.
This story begins at a weekly dinner party nestled in the corner of Davenport Commons’ top floor. A gloomy, fall-like September evening made warmer with the chili powder sizzling atop chicken on the stove and the glow of Bath and Body Works candles working overtime to compete with the scents of Taco Tuesday. Our collaborative playlist can be heard in the background, and we dance our way from the kitchen to the table ready to dig into warmed tortillas, flavorful chicken, lettuce, cheese, salsa and a heaping spoonful of conversation.
Usually, our dinners begin with weekly debriefs – classes, gossip, announcements, boys, and more gossip. But as the conversation lulls and our bellies grow full, we almost always pick a game that elicits enough laughter to burn off every calorie of the meal we just devoured. Tonight’s game? Hot Takes.
It starts off tame – “Spotify is better than Apple music.” – until it became progressively sillier – “pineapple does belong on pizza.” As the game continues, the takes heighten in controversy, and the arguments that follow heat up with disagreement. “Small kids should cost more to travel.” “Emotional support animals shouldn’t be considered service animals.” “Harry styles is-”
All eyes at the table shoot to me at the same time my roommate slaps her hand over her mouth. She chokes out a “Sorry, Trisha!” At the same time I say, “Overrated?” Our apartment immediately vibrates from the sounds of our giggles, and all of our eyes are watering by the time we catch our breath.
Stepping into my room could probably give you all the context you’d need to know for this moment. A Love on Tour tote bag sprawled across my desk chair. A Live on Tour poster plastered in a frame above my bed. A calendar counting down the days to the Don’t Worry Darling premiere taped to the door. A One Direction Infection baby tee peeking out of my laundry basket. The basics, really.
Despite the paraphernalia that frames me undoubtedly in association with a 27-year-old rockstar, I will be the first to admit that this fixation is unnatural. Fandoms most often grow on the basis of shared appeal, attraction and, eventually, obsession with a pop idol. However, I find that the Styles fandom operates entirely differently with tenfold the amount of love and attention other fanbases experience.
Originating from the irresistibility of a cute British teenager taking the stage at the X-Factor to the world-domination of five teenage sensations, Harry Styles has made the headlines in most girls’ love lives since 2010. But with years of culminating follower-ship comes the unprecedented level of superiority some “Harries” feel makes them a scholar majoring in Styles. The ability to be a fan has been brought into question repeatedly with many hardcore Harry-Styles-oriented Tik Tokers “gatekeeping” the fandom for those that have followed the icon the closest over the span of a decade. Want to go to Love on Tour but don’t know Styles’ middle name, height in 2013, first Tweet, favorite book and water bottle, unreleased songs, last spotted outfit, or entire romantic timeline? Forget about it.
Being a fan, no matter how casually or committedly, is now associated with a stereotype of exclusivity and contempt. Many sit on a pedestal to determine which newcomers deserve to have access to what could be a liberating, beautiful and accepting community that Styles has always sought to create. In fact, the toxicity of the way in which this fandom operates has progressively tarnished Styles’ name as well as he is now claimed most famously to be “overrated.” Collectively, fans have worked so hard to communicate their undying love for a pop star that outsiders are only able to interpret this adoration as misplaced and overdone.
So, here’s my hot take: People can just like your favorite celebrity. Or love them. Hate them, even. And that’s okay.
For the sake of Styles fans everywhere (new, old, and in between) and Styles himself, perhaps being a fan could return to what it was always meant to be – fun, silly, unifying, and exciting. Rather than gatekeep the beauty of what it means to follow a “Treat People With Kindness” icon, I’d rather be seen doing what Harry Styles would probably like better: being welcoming to everyone. He did warmly welcome everyone to his own House after all.
Ultimately, I wasn’t offended that my favorite artist was the subject of a spicy debate last Taco Tuesday. It was refreshing for my friends to hear that Harry fans can exist without the blinders of idolization, and I’m glad we can push each other to embrace different artists in small doses – whether with their music, films, or an affinity for fun patterns and feather boas.
My roommate (the roommate) even surprised me with tickets to Don’t Worry Darling after dinner – a sign that active Harry lovers and passive Harry observers can coexist in the same world and now in the same theater. Just as I respect her view of a British prince with impeccable hair, she respects mine. That, really, is the only thing that matters.
And that she loves this movie, of course….Just kidding.