Following the release of Louis Tomlinson’s debut solo magazine cover and interview, I had some thoughts that I wanted the 1D star to know – so I wrote an open letter.
This morning, I read your interview in The Observer and it felt like a pain struck me when you put yourself down. When you couldn’t see the value inside yourself, it was saddening because you can’t see what I, along with millions of others, can see. And it’s an incredible person.
Louis, you may not have been the main solo guy or the one to riff, but you were still so crucial in that band. Remember back in judge’s houses when you were dopey enough to get your foot stung and the boys had to try and rehearse without you? It didn’t sound right. And One Direction never would have sounded right if you weren’t part of it.
You have carried songs like the strong backbone you are and that was pretty evident from back when we heard that acoustic version of ‘What Makes You Beautiful’; please tell me you could hear what we did? Your vocals are different and distinct but that’s why we all love your voice so much. It’s always clear as day when you are putting your heart and soul into performing and that’s incredible to witness.
Liam may have great stage presence and each boy brought something to the band, but that includes you. For One Direction to be so successful, you had to regenerate boybands as we knew it and a lot of that is down to you. From your cheeky charm back in the video diaries, which are what hooked so many people into loving the band, to you always making sure you didn’t take yourselves too seriously. Keeping that inner child inside your heart allowed the band to be more playful, relatable and just representation of what life should be; enjoyable. That was always a key factor to the formula of 1D’s success and you put as much in as you got out of it.
When you weren’t given any solos on The X Factor, we as fans were all extremely annoyed, but we stood by you because we knew you had potential and if we had to, we’d protest until the sun goes down to make sure you had your solos.
Of course, we were all devastated by the hiatus and we would have probably been on your side in that conversation, but now we know this is your moment. This is the time that you can show the world, outside of the fanbase, what you’re capable of and we all have so much faith in you.
It breaks the heart of millions to think you can’t see what we see, but I sincerely hope you know that what we see, we firmly believe in and stand by through thick and thin.
Liam, Niall, Harry and even Zayn all played their parts, but so did you and without you, One Direction would have been a completely different band. Never forget that. You say you owe it all to your fans, but your fans owe it all to you. And we will be here forever. Whether One Direction returns in one year, two, five, ten or never – the band is part of all of our lives and you will always be someone special in our eyes. The person we tell our children and our grandchildren about the days where we were so in love with a boyband but not just for any reason – a boy band who changed the game for all boy bands out there. We will take these stories with us through life and you will always be part of them as a legend. Maybe not to the media, or even to you, but in our eyes and that’s all that truly matters, right?
We’re here by your side and cannot wait to see what’s next on your journey.
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