A celebrity crush is more than a simple attraction to the stars on our screens, and can tell a lot about someone.
Many have a celebrity crush whether they star in movies, release chart-topping hits, or even just talk about the news.
In a time where celebrities frequently turn to sex appeal to rise to the top, it would be tough to find someone who hasn’t had a celebrity crush at some point in their life.
Someone’s celebrity crush is much more than a simple attraction to someone. A celebrity crush can tell a lot about an individual, like what they find attractive or even what type of media they consume, but as a society, celebrity crushes show what is popular.
In 2009, Robert Pattinson from the famous Twilight movie series went out with a stalker fan while he was in Spain, and was so boring he scared the fan off, according to an interview with Pattinson in Crème Magazine.
This fan stood outside his apartment every single night, and Pattinson went out with her just to get her to go away.
Going out with a celebrity may seem like a dream come true for many, but when people get to know the men and women they idolize, it may not always work out.
Crush 1: Ariana Grande
Chris Haekenkamp, a college student, had a crush on a pop star for some time, but he didn’t like her just for her body.
“For a while, I had a crush on Ariana Grande,” Haekenkamp said. “I guess it’s like her personality. As far as an artist or whatever, she’s very interesting, and she makes really good music. She’s probably the best pop star I can think of.”
Haekenkamp also said that he finds himself drawn to Arianda Grande’s “aura”.
“She’s both very full of herself but also very, like, vulnerable. It’s really interesting from, like, an art perspective but also a personal perspective. She’s always very much, like, out there. She’s never closed off.” Haekenkamp said
To Haekenkamp, this is the most attractive part of Ariana Grande. While he also likes the music she releases, he said the way she presents herself is the most important.
Haekenkamp also touched on stan culture. Stan culture is a sort of herd mentality that some diehard followers of a particular celebrity partake in.
A “stan” of a particular artist regularly interacts with a particular artist and other stans on social media, often devoting entire accounts to a single artist.
Most pop stars have stans, with Ariana Grande being no exception. Grande’s stans are most famously known for being one of the driving forces catapulting her to the world’s most-streamed artist.
“I probably pay attention enough and listen to enough of her music that you could say I’m a stan. I guess I’m not a stan in the traditional stan in the sense that I’m talking about it a lot, but I know what’s going on with Ariana Grande.” Heckenkamp said
Ariana Grande started her career when she was 15 years old on Broadway. She then was featured on the Nickelodeon channel productions Victorious and Sam & Cat. She used her time on the Nick channel to kickstart her music career and has won many awards, including two Grammys.
Her thank u, next album from 2019 broke the record for most streams during release week and is one of the world’s best-selling artists. As of writing, she is the most streamed female artist in the world.
Not every celebrity crush is created equal, though. While some have crushes based on personality like Chris Haekenkamp, a crush is still a term reserved mostly for physical attraction.
Crush 2: Jennifer Lawrence
One individual, Evan Beattie, had a crush on the star of The Hunger Games film series so great it transcended his view on the quality of the movies.
Beattie is a freshman at Normandale Community College, and says that he grew up reading the Hunger Games book series.
“When I was younger, I was quite, um, infatuated with Jennifer Laurence from her hit role in The Hunger Games. Jennifer Laurence is also very hot” Beattie said.
Despite his crush on Jennifer Laurence, Beattie said he did not like the film adaptations of The Hunger Games.
“The series is kind of bad,” Beattie said, chuckling. “I did read the books. That’s why I didn’t like the series too much.
According to Beattie, his attraction to Jennifer Laurence comes mostly from his fondness for the strong female lead archetype, a role that Laurence plays well in many of her films.
In the X-Men series, Laurence plays Mystique, a killer mutant that can take on the appearance of anyone she meets, making her the perfect assassin.
In The Hunger Games trilogy, she instead plays the deadly accurate Katniss Everdeen, who fights with a bow and arrow to survive the hunger games, a twisted blood sport in a dystopian future.
