confessions from a professional fangirl

gaze into the teen universe of someone who literally has a PhD in fandom

More than any other time period of my life, the years 2007-2010 were central to my fangirl evolution. They were what I now fondly refer to as my “disney and co” era, where the Jonas Brothers, Miley, Demi, Selena and Taylor ruled the – and especially my – teen universe. It was the days of magazines, Myspace, and early Twitter, where we got to have the magical combination of monthly mags to run and buy to flick through with our friends, and also the earliest days of celebrity social media use where nobody really knew what they were doing and access felt as authentic as it was ever going to be. 

My walls were covered with posters, my friends and I had a million inside fandom jokes, and we knew way too much about these celebrities who ultimately weren’t much older than us, and were in reality going through things we could never have imagined. It was the time of Fearless and Speak Now. Of Hannah Montana and Camp Rock and High School Musical. It was A Little Bit Longer and Lines Vines and Trying Times. It was Dolly and Girlfriend and Tiger Beat and Bop and J-14.

I’m now days away from turning thirty and while I have stuck to my fangirl roots, I have also expanded them into a career path. In the middle of 2023 I became Dr Georgia, graduating with my PhD in Sociology, where I specialised in celebrity and fandom studies. I now straddle the complicated line of expert and fan where I have both peeled back the curtain and explored the mechanisms of fame and fandom while also continuing to deeply participate in it myself. 

This past month – more than any other time in my life – has seen me actively re-engaging with my teenage fandom through the Eras Tour, and the Jonas Brothers’ first ever visit to Australia. 

It’s hard to explain to someone who didn’t have a teenage fandom era just how important those fandom objects become in the overall shaping of your life. No matter what you end up doing or who you end up becoming, part of you will always be the fifteen year old screaming along to Much Better with your friends (and wondering how to reconcile your love of Taylor with your love of Joe). 

The Jonas Brothers were my first real celebrity crushes. While the wider Disney Channel universe underpinned my interests, it was Joe, Nick and Kevin who defined them. I have lyrics from Hold On tattooed on my ribs, and the first time I saw them in Los Angeles in 2019, I cried for three quarters of the show. Despite having seen them in LA, their visit to Australia marked the end of seventeen years of waiting for them to visit our shores, and with that came a whole new wave of emotions. While I no longer regularly listen to their music (and just quietly, I don’t actually like much of their newer stuff - oops!), there was something so magical about finding myself in a crowd of fellow adults, screaming along to songs from 2008 at the top of our lungs. We were all worlds away from the versions of ourselves who fell in love with three teen boys a decade and a half ago, but in that moment were united by the universal nostalgia of everything their music has come to mean for us. From the outside, singing along to the G-rated version of Year 3000 (your great-great-great granddaughter is doing fine) or a song that includes the lyrics “hugs are overrated just FYI” isn’t the most…mature of activities, but it’s not just about our present selves. Just like Taylor and her Eras Tour, the Jonas Bros were doing a trip through their discography, and as they reminded us the years of release of their first three albums (the very speedy 2007, 2008 and 2009), we were transported back to those moments, and the concerts became a celebration of teen fandom more than anything else. 

In the song Nobody (Reprise) (includes minor spoilers if you haven’t seen the show!) from the brilliant musical FANGIRLS, there are the lines: 

I still listen to that music, I don’t care what people say, I love how it feels to love it and not feel afraid

I still watch videos of the concerts, not the remember the boys, but to remember how it felt to scream inside all that noise 

Forget the overpriced tickets, the merch, and the ugg boots, that’s not why I loved that band

It was the feeling of throwing my hands up and falling in love with life and never having to land

And at the end of the day, no matter what fandom we’re talking about, these lines capture the reality of why we will always be so connected to the fandoms of our past, even if they no longer match the interests of our present. When I spoke to fans in my research, there was a lot of discussion about connection to the objects of fandom and their love and support for whoever that may be, but more than that, they reflected on the power of community. Sometimes that community meant deep friendships, but often it was fleeting, like being in a concert audience or the crowd at a sporting match. In those circumstances, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see the people around you again, but for the couple of hours you’re there, they understand you on what feels like a soul-deep level. No matter who you are or what you do in your everyday life, engaging in fandom – and especially the kind of nostalgic fandom of something like a Jonas Brothers concert – allows you to strip back the layers and feel free to scream inside all of the noise. The magic is in the music, but it’s also in throwing your hands up and remembering what it feels like to just feel. To experience the joy and the passion and the silliness of pop music – or whatever your interest may be – and to experience it with thousands of others who get it in the same way that you do. 

In one of the Jonas Brothers’ newer songs – Rollercoaster – the chorus includes the lines, 

It was fun when we were young but now we’re older

But I’d go back and ride that rollercoaster with you

And as tens of thousands of us packed arenas across Australia and New Zealand, we showed that no matter how many years have passed, we’re always ready to ride it with them, too. 

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who wrote this?

Georgia has always been a fangirl, so nobody was surprised when she decided to get her PhD in celebrity fandom studies. She's passionate about encouraging brands to value their fans, and loves to encourage students to study their passions, no matter what wider society says. A former book publicist, Georgia now works in strategic communications and freelances as a fan engagement consultant. You can usually find her drinking coffee while yelling about ice hockey, Formula 1, boy bands, or one of her many other obsessions of the week. You can learn more about Georgia's work on her website, and find more of her writing on her medium page. 

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