Jump5 Calls it Quits

It was recently announced that the teen pop group Jump5 is coming to a close, and all of the members are moving on to other things. They have one last album called Hello Goodbye (out on September 25th) which will feature some new stuff and their former, elusive member Lesley (or was it Lindsay?) one last time. The closing of the group comes as a surprise, I’m sure, to all the people who will always remember them as little kids and think they will always continue to be there like Peter Pan, who never grows up. Actually, Lesley is leaving the group and almost immediately going to her own wedding. How’s that for a shock? Wasn’t she just 14 or so…?

They actually grew up a long time ago, though Disney has been trying desperately to convince all of us otherwise. I never got to see them in person, though for years they were probably the biggest group for those preteen years. I actually grew up with them in a way, since they were all near my age. When you grow up so closely your mind seems to think that you really do know them, but at the same time, you think they’ll always stay where you first met them.

Funny how all the things which bind people together are quickly fading, to be slowly replaced by new ones which don’t seem to fill in the gap left behind. For years, everyone was a Star Wars fan, waiting in line to see the latest movie. Then for the longest, everyone was a Lord of the Rings fan, lining up every December to go see the latest episode, buying all the merchandise, memorizing all the trivia. Then that ended. Harry Potter took hold of the world. And now he’s gone as well; and with him, the lines of people dressed as wizards, the screaming children (and adults), the crowds lined up at midnight, and the elusive author whose very livelihood was based on teasing everyone with her literary twists and secrets. There was a strange sense, even if you were an outsider like me, that something was binding all these fans together like one enormous, worldwide family- all united for one purpose. And when the one thing which binds them together comes to a close, where do they go?

It is curious to look at all the people who are attempting these days to fill in the voids left by super-groups. I can still remember when everyone was into Britney Spears and Nsync, and now that they’re no longer the biggest thing, all of their fans have scattered, looking for something else to be into. There doesn’t seem to have been any really big music artists for a long while, since Avril Lavigne at least, that just about everyone was into at once.

I am curious as to what is coming next, as the world seems wide open all of a sudden for something new that the masses can seize hold of and really get involved in. Frodo’s fans have gone back into hiding. The music business is in recession. Star Wars has come to a close. And there’s still a new wave of kids coming up, the children of Harry Potter and Anakin Skywalker. So what’s next to fill their heads with the big dreams that led their parents through their own early years?