Last week, the self-proclaimed “best boyband since One Direction,” Brockhampton, announced that they were breaking up. In a post to the group’s Instagram, they announced that all the tour dates they had set were canceled and their upcoming shows at the O2 Academy Brixton in London and Coachella would be their last. It makes the aforementioned One Direction comparison a bit foreboding.
Now look, I am very aware of how Brockhampton is seen, I see the jokes and I get the memes. It’s pretty much an embarrassing thing to admit that you even at once liked the group, and some of that is for good reason. There is a lot that has been said about certain members of the group that I do not condone at all, but it’s all murky and that’s not what I’m here to speak about. The writing might have been on the wall for the band as there was a shift after their Saturation albums. Losing Ameer, which was the right decision, was a hard loss for the band and their music lost a bit of its teeth.
The three-album run they pulled in 2017 was so influential to me as an artist and was truly a moment to watch when it originally happened. It’s very interesting seeing where the group ended up. I can’t help, but feel as if a chapter of my life is closing seeing this news. Yes, Brockhampton was not the band it once was when they came into the scene, but I always kept up with their work because it inspired a 17-year-old me. It was fun while it lasted and I’m happy to see that they’re at least stopping while they’re ahead, sorta.
