Meeting My Childhood Crush: Ross Lynch

Disney Channel shows were everything to me growing up. There are so many actors and actresses that I was in love with and seeing them now is crazy because they grew up so much. One of my top crushes from Disney was none other than Ross Lynch.

When I first discovered Ross Lynch, I was watching Austin & Ally. He was the lead male Ross, one with a dream to be a singer. Interestingly, Ross was already living out that dream, with band R5. The band consisted of his two older brothers Riker (bass guitar/vocals), Rocky (lead guitar/vocals), older sister Rydel (keyboard/vocals), and close friend Ratliff (drums/vocals). Within the band Ross was in charge of rhythm guitar and lead vocals. He was an actor, singer, dancer, who wouldn’t fall for a guy like that. I got the amazing opportunity to go to an R5 concert back in 2013 in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall. That was one of the best days of my preteen life.

Unfortunately, after a few years I lost touch with my love for Ross Lynch and R5, until my first winter quarter at UCSD. There was an event called Rock N’ Roosevelt, that Eleanor Roosevelt College put on and their headliner was The Driver Era. I saw the poster with Ross and Rocky Lynch’s face plaster on it, and I could not believe my eyes. At that moment, I felt all the fangirl feelings coming back and I had to go see them. I’ll be honest, I did not know what Ross was up to other than his role as Jeffery Dahmer in My Friend Dahmer and Harvey Kinkle in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. I had no idea that R5 was no more and that he and his older brother Rocky were a duo called The Driver Era. So, for the next week and a half I only listened to their music and caught up on what Ross was doing.

 (I am not a huge listener to alternative music, but I will say that their music is VERY good! I definitely recommend them if you are trying to find/discover more music to liven up your life.)   Fast forward; the concert was AMAZING!! I forgot how great of a performer Ross was, he puts his all into every song and gesture. That is what I look for in performers; if they are having fun on stage then the audience will definitely feel that energy. Another surprise was that both Riker and Rydel were there as well; as bassist and keys. I felt like a thirteen year old girl seeing her famous crush for the first time, but now I am twenty years old and those fangirl feelings have not changed.   Now at this point y’all may be wondering when I meet him…like the title of this article says “MEETING”. After the concert, some of the girls I went to the concert with decided to wait outside (within good distance) to see if they would come out of the entrance. With our luck, THEY DID!! One by one they came out and greeted us. First, Ross came out looking amazing as ever with his dad and younger brother Ryland. They needed to leave so his brother suggested a group photo. Luckily, I took one huge group picture for some of the girls and after I was able to get a picture next to him with two of my friends…so just the three of us and Ross Lynch! He was very sweet and caring even though it was late and they had to leave.

**another great plus: I was able to get a picture with Rydel and Riker!!!**

If you told me when I was thirteen years old that I was going to meet Ross Lynch seven years later in college…I would not have believed you. But, it happened!! Really…ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!! I will end with some advice, do not hold back and think that something will never happen because you do not know what can happen in life, so at the end of the day no matter what…SHOOT YOUR SHOT!!

• alternative
• childhood
• concert
• crush
• fangirl
• music