One Direction: A Fan Story

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BBC Radio 1 England

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A Fan Story

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How five boys and one fandom changed things forever.

They were more than a band, they were everything. This is how five boys and one fandom changed things forever.

A Fan Story: One Direction: 8. Don't Let It Go

8. Don't Let It Go

One Direction

BBC Sounds - A Fan Story, One Direction, 8. Don't Let It Go

Why were One Direction - and their fandom - such a phenomenon?

Why were One Direction - and their fandom - such a phenomenon? And can anyone fill the void they left?

The final chapter asks the question few people can answer: what was it about One Direction that made them such a phenomenon? And could it happen again?

There’s no definitive answer but ultimately, it had to be them: Harry, Niall, Louis, Liam and Zayn. Five boys who dreamed of stardom and found it together. In the words of Louis Tomlinson, they were 'normal guys but terrible dancers' and maybe that’s what the fandom fell in love with.

In this chapter, Maddie reflects on why One Direction were so important to her as an adolescent - and why the fandom can live forever. 

Featuring interviews with Directioners Grace Dumdaw and Olivia Peter, songwriter Savan Kotecha, songwriter Jamie Scott,  Vanity Fair’s chief critic Richard Lawson, music journalist Michael Cragg and the 1D Historian.

Archive in this episode:
One Direction: This Is Us, TriStar Pictures 

Presenter: Maddie Grace Jepson
Producer: Gráinne Morrison	
Written by Gráinne Morrison
Assistant Producer: Zayna Shaikh
Technical Producer: Ant Danbury
BBC Audio Editor: Andy Worrell
Commissioning producers: Jonathan O’Sullivan, Sarah Gosling
Commissioner for BBC Music: Will Wilkin

A Fan Story: One Direction

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They were more than a band. This is how five boys and one fandom changed things forever.

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