Like most middle and high schoolers, I too had a huge boy band phase. My poison was Why Don’t We, the teenage boy group that came together in 2016 and is known for songs like “8 Letters” and “Something Different.” Listening to their music and obsessing over their every move was an integral part of my middle school years — arguably, one of the most enjoyable parts of them. But as I grow older and watch the new generation of pre-teen and teenage girls unfold, it seems like they aren’t having the same experience as I did. 

Odds are, if a person cares at all about pop music or modern music in general, that person has an opinion about One Direction. True, they are, as *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys were before them, a boy...