In his twelfth essay, which regards the topic of art, Ralph Waldo Emerson so eloquently states, “Pictures must not be too picturesque.” In this quote, Emerson comments on the lack of interest he finds in typical, generic art. This quote I find to be universally applicable, and not just pertinent to pictures. Today, it relates specifically to music. Since the dawn of popular music, there has been an ever-expanding dearth of ingenuity and innovation in the genre. You may have noticed that listening to the radio today sounds like a broken record.

Among a sea of generic pop artists, there is one group that is so non-innovative, that it boggles my mind that they have become so ridiculously popular. This of course being One Direction. If you haven’t heard of them, One Direction is a U.K. hailing boy band quintet, which formed in 2010 through the television program, the X Factor. With a little help from Simon Cowell and some commercial magic, One Direction was well on their way to becoming the next teenybopper sensation. Since then, they have released three full-length albums, and all three of them have debuted number one on the Billboard 200.

There are an unfathomable number of examples of cheesy, shallow One Direction lyrics. I am actually convinced that there is a computerized lyric generator that One Direction ghostwriters have conjured up in order to write the songs for them. Consider the following phrase from 1D’s 2011 debut album Up All Night: “And I will steal us a car/And we will drive to the stars/I will give you the moon/It’s the least I can do.” This line truly depicts what One Direction would do for all those millions of teenage girls to show their love for them, but it comes across as a sappy, thoughtless sentence, with words slapped together to sound affectionate. However, some One Direction lyrics aren’t even generic, and almost attempt to be deep, but end up just sounding stupid. “I won’t let these little things slip out of my mouth…and I’ve just let these little things slip out of my mouth.” This one comes from their track Little Things. I’ve tried as hard as I can to extract any meaning from this lyric, but promise you: it’s just not there. If it is still unapparent, I would like to make the following point clear: if you listen to One Direction, you are missing out.

I once lost hope in modern music, too. With all of the radio garbage that clutters up the entirety of my car speakers, I figured that there was no other option but to retreat to the oldies. But I realized all you have to do is dig a little bit deeper. So much amazing music is being released all of the time, and it pains me that people waste their time with boy bands. Tons of indie music, rock music, metal, electronic, hip-hop, and even some pop music is so much more thought provoking and inventive. Artists like Future Islands, Kendrick Lamar, Queens of The Stone Age, Disclosure, and Sun Kil Moon are making excellent, accessible music that should be appreciated over artists like One Direction, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, and Ke$ha. Now I don’t aim to convert One Direction listeners to indie fanatics, but my goal is to give some insight to readers about the current state of music nowadays. And if I’m really lucky, some people might start listening to music that’s a bit less picturesque.