Louis Tomlinson has opened up about feeling like the ‘forgettable’ member of One Direction in a brutally honest new interview.
Speaking to The Observer, the former boyband star admitted that he was always ‘the kid stood at the back’ since they shot to fame on The X Factor back in 2010.
“You know I didn’t sing a single solo on the X Factor,” Louis said, before describing himself as, “The kid wearing espadrilles, stood in’t back.”
“A lot of people can take the piss out of that. But when you actually think about how that feels, standing on stage every single week, thinking: ‘What have I really done to contribute here? Sing a lower harmony that you can’t really hear in the mix?'”
In the interview, Louis said that he was “forgettable, to a certain degree” when comparing himself to his 1D bandmates, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan.
“The others have always been… Like Niall, for example. He’s the most lovely guy in the world. Happy-go-lucky Irish, no sense of arrogance. And he’s fearless. There are times I’ve thought: ‘I’d have a bit of that’,” he admitted.
“Zayn, back in the day. He could relate to me on a nerves level. In the first year we were both the least confident. But Zayn has a fantastic voice and for him it was always about owning that.
“Liam always had a good stage presence, same as Harry, they’ve both got that ownership. Harry comes across very cool. Liam’s all about getting the crowd going, doing a bit of dancing…
“And then there’s me,” he said.
Stood at the back: Louis felt like the most forgettable member of One Direction | VIPIRELAND.COM
Although Louis felt like he was forgettable on stage, the Doncaster native played a more dominant role behind the scenes, and was always the one to deliver “bad news” to the record label.
“If there was any bad news that needed giving to the label I’d always be designated to have the argument,” he said.
In the revealing interview, Louis also admitted that he argued against One Direction’s hiatus in the beginning.
“In the last year of One Direction I was probably the most confident I ever was. And then it was: ‘OK, hiatus!'”
“It wasn’t necessarily a nice conversation. I could see where it was going.”
Change: Louis initially argued against One Direction’s hiatus | INSTAGRAM
Louis initially planned to step away from performing, and wait the “two years, five years, whatever it be” until One Direction reunited.
“If you’d asked me a year or 18 months ago: ‘Are you going to do anything as a solo artist?’ I’d have said absolutely not.”
But now, the musician is set to release his second solo single Back To You with Bebe Rexha, but admitted that his solo career has been a bigger struggle than his bandmates.
“I couldn’t say to you now that I could definitely get a superstar writer in a session with me. And I understand that.” Louis said, before adding, “Harry won’t struggle with any of that.”
Devastating: Louis lost his mum Johannah around the same time he launched his solo career | INSTAGRAM
Louis embarked on his debut solo career at the end of last year, around the same time his mother, Johannah Deakin, tragically lost her battle with leukaemia at the age of 43.
Louis opened up about the day his beloved mum called to tell him that she was terminal.
“At Jamie Vardy’s wedding of all places. Talk about your places, for something super-traumatic. My mum told me, uh, yeah, that she was definitely terminal.”
Louis’ mum died just days before he was scheduled to perform his debut single Just Hold On, which was dedicated to her, on The X Factor.
“I remember saying to her: ‘Mum, how the f**k do you expect me to do this now?’
“And she didn’t swear much, my mum. She’d always tell me off for swearing. And this time she was like: ‘You’ve got to f**king do it, it’s as simple as that.’ It was football manager, team talk stuff,'” he added.
