What Louis Tomlinson misses most about 1D
One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson opens up about calling out tabloids on Twitter, not making an “easy record” like Charlie Puth — and why you’ll never catch him in red trousers again.
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One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson opens up about calling out tabloids on Twitter, not making an “easy record” like Charlie Puth — and why you’ll never catch him in red trousers again.
It’s been nearly four years since One Direction went on “hiatus”. What do and don’t you miss?
The buzz from writing a great song and sharing that experience together, doing the shows... I definitely miss that the most. I don’t not miss anything. Isn’t that nice? Oi, listen, other than Niall [Horan] farting on the tour bus — I definitely don’t miss that.
Fans would love to see you wear braces, headbands, sleeveless tees or red trousers again, like you did in your 1D days. Any chance it’ll happen?
What makes me laugh is they’re not mad on change, the fans. Whenever I start doing anything new they just ask for the old sh*t back. But listen, here’s one fact: I’ll never be seen in red trousers again; I’ll never f*cking wear a headband again. If I’m on holiday I might try to look hard so I’ll probably wear sleeveless tops again, but I am not going anywhere near them braces. Absolutely no chance.
You call out tabloids and others on Twitter. Do you ever get grief for not biting your tongue?
[Laughs.] I’ve always enjoyed that. At the start of my career my people would say to me, “Come on Louis, don’t rise to it.” But it goes in one ear and out the other. A few times I’ve looked back and thought, “To be fair, I probably shouldn’t have replied.” But I can’t help it. If you’re going to chat sh*t at me, you’re going to get called out.
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You have spoken about not feeling confident in your performances, but you recently played in Madrid and seemed at home on the stage. Do you feel you’ve regained some morale? The experience I originally had in the band early on, when I felt like I had to fight for my place, did knock my confidence, if I’m being honest. But it made me stronger as a person and as an artist. It forced me into songwriting. But I’m relieved I’ve come through it. I’ve proved to myself and to everyone that I can do it.
You leaked a snippet of a song called ‘We Made It’ to fans on Instagram back in February 2018.
Oh yeah, you’re right! [Laughs.] F*cking hell, you’re bang on it. I like that. It’s a song I wrote about two and a half years ago. And lyrically it was kind of written as being a bit of a message between me and the fans... that we made it together.
Your album Walls will be out early next year. What can you tell us about it?
My overall intention was to be honest as a lyricist. My fans already know a lot about me, but by the time they listen to the record, hopefully they’ll know a bit more.
And there’s talk of a tour?
What’s a no-brainer is I’ll definitely be coming to Australia. I think that’s going to be the middle of next year.
You’ve been here with the band before. What do you love about Australia?
As a kid from the UK, Australia was one of the most exciting places to imagine travelling to. Every time we’ve been there we had loads of fun. The fans were amazing.
You said you were going to focus on writing what you love rather than chasing hits.
Yeah, the easier option would be to make something like a Charlie Puth record, but they never felt true to me because it wasn’t the kind of music I grew up listening to. I had a little epiphany. I’ve done incredible things with 1D, so it was about time I focused on myself and do what I really want.
Walls, the new album from Louis Tomlinson, out January 2020.