Forget Bieber Fever: It’s One Direction Infection!

Many people in the world have caught Bieber Fever, but many more people have caught One Direction Infection! For people who have never heard of these “diseases”, they are terms the fans of two very successful music artists invented. If you have “Bieber Fever” or “One Direction Infection”, it just means you are one of those highly obsessed fans of Justin Bieber or One Direction. Now that One Direction has been discovered, some fans like Stoller Middle School’s 7th grade student Majed K, feel like Justin Bieber's popularity has gone down and One Direction’s popularity has been rising above Bieber's. Now, the only question is, will One Direction be the ones to finally take Justin Bieber down?

For those of you who aren’t quite familiar with Justin Bieber, he is an 18 year old singer who was “discovered” by his role model Usher at the age of 13. Usher came across Bieber's talent in 2008, on Youtube. He would post videos of himself singing popular songs, and he gradually got more and more views. Not only was his number of views growing, but so was his popularity. His manager, Scooter Braun, him flew him out to Atlanta to meet Usher. But Usher had some competition to sign Bieber. Justin Timberlake, also a very successful singer, was also interested in the new star on the scene. There was a bidding war but Usher finally won and had him signed to Island Def Jam Recordings. He was the star in the movie “Never Say Never”, a documentary about his life and how he became famous. He made many albums, and even hooked up with one of Disney Channel’s biggest stars, Selena Gomez. He just recently released the new song “Boyfriend” and even since then, his popularity is once again growing to large proportions.

Now, lets talk about the recently discovered and brightly shining stars, One Direction. One Direction is a British-Irish boy band from the U.K. which consists of five singers: Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson. These boys formed their band on the show “The X Factor”. They were eliminated at first, but then the judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid, and Nicole Scherzinger decided to bring them back and make them a band. From then on, they have been working in perfect harmony, singing songs like “One Thing” and “Stole My Heart” and finally releasing their new album, Up All Night, which sold over 300,000 copies in the U.K. Since then, their popularity has been skyrocketing and their song “What Makes You Beautiful” can be heard from girls’ head phones and radios all over the nation. Now, One Direction has been touring the U.S. and collecting more and more fans. Some fans, like Stoller’s Isabell Dorkin, and Alexa Kerprich, have already fell in love with members of the popular band. Even though they have just been “launched” into a world of fame, One Direction is already skyrocketing to the top of the charts!

Now some would say that the town of fame isn’t big enough for two pop icons. Some have even been asking, now that One Direction is around, will Justin Bieber's fans stay true to him, or move on to the next big thing? When we asked the question, Do you think Justin Bieber is being replaced by One Direction, Alexa Kerpich answered: “Yeah, because everyone obsessed over Justin Bieber, but now they are moving on”. However, some people, like Elizabeth Hannan, would answer the same question: “No, because Justin Bieber still has a whole bunch of fans.” Even though there are many different fans on both of these pop icons’ sides, some might say that One Direction has just been “born” and they still have a long way to go before they reach their peak potential. So, the question remains, will One Direction be the ones to take Justin Bieber down and claim girls’ hearts all over the world.

A reason why most people like One Direction, is because of their uniqueness. Bieber is a canadian singer who sings mostly R&B music, a common genre of music here in the U.S. One Direction sings British Pop music, and their accents add even more fun to their songs. People are always looking to hear something, new, fresh, and different. An added bonus is that Justin Bieber is just ONE good looking guy. With One Direction, It’s FIVE times the looks!



Both Justin Beiber and One Direction have come out with hit songs that have captured girls’ hearts everywhere. An example of one of One Direction’s many hit songs are “What Makes You Beautiful”.That popular song has been listed for 245 weeks in 17 different charts all over the world. Its first appearance was week 37/2011 in the Ireland Singles Top 50 and the latest appearance was week 22/2012 in the US Singles Top 100 and Canada Singles Top 100. Its peak position was number 1, on the Ireland Singles Top 50 and UK Singles Top 75, and it sat on the top of that pop icon throne for five weeks in a row! Both Ireland Singles Top 50 and Canada Singles Top 100, are very popular music polls and it is a great honor to be on the list.

Justin Beiber has also had his taste of fame with his hit song,“One Time”. “One Time” was Justin Biebers first single. It peaked at #17 in the U.S., and sold over 1,000,000 digital copies. Justin Bieber takes over the world of movie soundtracks with this inspirational song from the soundtrack of the 2010 version of The Karate Kid. The movie's star Jaden Smith adds a cathchy rap to go with. in a rap. "Never Say Never" hit a chart peak of #33, and the title was used for Justin Bieber's biographical film due in theaters in early 2011. "Baby" was the first single from Justin Bieber's second album My World 2.0. It has a high flying chorus that gives a nod while the featuring rap from Ludacris keeps "Baby" firmly anchored in the present. The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2010 and was certified double platinum for sales.

Even though One Direction was just discovered and just formed, they are already stealing the hearts and charts. Justin Beiber has had his moments in the spotlight too. He not only got the record label, but he even got to girl. So in the end, both boys are still on top, and who is going to take over is indescisive...for now.


By: Madison Giovannni and Anjali Panikar
Word Count:  1176