I recently read a post on the social journalism platform Medium called “The Social Implications of Dissing “Boy Bands”” written by Heidi Samuelson. This post struck a personal chord with me. Samuelson writes about how boy bands are perceived by society and the implications those perceptions have on fans, specifically teenage girls, and on the band members themselves. Growing up, music, fandom, and boy bands were a big part of my life and helped me get through high school. Boy bands played a huge role in jumpstarting my concert obsession, and still play a role in my concert-going today. However, as Samuelson writes about, I experienced a lot of people who thought my interests were stupid or silly.