It's kind of funny when I think about the first time I heard about 5 Seconds of Summer. It was about three years ago, and I was perfectly fine living the good life in my One Direction phase, belting out the lyrics to their songs and always attempting to hit that infamous high note that only Zayn Malik could hit. And then out of the blue, I saw everybody tweeting about the new opening act for One Direction's tour.
I mean, I was naturally curious about just who this band was, and so was my best friend Janie. We were both going through the "Who the heck is this band everybody is talking about?" phase, and yet, we didn't think to ever, you know, Google them. But alas, the confusion didn't last for long, because Janie later searched all the tweets and discovered who the mysterious "5SOS" was and shared the newfound information with me, of course.
Janie found out just who exactly the guys were and listened to the available songs on their YouTube channel and instantly grew a liking to them. And when she decided to share the pictures of the band and the links to their YouTube videos with me, I immediately said no. I mean, I was already wrapped up in the music of another band, how could my emotions (and my wallet) deal with becoming a fan of another?! The answer (at the time)? There was no way it could ever happen. But Janie was persistent with getting me to listen to their songs, and she never gave up.
So I decided do to what any sensible, allowance receiving, fangirl would do...I caved in and listened to their music. Biggest mistake ever.
OK, I'm actually lying. It wasn't the biggest mistake ever, their music was fantastic, and I immediately grew to love it. Their music was different than One Direction's, which was surprisingly shocking. It sort of shook up my music taste in a way. They put not only their own style of music into their songs, but they mix up the styles of their idols and blend it all together. They introduced me to artists I never even really considered listening to, which I'm thankful for...because it broadened my way of seeing music genres.
And as it normally goes, I immediately found a fandom for the boys on tumblr, and before I knew it, I was immersed into the world of the 5sosfam with Janie and a million other strangers who share something in common: Love for the music and the quirky band behind it all.
Three years later and here I am, still listening to 5 Seconds of Summer and still supporting their music. The tweets used in this article actually popped up onto Janie's Timehop the other day and she sent them to me. We laughed about how stubborn we were about not wanting to listen to this new band because we couldn't emotionally (and literally) afford to like another band. But yet, here we are. In fact, on July 18th and July 20th, Janie and I will be attending two of their shows on their "Sounds Live Feels Live" tour.
All in all, though I didn't really intend on getting involved with another fandom, I'm actually pretty happy that Janie did find out who they were and made me listen to their songs. Because now I've got new songs I absolutely love and something new to bond with my best friend over. Not to mention, I get to experience going to two concerts that are only days apart. And all of this is possible because I decided to listen to a song sung by four dorks from Sydney, Australia...