hmmm yeah I agree there was huge backlash when it came out and it was probably hard to read it objectively due to that. my memory of the whole thing is cloudy given it was...five years ago. but rereading it now I still get bad vibes off it. when you take the comments within the context of the article, which generally paints them as less than admirable, I get why people interpreted it as they did, and took their comments badly. to me, it reads a lot like they were fed up being seen like 1d and wanted to be a ~serious band~ aka didn’t want to be associated with a primarily teen female audience. over the years since I think they’ve woken up and realised that that thought process is wack. but !!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ they have definitely shown growth and I’m v happy that they don’t seem to share those values anymore