Guilty Pleasure: One Direction

Right now I’m going to admit something I never thought I would. My name is Rachel, I am 23 years old and I kind of enjoy a boy band.

Although I’ve gone through my phases of questionable music choices (and who hasn’t?), actually enjoying a type of music known for making 13-year-old girls cry is something that’s new for me. Sure, I owned a Backstreet Boys tape back in ’97, but I was 8, so it was socially acceptable.

If you know me personally or have picked up on some of my interests or my general sarcastic take on everything, you know that I’m not a fan of things like this. The majority of boy bands don’t write their own music, have to use auto-tune to make their voices sound decent and worst of all- lip sync. These are all musical deal-breakers for me.

So as you can see, my view on any new boy band that comes on to the music scene is already pretty skewed. However, that all changed when I finally got around to checking out One Direction. The first time I heard about One Direction was when my friend Megan tried to push them upon me. I remember her asking me “You like boy bands, right? You have to check these guys out!”, to which I replied “If by ‘boy bands’, you mean guys in bands who actually play instruments, then yes.” I think I may have watched the video for a few seconds, but I had other priorities that day, and watching a bunch of 18-year-old boys run around on the beach wasn’t one of them.

A few weeks later, as I was getting ready to go to work, I caught a couple minutes of their appearance on “The Today Show”. I saw these young-looking kids (can’t bring myself to call them men) singing, while hundreds of  girls screamed and cried. I immediately groaned and made a few sarcastic jokes, in typical Rachel style.

Fast forward to a few weeks back when One Direction made their SNL debut. I was watching to see the host Sofia Vergara (who killed it, by the way), so I had the opportunity to finally see what all this boy band buzz was about.

I don’t like to admit when I’m wrong (which is okay, since I’m rarely wrong), but now is the time for me to confess. I was wrong for making fun of One Direction. I was wrong for not giving them a fair chance and actually listening to their songs. Their performances on SNL were on-pitch, entertaining and catchy. They seemed so friendly and innocent, and I just wanted to pinch their cheeks. Their performance on SNL was ultimately the factor that made me go download their CD, which I now admit that I actually enjoy.

I’ve given the entire CD a listen or two while cleaning my room or on a long car ride, and I have to say that the majority of it is good. “What Makes You Beautiful” is a clear favorite, possibly because a lot of the lyrics in the song are things my boyfriend says to me (in a non-corny way, of course. I hate that stuff).

It’s not like I WANT to actually enjoy a boy band. But I find myself singing or humming their songs all of the time and no matter what I do it just won’t stop. I wish that One Direction had come out when I was 16. Instead, I’m a 23-year-old whose playlist now includes a bunch of 18-year-olds. I’m still trying to get over the embarrassment, but I think I’m at the point in my life where I’m starting to become comfortable and almost proud of my musical guilty pleasures.

So now that you’ve read all about my newest musical guilty pleasure, let me know your thoughts. Are you a closet One Direction fan? Or do you openly admit you like them? Or maybe boy bands just aren’t your thing (they aren’t usually my thing either, so I get it). Let me know by leaving a comment below or sharing this post!

And in case you’re a One Direction hater or just want to get a good laugh, watch this hilarious parody video. I almost cried from laughing.