From One Direction to Madison Square Garden: Louis Tomlinson shares how he stays positive despite grief & why his new album gives hope.
Although Louis Tomlinson has been world-famous for 15 years, there is no hint of Hollywood surrounding him – rather, one seems to smell the scent of a pub in his northern English hometown of Doncaster. The ex-One Direction star is in great spirits from his new album HOW DID I GET HERE? the sun shines. Only a year ago, his former band buddy Liam Payne died in a fall from a balcony in Buenos Aires. Where does Tomlinson get this positivity from?
“You’ve had hard times behind you. However, your new album sounds much brighter than your previous ones. Is this a form of escapism?”
LOUIS TOMLINSON: Maybe a little. But I consciously wanted to create positive energy – not because everything was so easy, but because it was heavy. Music can save you, even if it just brightens the world for three minutes. I believe this lightness is the most honest answer to the heaviness of the last few years.
“A good life is the best revenge,” as they say.
Exactly! My new song “From Dark To Light” is emblematic of this – it reflects my last years and the attempt to stay positive despite everything.
Two weeks after your last album FAITH IN THE FUTURE, ChatGPT was released to the public. Some leading scientists in the field predict that AI will destroy humanity as early as 2027. Can such scenarios affect your belief in the future?
“Faith In The Future” is a kind of life motto for me. Of course there are enough reasons to lose faith – but what would be the alternative? Cynicism? I prefer to hold on to hope. The album was the first conscious step towards confidence for me at the time, and this attitude continues consistently now.
Optimism never sounds naive to you, but rather like a decision.
Yes, totally. I learned that optimism has nothing to do with blindness – but with courage. You decide to keep going even though you know it’s hard. That is the attitude that I also want to share with my fans.
At the same time you write songs like “Imposter” – about self-doubt. How does that fit together?
I believe true optimism comes not from self-assurance, but from self-doubt. I definitely still struggle with imposter syndrome. But that keeps me awake. I may even be more ambitious than I used to be, precisely because of these doubts. If you want to keep surprising yourself, keep moving. In the end, I don’t want to prove anything to anyone else – just to myself.
How did you experience the transition from your boy band fame to your solo career?
After One Direction, I was often frustrated when certain doors – radio, big TV slots – remained closed to me. I wanted to break away from the image, from the big pop apparatus, wanted to prove that I was different. I come from an indie background and covered Oasis and Green Day with my first school band.
…and on your last solo tour, Arctic Monkeys played “505,” alongside a rock version of your 2017 electropop hit with Bebe Rexha, “Back To You.”
Exactly. But I forgot that this pop path is also part of my history. Now I feel brave enough to accept him. I don’t have to define anything anymore – I just have to be honest. It feels like things that have existed side by side for a long time are finally coming together.
Since 2021 you have been curating your own festival “Away From Home”, which has a decent indie side with bands like The Vaccines, The Cribs and DMA’s. This will definitely also be useful for your musical profile.
Clear. But that’s also completely authentic – I grew up with this music. There was a bar in Doncaster called Priory and that’s where I first heard really good guitar music – ten pounds entry, all you can drink. (laughs) These nights shaped me. And to be honest: I never thought that such cool bands would play at my festival at some point. That brings me full circle.
Very symbolic with the Plain White T’s that will be on your festival’s line-up in 2026. You sang their hit “Hey There Delilah” at your first “X Factor” casting.
Great guys, but the song gives me pure post-traumatic stress disorder. I was so incredibly nervous at the time.
If you look back on this performance as someone who will be playing in Germany’s biggest venues in the spring before appearing at New York’s Madison Square Garden, what would you want to say to the insecure 18-year-old Louis?
Honest? Nothing. If someone had told me back then where I would be, I wouldn’t have believed it anyway. A little naivety protects you. Without her I might never have gotten this far. I would just let this boy do it – mistakes, embarrassments, it’s all part of it.
How does being a solo artist affect your creativity? As part of a band you are constantly competing for ideas, but now you are the boss who perhaps no one dares to stand up to. For example, what was it like working with Theo Hutchcraft from Hurts again?
That’s exactly why I only wanted to work with artists this time, not professional songwriters. Because artists will honestly tell you “no” when something doesn’t work because they know it’s about the song, not vanity. The core team – Scottish musicians David Sneddon and Dave Gibson, Theo, producer Nico Rebscher and me – felt like a band. That’s exactly what I wanted to achieve: this feeling of collaborative creation.
Despite your international career, you never lost your northern English accent. How much Doncaster is left in you?
Totally a lot. Just in terms of attitude to life. Bragging is the worst thing you can do there. This is an area where staying grounded is paramount. If you take yourself too seriously, you’re out. I learned that early on. I always have a lot of friends from back then – one of them, Oli, for example, is also on this trip today. These guys keep me grounded – sometimes in brutal ways. (laughs) But that’s a good thing.
More about Louis Tomlinson
Louis Tomlinson (*1991) became famous in 2010 on the talent show “The X Factor” – as a member of the boy band One Direction. It soon became a global pop phenomenon. After disbanding in 2016, he started his solo career. His third solo album will be released at the end of January. His private life is marked by several tragic losses: his mother Johannah died of leukemia in 2016, his sister Félicité succumbed to a drug overdose at the age of 18 in 2019, and his ex-bandmate Liam Payne had an accident in 2024.