December 10, and the soul search for authenticity in a Gen Z boyband
December 10; Simon Cowell’s new boyband. Image credit: Frank Fieber
In an age stripped of its monoculture, why can’t Simon Cowell chase some longevity?
As the consequence of ‘a bit’ going too far, I found myself queuing in front of a security guard. ‘Are you girls excited?’ he asked us.
Before me lay the hallowed stairs of HMV Westfield, White City. I gazed at a young girl as she left… tears down her face, bow in her hair, seven boys on her t-shirt.
I was at a December 10 meet-and-greet.
About two months earlier, my friends and I had absentmindedly put on the band’s Summertime Ball performance while scrolling YouTube. We knew of them vaguely after being in a pub adjacent to Shepherd’s Bush Empire on one of their nights there, people watching young girls in sparkly skirts queuing under unpredictable April skies. Somehow, the band caused quite a stir in our group. We soon became unable to weather a hangover without watching one of their music videos.
I saw December 10 perform for the first time last month, at Leeds Festival. In the lead up, my friends and I noted our surprise that they were even on the bill. To us, Leeds had always seemed like the pinnacle of alternative music: at 17, I spent a muggy August weekend there, watching Declan McKenna, Rina Sawayama and The 1975. It was strange, then, to see the group opening a weekend that would hail main stage performances by Florence and The Machine and Fontaines D.C.
We expected a small turn out, ready to giggle and boogie, pints sloshing in our hands. Instead we were greeted with a heaving tent, a turn out that seemingly pulled in the youngest crowd at the festival – not just the girls in sparkly skirts, but their begrudging, neon clad male counterparts.
Bouncing on stage a cool ten minutes late, the deafening roar from the girls around me sounded like home – but I’d never seen it like this before. Not once in my decade of boyband mania have I been in a crowd with young men playing up too, the same age as the ones on stage. The boys in the audience bobbed on shoulders, faked screams, and held their phones up with messages to get the band’s attention. Such mockery would never shake the fangirls though; laser-focused with a job to do. It reaffirmed to me that December 10 has found a devoted young audience, however skeptical people may be of them.
“I know the hunger that comes with truly loving a musician. It’s a love that is unapologetic, spitting and raw. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a band you love grow and change, building foundations for a future they intend for you to be a part of. But December 10 feel polished to a fault. ”
Much of December 10’s recent promotion has been peddled by the fact they’re ‘multi-instrumentalists’, with their latest EP stating that the seven members play fourteen instruments between them. After seeing their live performance, I don’t doubt this. The group’s creation out of Simon Cowell’s Netflix ‘DIY boyband’ reality series provides the context for their ‘fish-out-of-water’ spot at Leeds. In reality, they’re just as talented as many of the young bands pulling in the older crowds, and I mourn for them.
The set consisted of four original songs and four covers. I can’t help but remember One Direction’s Zayn Malik’s complaints about repeating lines someone else had already sung – more ironic when considering that ‘D10’ is nearly an anagram of ‘1D’. During ‘Angel’, a girl plucked from the audience sits on the stage with a tinsel halo on her head, spun around and sung to in an interaction that feels like a bizarre parody of boybands past.
In an era where pop culture has been entirely de-centralised, I fear for decisions being made for the band that aim (and misfire) to pander to an audience whose devotion is so sacred. Growing up in fangirl circles, I know the hunger that comes with truly loving a musician. It’s a love that is unapologetic, spitting and raw. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing a band you love grow and change, building foundations for a future they intend for you to be a part of. But December 10 feel polished to a fault. Simon Cowell’s looming presence seems to have removed any rough edges which could allow for authenticity to shine through.
I say all this to tell you, if you couldn’t already guess, that I really like this band. I find them completely fascinating.
“In a way, they’re a product of the K-pop machine, bursting onto the scene with all the backing and training, yet a significant lack of identity has made that burst a bit more of a whimper.”
I’ve always had the boyband bone in my body. One Direction blew my wiring as a child. I’ve seen 5 Seconds of Summer six times in the last seven years… and, naturally, cried every time. I even fell for the Jonas Brothers’ reunion – listening to their 2019 comeback album with my mum in the car on the way to the orthodontist in tears.
I trust in every lifetime I would find my way back to a boyband. It’s like the scene in Baz Luhrman’s ‘Elvis’, where girls collapse in the front row watching the king shake his hips for the first time. I believe in the power of boyband culture for the sexual autonomy of young women, myself included. In a world where adolescent male peers are encouraged to remain nonchalant and emotionless, the sincerity that comes with a swooning male lead becomes a safe space for teenage girls. Your strength of emotion will never be mocked. Quite the opposite. If you scream loud enough… Josh might throw you a wink.
But where’s the depth of emotion from the boyband themselves?
This current tight grip by Cowell’s label feels dangerous. It’s hard not to start masochistically looking for the slithering signs of burnout – since creative control seems unattainable for the bandmembers. In a way, they’re a product of the K-pop machine, bursting onto the scene with all the backing and training, yet a significant lack of identity has made that burst a bit more of a whimper (a curse that is no fault of the young men individually).
December 10. Image credit: Bartek-Szmigulski
Perhaps due to their unusual formation on Simon Cowell’s X factor rehash, or as a consequence of always being drawn to the beastly yells of young women moved by music, I will continue to pay attention to December 10. Hopefully as I do, their reins will be loosened, allowing them to search for some honesty that leads them to a future with a little more longevity.