Dear One Direction, I really don’t like you!

“ I got the music in me “, I have a love affair with music that has been ongoing for 20+ years and will always be my greatest lover in future. I do however know that I share this love affair with millions of other people, all equally or even more passionate than I am.

Music genres are also incredibly interesting to me, and how liking different genres can really tell a lot about a person…

…Sometimes that is…

My musical tastes right now surprises and confuses some of my friends and family who think that my fav’s most definitely have to be singers like Katy Perry and Kesha , with a bit of Gaga thrown in the mix. And although I do have my sing-a-long moments to some of their songs on the radio sometimes, I don’t actually own any of their cd’s or have their songs on my iPod. My favourite right now, A Day to Remember !

I might love to dress like a girlie-girl but it doesn’t mean I can’t rock out with the best of them.

So this leads me back to the statement about music tastes telling you a lot about the person.

Sometimes this is true… people literally wear their favourite bands all over themselves, through t-shirts, hats, hoodies, and sometimes, it’s an image thing where fans of heavy metal will rock out (excuse the pun) in their old school Docs and trench coats.

But there are others like me, who do like a bit of screaming, a bit of heavy base, some harder rock music every now and then and yes, will go to a rock club being the only person wearing anything but black. *tip: if you really want to stand out like a sore thumb, then this is the way to do it. But it really doesn’t bother me, people should be able to express themselves, through whatever music preferences they choose.

…Even One Direction fans!

As a girl growing up in the 90s, my musical tastes at the time predominantly revolved around Boy Bands, and the main ones in question, Westlife , Five , N’ Sync and of course the greatest of them all, Backstreet Boys !

Nothing could get in the way of my relationship with Kevin , AJ , Howie and Bryan and Nick , oh Nick, you were my make-believe boyfriend for so long

The closest South Africa came to having One Direction pandemonium with the Backstreet Boys was when in late 2000, they visited Cape Town, holding a press conference, as part of a 100-hour around the world promotion tour for their Black and Blue Album. At the time, Highveld Stereo were running a competition giving listeners the chance to call in and ask a question that they would want to ask the Backstreet Boys. And if your question got picked, you could fly to Cape Town to attend the press conference and ask them in person! This was it! I was going to meet Nick, and we were going to live happily ever after.

Of course, I was all of 13 at the time, and was in cloud nine at the thought of meeting my favourite boy band. I must have called the competition hotline a dozen times, with questions that now escape me, but at the time, put a lot of time in coming up with them. * my dad wasn’t happy about the phone bill at the time, lol. Alas, I didn’t win, and Nick and I aren’t married like I had hoped

The same feelings now reside in the tweens, teens and their moms today with the pending arrival of the biggest heart-throbs, One Direction in 2015. Fans lined the streets the day tickets went on sale, and within hours Golden Circle sold out. (Dad’s everywhere were crying as these expensive tickets needed to be bought just before pay-day too).

Many people have been rolling their eyes at the news of One Direction coming to SA, not sharing in the fan-fare that thousands of others are experiencing. And you know what, that’s ok. Again, you can like any music you want to. No one is forcing you to listen to One Direction, the Biebs or any other Teen singing sensation out there.

Just switch off the radio and listen to your own music, simple.

Let the One Directioners have their fun, enjoying the moment and loving the fact that they are heading to our shores.

Just like I had Backstreet Boy fever at their age (* she admits unashamedly ), so too did women a bit older than me have the same feelings towards New Kids on The Block, and if we go back a few more years, Beatle-mania had a lot of women screaming their undying love for the Liverpool lads.

See, this really isn’t a new thing, it’s simply a generation thing.

When asking my little cousin, a huge One-Directioner if she knew who the Backstreet Boys were, she gave me this confused look and said “who”. Shocked, I immediately whipped out my old collection of CD’s. (I have them all )… still impressed that I know most of the lyrics, lol.

What makes me really dislike One Direction though… is the fact that its making me realise just how much older I am getting, and that I am now that person looking at the fans from afar, saying “you are me, 15 years ago”. Is this the same feeling our mom’s had during the Backstreet Boy days?

So for that One Direction, I DON’T LIKE YOU!

You are making me feel old, and I don’t like that!

There I said it.

*Now please excuse me as I now go listen to my Backstreets Back album… on repeat!