#this was my first time seeing BTR ever since I loved them back in 2009 🥹

[devilboyknight]

Logan's entrance into Waves was honestly so iconic

[feralnumberfive]

Oh, oh, oh-oh-oh....

[dovelikewar]

Fandoms I’m Thankful For

Hello again, friends! I hope this post finds you well. I am writing this ahead of time because as you are seeing this, I am in Florida enjoying Universal Studios and Disney World over Thanksgiving break. I’m super excited and a bit nervous as it will be my first time flying or going to Florida. The vacation is MUCH needed though!

Since this will be posted on Thanksgiving week, I thought, what better to talk about than fandoms I am thankful for? I’ll talk about fandoms that have had a significant impact on my life in some way other than simply making me happy because all of the fandoms I am or have ever been in do that. So, let me just get right into it.

1. The Naked Brothers Band

If you have never heard of this band/show/movie, you may be a bit confused right now, but let me explain. The Naked Brothers Band started as a mockumentary film centered around Nat and Alex Wolff. After the movie was shown at a film festival and received high acclaim, Nickelodeon took ownership of the film and aired it on television. After that, Nickelodeon decided to produce a mockumentary style television series following the band a few years after the movie’s plot. So, why the heck am I including it in this blog you may ask?

NBB is what I consider to be my first fandom. I first saw the movie when I was 8 and fell in love with it. I specifically remember watching the second episode of the series when it premiered about a month after the movie. I watched it with my dad after I old him that I really liked the show and wanted him to see it. I remember him telling me that I blushed every time I saw Nat, and of course I kept denying it because what 8 year old girl wants to admit to their dad that they have a crush on a boy. He knew though.

2. Big Time Rush

As I was dealing with the reality that I wasn’t getting a new season of NBB, I saw a commercial for a new Nickelodeon show about “normal” guys that work to form a boy band. It seemed decent enough, so when it premiered, I decided to check it out. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. By this time it was 2009, and the world had officially converted over to DVD players. For the first time, if I wanted to watch my favorite show, I had no choice but to watch it when it came on. I very quickly became just about as obsessed with Big Time Rush as I was with NBB. My mom frequently called them my New Kids On The Block, and from what I can tell, I would agree with her.

BTR just delivered another series of firsts. Aside from getting every piece of merchandise I possibly could, Big Time Rush was the reason I made my fan account on Twitter that I still use for everything today. They were also my first two concerts and the first celebrities I’ve ever met. I’m pretty sure the first time I ever cried over a band that I stanned was when I cried when my step mom surprised me with tickets for my first concert. BTR provided me with my first experiences really being a part of a fandom community of people who live tweeted episodes, fought to get concert tickets, and actually got to interact with our idols and each other. It’s crazy to think how far fandom communities have come since then and how much technology has been a part of that change. BTR, along with NBB, are a band and show that I will always consider an integral part of who I am as a person today. If I hadn’t gotten as into them as I was, I don’t know if I would even be the same person that I am now. No joke.

3. Emblem3

For those who don’t know Emblem3 was a 3 member reggae-pop band that rose in popularity due to The X-Factor. I found out about them after they were signed to Simon Cowell’s record label though. Their mission as was always to spread positivity and happiness through their music. They were also part of an organization called Team Inspire that aimed to spread positivity and inspiration by “living life beyond themselves.” Their fanbase was immediately one that I wanted to be a part of after I saw all of the great things that the band was doing.

E3 are on this list for multiple reasons. The first is that they encouraged me to make a difference in my school and community, even if it was a small difference. Being socially anxious, something like starting a club is something I would never do. However, it was only after I saw all of the great things that Team Inspire was doing that I was influenced to start a chapter at my school. I went through the whole rigamarole of everything necessary to start a club, and got it running and served as the president for the one year that the club existed. I recruited a couple other people that I knew at school who liked Emblem3 and eventually drew in more people as well. Overall, throughout that year, we managed to do some nice things for some nice people, and I think acheived our goal of spreading positivity. That club is still one of my proudest achievements.

Secondly, Emblem3 helped me through one of the most difficult times in my life. In mid-December of my sophomore year of high school, my mom’s apartment was set on fire in the middle of the night. It was the scariest moment in my life, and ultimately left my mom, sister, and I to be placed in a not so nice part of town with only a portion of our belongings having been saved. As I went through this, it could have been easy to give up, but I didn’t. I listened to Emblem3 and was uplifted and started to think on the positive side. I even went to the Team Inspire meeting that was scheduled on the same day that the fire happened. It made me feel better. The fire still effects me emotionally, and I’m sure it will throughout my life, but it is because of Emblem3 and Team Inspire that I didn’t and don’t let it ruin me.

I got a sweatshirt that Christmas from my grandparents on my dad’s side that had the E3 lyric “rise above and grow some love” on it. It was basically the equivalent of a tattoo for me at that point, because I wore it everyday (up until I lost it. RIP sweatshirt). But that lyric will always mean the world to me, as it kept me going for a really long time. To this day, my favorite quote is one from E3 member, Drew Chadwick: “I realized if I am nothing, I have every opportunity to become something.”

Unfortunately, Emblem3 isn’t really together anymore making music anymore, but I will forever hold dear all of the lessons they taught me and all of the smiles they provided me with. They were even my first general admission concert, and I will never ever forget how amazing of an experience it was. I will always hold them in my heart. (this section got real long. I apologize.)

That is it for this week, friends. This got a bit lengthy, and it isn’t even everything. 😬 I didn’t include Sam and Colby because I’ve already done a whole post about them which you can view here if you’d like. I hope you enjoyed reading if you made it through all that. I hope everyone in America has a great Thanksgiving. Eat lots of pie and tell all of your family and friends you love them. It could make them smile. I’ll see you next week when I’m back from Florida, refreshed and hopefully not dead. 

- 🕊️ ❤️ 🏹