This is going to be a long, long rant, but please, stick with me to the end because this is important (and excuse any mistakes, english is not my first language)
I’m not a part of the 5sos Fam. I’m not even what you’d consider a 5sos fan. I’m just a girl who heard Jet Black Heart at the beginning of this year, was impressed by Michael’s vocals, checked their live performances, and started taking them more seriously as a band (while, yes, developed a crush on Michael). The last 6 months or so I’ve learnt a lot about the guys, and I’ve learnt a lot about the fam. And excuse me when I say this: sometimes, you fam, are quite a disappointment.
When I first started reading the things you posted on videos and social media, I thought you were a really cool fan base. I found it really funny how you could be fans and still say things like ‘I hate this band’ or ‘I feel disrespected’. I thought it was funny, and cute, and very cool that you could have that relationship with the band in which you felt like you were all the same, and you felt comfortable enough to manage that kind of humor. That was, until I started learning about that little word that seemed to have become the center of the 5sos universe: ‘drama’.
Let me tell you something. I’m a My Chemical Romance fan. MCR fans have seen MCR lose a drummer, and then another one. We woke up one day to see the lead singer in a picture kissing and hugging a girl from out of nowhere, and marrying her a month later. We’ve seen all the guys get married. We’ve seen them have kids. And we woke up one day with the news that they were no longer a band. We know what drama is. And still, even after all those things, I’ve never seen the MCR fans react in the ways you 5sos fans react over the most stupid little things.
I know, 5SOS are not MCR. MCR weren’t living the LA party life and being immature. You know why? Because they were already in their fuckin mid twenties when they got famous. They had already lived the party life. Hell, Gerard Way had already gone through alcoholism, drug abuse and suicidal thoughts by the time he started the band, and it lasted until right before they had their major breakthrough. They were older and more experienced, and therefore wiser.
The 5sos guys, in case you haven’t noticed, have only just turned 20. And they’ve been under the spotlight since they were around 16. 16 years old. Now look at yourself in the mirror, and tell me how you were/are/will be at 16, 17, 18 years old. Tell me about any teenager who is a perfect role model. Tell me about any teenager who is educated at every single subject. Tell me about any teenager who behaves correctly 24/7, who knows himself and the people around him perfectly, and who never fucks up. Just find one, I dare you. If you and every teenager you know fucks up every now and then, if you and every teenager you know sometimes pick the wrong friends, or the wrong lovers, or the wrong places, or the wrong habits, or feel sad, or empty, or angry, or frustrated... What makes you think Luke, Calum, Ashton and Michael don’t? If you can’t please the expectations of all your classmates or friends or family, what makes you think these guys can please the expectations of millions of fans and be as perfect as you want them to be?
You need to understand it: Calum, Michael, Ashton and Luke aren’t problematic. They are human beings. Human beings who are at an age in which they’re trying to find themselves, just like any other young person, just like you are, or you will be doing soon. It’s difficult enough to try to find yourself and your path in life when you’re a normal person. Just try to imagine how much harder it is to do that when you have millions of people trying to force you everyday to be who they want you to be, and to take the paths they want you to take. Because they apparently know you better than you, or your own family and friends, and they know what you want and need, and if you don’t listen to them, you’re stupid and problematic and they will ‘unstan’ you.
You blame these guys for the drama and call them problematic, and yet 99% of the time the drama and problems are brought by you and only you, fam. You complain about them not being open and honest with you, when you create fake accounts claiming to know them and be friends with them. You complain about them fuckin around, and yet every time they tweet anything, no matter what they’re talking about, you leave dozens of comments out of nowhere saying how you’d like to fuck them, and ask supposed groupies for advice on how to get them to invite you back to their hotel rooms. You complain about their girlfriends, when the only ones following this girls accounts and stalking them are you, since none of the guys have ever spoken about them in interviews or shown them around in their snapchats or videos. Just today, you were complaining about them not caring about people with anxiety, when Michael has anxiety and gets particularly anxious when he has to take a plane, and yet you mob him at every fuckin airport. And don’t even get me started on people who complain about drama while running exposing accounts and starting drama over the smallest, most irrelevant things.
Tell me: is it only me who sees this? Can’t you see that you act more like haters than fans? It’s wonderful that you aren’t up their asses and tell them when they make mistakes, but it’s like you’re constantly looking at them with a magnifying glass waiting for them to take a wrong step just to throw it in their faces and be like ‘See? You are problematic’. It’s almost as if you were looking for excuses to hate them, or to blame them for your own dissatisfaction or frustration. And then you wonder why Calum dreams of living a normal life one day.
They aren’t superheroes, they are only human. No matter how much they try to do the right thing, they are going to fuck up. They have to fuck up. It’s necessary for them to fuck up, so they can learn from their mistakes and mature, and they won’t be able to do so properly if you don’t take a step back and let them breath. They are not your parents, and they are not your sons. They are people just like you and me, who need to experience life in their own terms, make their own choices, take their own risks, learn to succeed, learn to fail, learn to fall, and learn to stand up again. Don’t try to fight their battles and tell them how to win, because I’m sure you haven’t even figured out how to win your own battles yet. I know I haven’t.
I could go on for ages, but I think my point is quite clear. I’m not ranting just for the sake of ranting. I’m doing it because most of you still seem quite oblivious of the damage you’re doing to this band, and to this kids. You don’t want to press that button until you break them. I’m honestly surprised that they haven’t succumbed yet to the pressure everyone puts them under, and that they haven’t given it all up yet, when not even their own fans seem to support them when they need them the most. Trust me on this, I mean this as an MCR fan: you don’t want to wake up one day, and find out that your favorite band is no longer a band. Cause when that happens, there’ll be no turning back, and crying and apologizing for driving them mad won’t be enough to fix it.
So fix it now. Take a step back. See them like people. Treat them like people. If you love them as much as you say you do, you won’t make their lives miserable.
Support them. Be kind with them and with each other.
That’s what you’re supposed to be after all.
