One Direction Family? Backstreet Boys’ Priceless Band Advice

The latest chat about One Direction is that Simon Cowell thinks that the band should split up into solo acts — but should the band be dissolved altogether? One Direction has had a great deal of success since Simon Cowell put the band together in 2010, and a lot of people have questioned whether they should go on to do their own solo acts — leaving their One Direction days behind them. After all, they came on to the show The X Factor as solo artists in the first place.

The Boston Herald recently published a statement about Simon Cowell’s opinions on whether or not One Direction should stick together, and he said, “I hear speculation all the time that they’re going solo.” To that, he stated that One Direction should not breakup — but they could be successful doing side gigs solo.

Speaking from boy band experience, the Backstreet Boys, who recently announced in the Daily Mail UK they would be going on tour in 2015, spoke directly to One Direction about how to stay together after 22 years as a band — even if they sometimes do side solo or side acts on occasion.

The Backstreet Boys told the Daily Mail UK that they had recently signed a contract to do 150 shows in the next three years. How do they continue to have the same kind of fame One Direction has grown to share? They said they owe their success as a band to communication. They are quoted as saying, “Communication was probably the biggest savior for us. We all came from individual backgrounds, but when you’re in a team, it’s not about ‘I’, it’s about the ‘we’. There’s a lot of give and take, you have to become almost selfless when you’re in a group.”

Speaking exclusively to One Direction via MTV UK, Brian, Nick, A.J., Kevin and Howie of the Backstreet Boys reiterated this message. Basically, they said that what made them a success is learning to stick together through effective communication — but they take it to a deeper level.

Regardless, the first thing the Backstreet Boys did was compliment One Direction saying, “I don’t think they need much advice from us old farts, but we’ve always just tried to stick to our own path, and I would say the same to them. Obviously they are doing something right — very, very well. They are all very, very talented. Stick to what you are good at. Make it about the music first.”

About sticking it out for over two decades as a band, the Backstreet Boys told One Direction, “You are working, you are in a stressful environment, you are traveling the world, not getting sleep, you are away from your family, you are away from home… Even though we got sick of each — and we see other bands that got sick of each other and broke up. Even though we got sick of each other, we loved each other. We became a family — we had to lean on each other to get by. We took care of one another and became a family.”

Being good at communication to the point of being an unconditional family to one another is what the Backstreet Boys are telling One Direction is the key to being a success at sticking together as a band. Having solo careers will not be a threat when you are focused on being a true family.

This is crucial advice since being on the road in Australia and Tokyo has caused some evidence of on-stage stress for One Direction according to UnRealityTV UK. They state, “One Direction star Louis Tomlinson admitted that he is very fond of pranking his bandmate Liam Payne and as if to prove the point, last night the star made his pal the butt of his joke once again.”

Could it be that these are just sibling rivalry spats between brothers? While the jury is still out on One Direction spin-off careers and if they will still be together in two decades, for now we can enjoy the fact they are together and touring. But does One Direction care about what fans think of them staying together or going solo? The Backstreet Boys seem to think they should care about what One Direction fans think. They conclude their interview with MTV UK with the following pro-fan message.

“Always hit the timeout for your fans — even if you are having a crappy day, stop take a picture, and sign an autograph — it speaks volumes. Without our fans, we wouldn’t be here. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you, and just have fun. Enjoy it. They could be gone tomorrow. We are fortunate to be around for 22 years. This could have been one album and done — but here we are on our 9th album.”

[All images from the referenced links.]