This is Point Zero. In this series I will go back to songs that furthered my musical education. Each blog post will discuss the roads that led me to discover some of my favourite artists and groups. This series will also reminisce the good old days coupled with some reflections along the way.
There's not much I remember when I think about 2011. Aside from long and slow summer afternoons and quiet Sundays, I can't remember memorable moments that happened during those 365 days. But recently, i realised I was just saying that because I was too preoccupied with stressful moments at school to really have time to look at 2011 from a more matured and objective perspective.
Now that it's been 13 years since that year, I can now say that 2011 was not a bad year at all. In fact, it was a year full of challenges and discoveries, which includes discovering One Direction through their version of the song Forever Young.
The story of how I discovered One Direction is unlike the other stories I've already shared in the previous Point Zero posts. I discovered the band through a group of high school classmates who discovered the band on the internet. It was during the early days of One Direction craze in the Philippines, when the band was relatively new and only few knew the band. Local magazines i used to read were not yet covering them and only those who are active on social media sites (Tumblr and Twitter) were familiar with their songs.
I remember where in our school we were when my classmates started gushing about five unknown boys from far away: we were in our school cafeteria filming a project for one of our class. It was a few days after the weekends and they were talking about a group they discovered on the internet. They would say the names of the boys and gush about their looks. As one of their clueless classmates, I was curious about this group they were talking about. Despite their descriptions, I can't form an idea or appearance of One Direction members. Do they look like Justin Bieber or those Kpop boy groups I see on TV?
When I got home, I searched the internet for this mystery boy group. This video was the first One Direction video I've seen, a performance of the song Forever Young. This video gave me an idea about their looks. Now the mystery boys have faces! They don't dance like these Kpop boy groups and they don't sing songs similar to Justin Bieber's.
Since I wasn't really into boy groups during that time, I never really considered myself as a fan like my classmates. I had my one Direction fave (hello, Niall !), but I never participated in Twitter parties and Tumblr discussions. The most of I did related to One Direction was tuning in to music channels to watch their music videos. I remember those summer mornings of 2012 and 2013 watching their videos play one after the other while singing my heart out. By 2013, the band was already big in the Philippines that I heard of their new music video (Best Song Ever) from younger students talking about it inside the jeep I was riding.
Looking back, I realised that although I wasn't a big fan, their songs were part of my teenage days. In some ways, even though it wasn't intentional on my part, One Direction influenced my life more than I imagined. For a time, their song Fireproof was a compass I used when looking for new songs or artists to listen to. I remember looking for artists whose songs sound similar to Fireproof because I love that song. It remains to be my favourite One Direction song.
Also, when I started listening to The Beatles' discography, their changing sound felt less intimidating because One Direction albums taught me to be more open when artists explore new ways to make songs. I try to apply that in my life as well, though I think there's still a lot to learn in order to master the skill effortlessly.
Writing this now makes all the reminiscing bittersweet.
Rest in Peace, Liam Payne