Laurence’s performance in The Hunger Games made her the highest-grossing heroine and helped establish her as an A-list celebrity.
“The character is just a cool female lead that, uh, doesn’t need too much. She can kind of do her own thing” Beattie said. “I don’t really like the trope of a weak female, a damsel in distress. I’m just not a huge fan of that.” Beattie said.
Crush 3: Adam Driver
Another movie star seeing some love is Adam Driver, who exploded in popularity recently due to his role as Kylo Ren in the new Star Wars movies. Mac Muehlberger, a student at Drake University, is certainly not immune to Driver’s charm.
“I really love him as Kylo Ren in Star Wars, or I guess now it’s Ben Solo. I thought he was fantastic in Marriage Story also, did some great acting in that, and quite frankly, he’s just really hot.” Muehlberger said.
As a self-described Star Wars “superfan”, Muehlberger knows that the new batch of Star Wars films are not universally loved by fans. However, that does not stop him from enjoying Adam Driver and his role as Kylo Ren.
“I am a huge Star Wars nerd. Have been for most of my life. I’ve seen all of the shows and watched all the movies. I’m of the rare Star Wars superfan that does like the sequels”
Star Wars fans were overall less than pleased with the new trilogy that was released under Disney’s ownership. While every film in the trilogy except The Rise of Skywalker received favorable reviews from critics, The series’ largest fans were not impressed.
One Rotten Tomatoes reviewer called it “Worst violation of a franchise ever committed”, and another said that the film “Destroyed the entire franchise. Bad characters, bad politics, bad movie.”
Crush 4: Hasan Piker
Many celebrity crushes are on TV, singing, or movie stars. This is no surprise considering how much these stars can be seen in the media. There is constant news coverage of the latest celebrity relationship or a chart-smashing album release by the latest pop star.
Enter Hasan Piker, who has made an entire career covering news on the twitch.tv broadcast website. Viewers from all around the world can tune in and listen to Hasan Piker’s coverage of the news.
He’s grown quite popular recently, with his streams garnering tens of thousands of viewers. He’s also very attractive, according to Ruby Hummel, a student at Drake.
“He is the main political commentator I watch. There’s not a lot of other political commentators that have the same views as him” Hummel said
Hasan Piker, while very popular, has not been immune to controversy. Piker regularly receives criticism on social media because of his radical viewpoints and was suspended for one week on the twitch platform after he said that “America deserved 9/11” on stream three years ago.
Today, he streams daily had has not been suspended since, although he does get a negative interaction from a senator or a congressperson on Twitter every now and then.
Piker also streams content aside from politics and news coverage. Recently he has been playing video games for variety in his broadcast.
“He’s a political commentator, but he also does normal things like play video games and livestream them.” Hummel said. “And he’s super hot.”
Hummel said that she first started watching Hasan Piker’s stream because she shared a few of his political views.
“He got me interested in politics a lot more, and honestly changed my political views quite a bit since I started watching him.” Hummel said.
Hummel also said that Piker’s body is more attractive than his political beliefs, but she enjoys both.
Crush 5: Ana De Armas
Sam Buegler is a strategic political communications major at Drake University, but he also loves film. He says that his crush is film star Ana de Armas, who has only very recently seen the limelight.
Armas’ breakout role was in the 2019 film Knives Out, where she played the timid nurse Marta Cabrera alongside veteran actors like Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hanks. The director of Knives Out also directed Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Knives Out is one of Buegler’s favorite films that has been released in recent years.
“She was in Knives out, Blade Runner 2049, and No Time to Die, which is the new James Bond movie. She’s great in all of them.” Buegler said. “Her best performance was in Knives out. She had a much bigger role in Knives out and was able to showcase more of her talent.”
Bugler also commended her performance in No Time to Die, where she plays an American spy.
Her role in the most recent Bond flick was supposed to be shorter, noted Bugler, but she was given more screentime in post-production after the film was delayed almost two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
