Fans Surprise 5SOS with Thousands of Paper Hearts

Three girls. 6,000 sheets of orange paper. An arena full of fans. The outcome? An incredible moment that I’ll never forget.

Fangirls get a bad rap. To anyone on the outside, we’re obsessive and emotional. We see it as passionate and dedicated. We’ve been called loud, but we’re just not afraid to speak up. We’ve been called intense, but we see it as powerful.

Fangirls are powerful.

On Friday, August 28, 5 Seconds of Summer played the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The show was their largest to date, with over 20,000 fans filling the open-air arena on a flawless summer evening. Our Q Contest Winner Erika and step-daughter, Paige, (who is a HUGE 5SOS fan) traveled to the show in style courtesy of L/A Luxury Limousine. Paige and Erika got to hang with the band before joining other fans to watch the show.

One of those fans, with help from two friends, coordinated one of the coolest moments in (my) concert history that night. As 5 Seconds of Summer reached the middle of their set and began to strum the opening chords of Beside You, slowly and in synchronicity, thousands of orange paper hearts lit by cellphone flashlights began to dot the crowd until finally, everything glowed orange.

Wilma Samson and two friends, Karen Chen and Jessie Zhu, planned the orange hearts project after seeing a similar moment at a smaller show a few years ago.

Wilma ordered 12 stacks of 500 sheets of orange paper. That’s 6,000 sheets, for those of you doing the math. The girls cut out hearts and wrote messages on all 6,000 hearts and worked with some Twitter friends to hand them out to fans before the show.

Then, in a perfectly coordinated moment, the late nights of cutting paper and scrawling Twitter hashtags paid off. The arena glowed soft orange and a quiet awe flowed over the crowd. I’ve never heard 20,000 fangirls be so quiet. Everyone was taking in the special moment.

“I'm going to be honest, I bawled for a bit once I saw all the hearts up, as well as after the song was over,” says Wilma.

In an ultimate fangirl dream, 5 Seconds of Summer recognized the orange hearts project on stage.

"In Beside You, you guys held up signs that were orange. That was the first time I've ever seen an orange arena. That was awesome. Thank you for that," said 5SOS guitarist Michael Clifford.

The moment reminded me that I’m part of something – a community, a family, a fandom. Being a fangirl has given me new friends, experiences, and opportunities. The orange hearts showed how powerful fangirls can be when they join together to create something special. So it didn’t cure a disease. And it didn’t solve the world’s problems. But it gave each person in that arena a warm orange hug. It said you are not alone, because you're part of this fandom.

We’re dedicated and we’re passionate. Fangirls are powerful.

I can’t wait for the next special moment at another concert with 20,000 of my closest friends.