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Picture this: You’ve managed to score seats to Harry Styles’ Together, Together tour, and you’re jamming along in the stands when suddenly, everyone around you starts screaming the lyrics to not only a different song, but one by an entirely different artist.
Styles is 20 shows into a 30-show residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City as part of his tour.
But while fans singing along to his songs is par for the course, a new viral trend is seeing fans chanting the lyrics to Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer’s Telephone Busy during the instrumental break of Styles’ song Ready, Steady, Go — and they’re getting louder and louder every night as the trend picks up steam.
So how did we get here?
It started with a fan remix on TikTok. User @millsberry75 posted a video in March mashing up the two songs, with 5 Seconds of Summer’s drummer Ashton Irwin talk-singing the intro of Telephone Busy, over top of Ready, Steady, Go.
The band took notice. In August, 5 Seconds of Summer incorporated the remix into a popular DJ set they performed at Salt Shed Chicago during the Lollapalooza festival.
Now, fans are bringing it to the physical stage of Styles’ tour.
A flood of videos on social media show fans jumping in on the trend. In earlier Madison Square Garden sets in September, the 5 Seconds of Summer lyrics being chanted by the audience is barely audible. But in newer videos from shows this week, it’s become a veritable roar.
“Nothing makes me happier than knowing the harry x 5sos propaganda is spreading,” TikTok user @tehedorothytehe wrote earlier this week in her concert video.
Part of the excitement behind it comes from the history between One Direction, the English-Irish band where Styles first found fame, and 5 Seconds of Summer (affectionately known as 5SOS by fans).
In 2012, when One Direction was just starting to take over the world, 5SOS was still four teenage boys making YouTube videos in Sydney, Australia, with only one EP to their name. Then, One Direction member Louis Tomlinson shared one of their songs online, opening them up to a whole new audience.
From left to right, Michael Clifford, Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin of 5 Seconds of Summer in California in 2022. (Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
The band was tapped to serve as opener for One Direction’s worldwide Take Me Home tour in 2013, and later joined the boyband as a supporting act on their 2014 Where We Are tour. More than a decade later, there’s still a lot of crossover between fans.
In the age of manufactured trends, it’s exciting to see a “natural” trend evolve from fans just celebrating a catchy tune, user @mariamontour said in an Oct. 6 TikTok.
“This fan chant that just started happening and progressively started getting louder is proof that the internet really can translate things into real-life trends, especially within fandoms” she said.
5SOS responds
5 Seconds of Summer is well aware of the excitement around the two songs.
“I appreciate yall lol,” Irwin commented in September on one fan’s TikTok sharing her screaming the Telephone Busy lyrics at a Styles set. The band has also reposted multiple fan videos of Styles’ crowds chanting the song in the last week.
Styles himself hasn’t directly acknowledged the trend yet, but if the volume keeps climbing, the odds get higher.
Harry Styles performs Aperture on stage during The BRIT Awards 2026 on Feb. 28 in Manchester, England. (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
As for how loud it could get? Well, there’s still 10 more shows at Madison Square Garden alone, and more than 50 shows in the rest of the tour. Styles will be performing four shows in May at Rogers Stadium, so if the trend continues, we could see those bleachers shaking.
“Everyone pls memorize this for toronto n2,” user @bethanyannne wrote in a TikTok lipsyncing to the remix.
