Neither Harry Styles nor Zayn Malik: the real victim in the stress and high moments of One Direction was always Louis Tomlinson, considered the “suspenders boy,” the one who apparently did not contribute anything to the group, when in fact he was the one who endured more discrimination and sabotage at the beginning of his career, something we will briefly review here.
One Direction: Louis Tomlinson’s Nightmare
The beloved Louis may always be remembered as the former One Direction with the shy smile, but that’s not really because his personality was self-conscious, but because of the injustices he experienced within the band that overshadowed him compared to the rest of his bandmates. It is not news to anyone that the five guys in the band lived moments of too much tension in their time as a group (come on, if it had not been so, the band would not have disbanded), but who got the hardest blows was the interpreter of “Bigger Than Me,” as he had to endure that his producer and team boycotted him at the least opportunity.
Both in interviews dating back months after One Direction’s split, such as the first one he gave to The Guardian as a solo artist, as well as in his documentary “All of Those Voices,” which premiered a few months ago in theaters, the artist commented that he used to get frustrated when, after recording a song, his voice would lag behind that of his bandmates in editing or simply be removed altogether.
In fact, before the band was officially formed when he and his bandmates were part of the game show “The X Factor,” Louis came to think that he wasn’t contributing anything to the group, and not because that was true, but because the people in charge of organizing the whole thing relegated him to the point of making him feel less. “You know, I couldn’t even sing a solo on ‘The X Factor.’ A lot of people can get upset about something like that. But when you think about how it feels, standing on stage every week, you think, ‘What have I really done to contribute here – sing a lower harmony that you can’t really even hear in the mix?” he recounted.
What’s worse, those micro-acts of bias increasingly eroded his self-esteem, to the point where he self-selected himself as merely the composer of several songs for the band but never the lead on them, and left him with an enormous fear about what would happen to his career after the group thundered. In fact, what he decided when that happened is that he would simply “hide” behind other artists and bands as a songwriter without having to show his face to the public, as he believed that he really had neither the talent nor the ability to fill a stage on his own.
“If you had asked me a year ago or 18 months ago, ‘Are you going to do anything as a solo artist,’ I would have said absolutely not,” he told The Guardian.
His Tough Transition from Group Member to Solo Artist
Some may have thought that after parting ways with One Direction, any of its members would have looked to stand out on their own as they were always talented and quite pleasing to the eye. But what people failed to see in Louis’ outlook is that in the first few months of the breakup, he wasn’t really on his own. In the first months of 2016, Louis was seen attending award parties like the Grammy’s and the Oscars in the company of an executive, Rob Stringer, then president of Columbia Records and future CEO of Sony, who sought to keep the artist on the music path… but behind other big stars.
In what way? Stringer is the one who introduced him to several celebrities to form contracts that would have Louis as their main composer but never as a vocal participant, a fact that only depressed the singer to the point of no longer wanting to attend any of those events because he felt less compared to his peers in the middle. However, who fortunately helped him out of that depressive maelstrom was none other than DJ Steve Aoki, who saw a huge potential in his talent and proposed to him, at a party in Las Vegas, to make a collaboration, something he accepted despite having gone through a very difficult time (his mother, at that time, was very sick, and other celebrities had turned their backs on him).
Thus, months later he released “Just Hold On,” his first solo single, which was followed by other songs that did not get the approval of his then record label, Sony, because it did not see his potential as a singer but simply as a composer. In addition, they did not support him in the criticisms that the press made against him, which simply generated more anger and depression in poor Louis.
The Breakup with Sony and His Difficulty in Catapulting His Career
Both the single and the video for “Just Like You” were the straw that broke the camel’s back for Sony, as they made allusions to the stress that the company put him through, the criticism that affected him from the press, and his desire to simply be himself, enjoying what he likes, his family and his people without feeling judged. The song broke with Sony’s idea of turning him into a commercial pop artist because he himself defined his sound as British pop, which has many similarities, although much more freedom in its chords and cadence. However, the company still wanted to have control over his career, and that’s why, in 2019, they presented him with the opportunity to sign with a sister label Arista Records, which also belonged to Rob Stringer.
Arista never helped him promote his music, and with the Covid-19 pandemic, everything seemed to indicate that his work as a solo artist before the public would simply come to an end. But what the company did not expect was that every concert he sought to give himself in various parts of the world was filled to the point of being sold out, proving that the public was indeed eager to see him. In 2020, he finally decided to “emancipate” himself from Sony: he broke off relations with them and moved to BMG, thus earning the courage of Rob Stringer and other Sony executives, who sought to discredit him through the press, asking for support from friends, reporters and editors to avoid showcasing his work, his shows and their profitability in the media.
Despite this boycott, Louis did not lose the support of his fans, who managed to make his first album a best-seller to the point of competing against another artist with years of career, Bruce Springsteen, whose album of covers was published by Columbia Records. Although currently, the former One Directioner is trying to get ahead and show the world what he is made of, the same media and Rob Stringer’s powerful friends have not allowed him to do so; for example, BGM commented that he has a veto at the BBC, where Rob’s brother is executive director, so Louis has not been able to present his talent in one of the most important communication channels in his country.
Story written in Spanish by Alejandro Vizzuet in Cultura Colectiva
