Millions of hearts were shattering across the world on Sunday as the boy band, One Direction, announced that they will be taking a break. Articles were written, tweets have been posted and entertainment news has contained videos of girls and boys crying from this tragedy. Millions of hearts have been affected, but some hearts are more broken than others.
Michelle Sipe, also known as @bemineharry from her Twitter friends, has been completely devastated over the news of her all-time favorite boy band breaking up.
“My heart is ripped to shreds," Sipe explained. "I was at work when I found out. All my friends were texting me asking if I was OK, and I just knew in my gut what happened. It was like the inevitable, there was nothing to do but cry and eat ice cream.”
Sipe has spent the past five years being a fan of One Direction. However, instead of just buying songs on iTunes and having a few posters in her room, she has spent most of her days thinking about One Direction by persistently following them through social media. Her love for One Direction began when she noticed them trending on Twitter. After reading a few tweets, she quickly went to look up One Direction, watched a few videos, and made a fan account. Today, Sipe has approximately 16,000 followers on Twitter.
The dedicated One Direction fans spend a lot of their time on Twitter. This platform gives the fans the opportunity to see what is going on with the boys at all times, to talk to each other about opinions on new singles and to be upset with certain decisions the boys make. Sipe explained that Twitter has created a special bond between fans. Twitter is more than 140 characters to them; it’s a friendship.
“You know these people you follow even though you’ve never met them or had a real conversation with them on the phone. It’s just a bunch of random people who need advice for real life things beyond One Direction. You begin to know them for their depression, their relationships, their break-ups and their goals. One Direction is just the glue that holds us together.”
Most of these fans agree that while they decided to listen to One Direction because the boys were cute and they liked their music, they stayed invested in the fandom because the other fans were invested in their life. All of the fans genuinely enjoy and consider other Twitter accounts their friends. Sipe wonders if the fandom’s friendship will take a break because One Direction is taking a break.
The break is devastating to the fans, but most fans, like Sipe, just want the boys to be happy.
“Selfishly, I hate that they are taking a break. However, I just want them to be happy. If taking a break and doing their own thing for a while makes them happy, then that makes me happy.”
Sipe understands that the One Direction boys need a break because they’ve been working nonstop for five years, but she hopes it’s a short break.
“I’m already old, like how long can I wait. For the sake of my own mental sanity, just a few days, a few hours even. You want a 12-hour break, you can have it.”
Sipe is unsure if they will get back together but hopes for the best. Every day for the past five years has been consumed with following and supporting One Direction. When I asked her what it will be like without One Direction being a group, she was overwhelmed.
“How do you live?” she asked. “Do you still breathe air? Do you still drink water? Like, what about Tumblr posts, what am I going to reblog? What am I going to retweet? What are update accounts going to be? How am I going to know where they are? How am I going to know what they are wearing? Oh my gosh, I need to take a moment. It’ll be weird not having this.”
Sipe said that this break will also be a great break for her to start fully living her life.
“I will arise from the abyss of darkness and perish in the light of the real world.”
