With more than 70,000,000 record sales under their belt, a multi-million-dollar grossing movie, and five sell-out global tours, it wouldn’t be hyperbolic to class One Direction as the boyband of a generation. From 2010 until 2015, Harry Styles , Niall Horan , Zayn Malik , Louis Tomlinson , and Liam Payne had the music industry wrapped around their little fingers. If 1D said ‘jump’, millions of fans would ask ‘how high?’ Jetting across countries, promoting albums, performing on prestigious stages, and the ability to send teenage girls into a frenzy with a singular Instagram post was all the fivesome knew throughout their formative years, before [insert pun about different directions here] disbanding for an indefinite hiatus.
In the wake of 1D’s split and as their solo endeavours see them soar to stratospheric heights, it begs the question: where did all the boybands go? Gone are the days of Boyz II Men, *NSYNC, and 5ive – Take That and Westlife are ‘man bands’ now, and K-pop stars BTS and EXO are far too big for the ‘boyband’ label, having become their an entity of their own. Since 2010, fellow boybands have been trying to break through in a crowded industry. Alas, The Vamps, Rixton, and Lawson, to name just three, never reached 1D mania status.
So, taking charge once more after forming One Direction on The X Factor 14 years ago, Simon Cowell is on the hunt for the next big band , hoping to catapult a group of wannabes to mega-stardom. But..
. will it work.