Interest vs. Potential - Please help with deciding on a research topic

[Jay's Brain]

I'll be starting my graduate studies in September, and, while speaking with my graduate advisor, we've decided on two potential topics of choice that I can pursue. They share some similarities, but the topics are pretty diverging. 

 

Topic A is one where I've read papers from the lab I'll be working in, and I am very interested in the topic. The problem is that the area is a bit saturated with publications, and it's slowly becoming a topic that is not as "exciting".

Topic B, one which I'm a bit less familiar with, doesn't seem to jive with me as well as Topic A does. There are parts of it that I'm interested in, but definitely not as fully as Topic B. However, many people, including my graduate advisor, believe this area of research is growing and becoming increasingly popular. It is a topic that is currently generating a lot of buzz, and publication opportunities are aplenty.

Given these two general outlines about the topics I may have the chance of exploring for my graduate studies, can I get advice on what I should do? I plan to do some more research on both to familiarize myself with the content, but I'm curious if anyone has had similar experiences or have any suggestions/feedback? What would you do in my case?

[bsharpe269]

I would go with B, especially if you want to end up in an academic job later. Is there a way to take topic B and put a spin on it that goes well with your interests?

[beccamayworth]

I would start reading up on every single recent article on Topic B out there. I usually get pretty excited about a topic after reading some cool studies on it. See if you can make yourself more into Topic B.

[Jay's Brain]

Thanks for the input! I've definitely started reading more papers on Topic B, and I think what I'm most hesitant on is how best to approach Topic B so that I would actually like it more. There's definitely areas that fascinate me a lot, but again it doesn't seem to be as focused on in the literature.

I do agree on trying to find that spin to make Topic B more attractive to me. But if it's not really achievable, is it a matter of gutting through it and hoping I become more interested when I'm actually in the thick of things? Should I just have a more open mindset moving forward?