Right after COVID hit in the summer of 2020, when no one really knew what the world was going to be like, I discovered One Direction. Well, actually my best friend insisted on watching one of their interviews, but I didn’t want to watch it. Good thing she physically took her phone, shoved it in front of me, and insisted, “no look” before I actually realized that wow, these guys are pretty funny.
During that time of isolation, I think becoming obsessed with something gave people this weird feeling of escape. Watching old YouTube videos or TV shows from before the pandemic, gave a sense of normalcy. By diving deep into something that I really hadn’t been interested in before, it gave me the ability to escape the anxiety during this period of unknown. It gave me something else to do besides send myself into a spiral of thoughts.
That summer, my best friend and I spent hours driving my car around our hometown and learning the words to every One Direction song. We screamed and laughed at the lyrics and it gave us something to turn to when so much was being taken away from us. Our senior year of high school and the potential of college was completely up in the air.
In this weird sort of way, One Direction has become this little piece of comfort in my life. When I see someone at Trader Joe’s carrying a tote bag from Harry Styles’ merchandise line, it’s a reminder of something happy we both share an interest in. Once on an airplane, a flight attendant stopped me, and I panicked before he pointed at my sweatshirt and asked which of Harry’s concerts I went to. As a nanny this summer, I got to introduce the kids to One Direction’s songs when they played on the radio. And vice versa, they got to show me the music they like listening to. Before we know it, the world becomes a lot smaller when we form these connections.
This isn’t just limited to music. It’s movies, TV shows, sports, history, colleges, and so much more. The world goes around because we find these little connections and hold onto them. So, although sometimes the world seems to be so wide full of people with different lives, different stories, and different values, we can all find things that bring us together.