Editor Note: This is one of six stories about obsessions students and faculty have.

Boy bands often strike the hearts of girls every time they croon and dance around on stage to an upbeat song. But there’s one band that has sophomore Amanda Slaton’s heart pounding, and that is One Direction.

 “I first heard about them when I was at my house with Haley [Rodriguez],” said Slaton, who has been a fan for about a year. “She told me that she heard about them and we watched their videos together.”

The band consists of five guys from England and Ireland – Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They became pop sensations after competing on the British singing competition, The X-Factor. Originally, they were solo acts, but judge Simon Cowell placed them together as a group. Even though they placed third, the boys are quickly becoming huge.

“I think people are obsessed because they can relate to them and they are British-Irish, which is different,” Slaton said. “They have really interesting personalities.”

The fans call themselves “Directioners” and have created their own words to explain how they feel about the boys; for example, 1Dfamily is the term used for all the fans around the world. They have set up fan bases on Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook. They use these websites to connect with each other all over the world to talking about the group.

“I get their Tweets sent to my phone,” she said. “At most I’ve belonged to eight Facebook groups dedicated to them.”

The band’s hit single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard Top 100, 12 on the Digital Songs List and 21 on the Canadian Billboard Top 100. It also became the highest Hot 100 debut for the UK since 1998.

 “It’s not about being obsessed,” Slaton said. “It’s about being a dedicated fan.”