Review: Everything I Need I Get From You: How Fangirls Created the Internet as We Know It by Kaitlyn Tiffany

I bought this book almost a year ago (December 2023!) right before my sisters and I went to see the Jonas Brothers live in concert. While I didn't realize just how long it would take me to read it, it felt fitting to pick up a book right now about the band that defined my middle school years: One Direction.

I was a bit too young to fully fangirl over the Jonas Brothers (but if you ask one of my sister's friends, I dress just like them), but when I discovered One Direction, it was because of my older sister. I was probably 9, and my older sister was obsessed with this British boyband from X-Factor. I desperately wanted to be like my sisters, so I obviously became a fan. However, I couldn't be too much like my sister because when asked who my favorite was, I blurted out "The blond one?" in reference to Niall Horan. This was a lie at the time since my secret favorite was actually Harry Styles, but he was my older sister's favorite, and I would rather die than tell her we had the same favorite. So, I said Niall, and this gut reaction has stuck with me 14 years later. I've been to every solo tour, and he's the only male artist that can seem to fight through the Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan.

No matter who my favorite was though, I became a preteen obsessed. I used all of my cellphone data to watch YouTube compilations of their funniest moments, I scrolled on Wattpad instead of going to sleep, and One Direction was the only thing I talked about for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So, reading this book was like walking down memory lane in some ways. With recent events being what they are, and the complicated-but-not-really emotions that come with recent events, a stroll through my middle school years didn't feel that awful this time around. Without further ado, here's some of my thoughts!

The Review
Overall, I generally enjoyed the book! I almost forgot just how deeply entrenched I was as a Directioner, but Kaitlyn Tiffany did such a deep dive into the culture of the fandom that I was quickly reminded. This treasure trove knowledge is helped by the fact that Kaitlyn Tiffany is a Directioner herself, jumping in around the Midnight Memories era of One Direction. She delves into the Larry Stylinson fan wars, the tin hat conspiracy theories cooked up in the tags of Tumblr, and the general mindset of Directioners (both Larries and Antis) (yes, the distinction matters). Through personal experiences and fan interviews, Tiffany provides the reader with a comprehensive breakdown of what it was like to be a part of one of the biggest fandoms to date.

Not only does she write about how Directioners influenced the Internet as we know it today, but she also references many other fandoms and their participation. From Supernatural to K-Pop, many fandoms who I deem cornerstones of stan culture are included. Tiffany also touches on the hysteria idea that surrounds a fangirl and the stigma that surrounds it. As a forever fangirl (currently in the trenches of 9-1-1 on ABC), it felt comforting for fangirls to be somewhat taken seriously for once.

However, as with every book, there are things I wasn't a stan (ha) of - mainly the tone at certain portions. While I do think that Tiffany's history as a Directioner helps create a relatable narrative for fellow Directioners, at certain points I did feel like I was overhearing someone's conversation making fun of fangirls. There was no specific wording I can point to, and perhaps this is my own interpretation of entirely innocent phrases and anecdotes, but sometimes Tiffany's writing came across as if she didn't like One Direction that much and the fans were just silly teenage girls. If you were a fangirl at any point, I'm sure you know the feeling of being brushed off as being young and obsessed and too young and obsessed to know better, so you can understand why I felt a little disheartened sometimes while reading.

Additionally, like a few other reviews left on Goodreads, there were some fandoms that I think weren't paid enough dues. Earlier I said that many cornerstone fandoms made an appearance, but a lot of these fandoms' impacts were minimized in terms of how it shaped the Internet and the culture. Tiffany briefly mentions Supernatural, but she fails to bring up the Misha-pocalypse on Tumblr or the memes that rose from the series finale in 2020 that occurred while the book was still being written. Fanfiction is a frequent topic, yet it is never pointed out that some of the first fanfictions written were by fangirls of Star Trek. I know I might be asking a lot for a ~300 page book, but I personally felt like some key parts of fandom and Internet culture were lost by zeroing in too much on One Direction. Topics like BabyGate got a sizable amount of discussion that I found dragged on for too long for a topic that, while relevant to the One Direction fandom, didn't feel extremely relevant to the creation of stan culture as it is today in a way that wasn't already covered by the Larry Stylinson lore dump.

So, with all this in mind, I ended up rating it a 3.75 on StoryGraph and a 4 on Goodreads. Overall, an enjoyable book, but it lacked in certain portions for me. Thanks for reading!

Five Favorite Quotes
"If I'm really honest, I like One Direction because their music reminds me of myself. I'm nineteen and I'm not nineteen; i get to hold the two images side by side and think about the ways in which I'm changing and the ways in which I will always be the same." (27)

"...all combinations of identity are equally unlikely, and we can only be experts in our own." (135)

"'I'm a thirty-three-year-old woman, I just don't give a fuck anymore,' she told me. 'I know there are thinks I like. I want to talk about them and go have a good time. I'm a millennial and I'm going to die." (136)

"'I honestly can't imagine a world without him in it...It would make me feel older than I already feel. It would be the end of my youth. Because even if he's not running around onstage anymore, it's in my head. When i see him, I'm nineteen.'" (149)

"Everything we need is right in front of us. We should talk about how we went online, driven by some sort of longing, and why we stayed there, pushing that want outward, over and over, until it couldn't be ignored." (269)