Louis Tomlinson Talks One Direction Hiatus and Critiques Band Mates

Singer's group announced in 2015 they are taking a break, months after Zayn Malik left

By Corinne Heller Jun 25, 2017 9:02 PMTags
Watch: Louis Tomlinson Quizzed on 1D Fame

It's been almost two years since One Direction announced they are going on a hiatus and Louis Tomlinson remembers when the band first discussed the idea.

"It wasn't necessarily a nice conversation," he said in an interview with The Guardian that was posted Sunday. "I could see where it was going."

Tomlinson and band mates Liam Payne and Niall Horan are planning on releasing their debut solo album this year, following in the footsteps of fellow One Direction star Harry Styles, who released his in May, and former member Zayn Malik, who left the group months before the hiatus announcement and who released his first major record in 2016. Tomlinson released his first solo single, "Just Hold On" with Steve Aoki, last December. It had moderate success in the U.S. and hit No. 2 on the U.K. singles chart.

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One Direction's Wet and Wild Concert
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He said that when he was with One Direction, he was "forgettable, to a certain degree." He then critiques his current and former band mates.

"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," Tomlinson said. "There are times I've thought, 'I'd have a bit of that.'"

"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," Tomlinson continued. "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."

Tomlinson told The Guardian he initially did not plan on becoming a solo singer.

"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,'" he said.

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