The following happened over a month ago, but I can still remember it like it was yesterday:

I typed ‘one direction one thing’ into the YouTube search bar and began to listen to my favorite song by One Direction. I’m sorry, do I hear what? Oh, right, that’s my music credibility crashing and burning into the ground (it’s so good though…). But anyway.

After the video was over, I started clicking through the YouTube suggestions sidebar (a.k.a. one of the black holes of the Internet) because I was curious to know what else the kids are listening to these days. Other than One Direction, teeny bopper music is foreign ground for me.

Then came Cher Lloyd’s “Want U Back.”

The grunt at the beginning was really off-putting. And the grunt every 16 counts after that throughout the entire song. I made a face and thought to myself, “What is this?” and subsequently closed the window and forgot about it.

Until Thursday. On Thursday night I was driving and heard the all too familiar grunt on the radio. I yelled to my brother, “THIS IS THE SONG. THIS IS THE SONG WITH THE GRUNTING” and turned the volume up. Two minutes into it, I caught myself singing right along: I want you back, I want you back, want want you want you back UNGH

Since then there was no turning back. I’ve been listening to it every day. This has become my personal “Call Me Maybe.” This is the song that I love to hate and I can’t do a damn thing about it.

What’s your guilty pleasure song?