The Larry of It ALL

And Here We Go Again 

Louis Tomlinson created a fire in recent days in the media with another non denial of Larry Stylinson. The last time he did this was in October when a fan asked him for a chicken recipe, only to be told she was to throw the chicken in the oven and realise that the childish conspiracy theories are just wasted time, even though it was the wrong dish, as I'm sure Mr. Tomlinson knew. This online denial was picked up on the next days media runs and fans felt hurt and upset at being thrown under the bus, but Hannah, thankfully took it lightheartedly and was out spreading positivity to the fandom. One has to ask why deny it after all these years though? Is it because there are too many Larries out there who don't buy the narratives they were sold or is it PR to get his name and tour out there or is it another in a long line of forced/ coerced denials? Why was this topic banned through all other interviews and why did the interview suddenly drop after he'd finished his promo leg of LATAM?

It's clear to see that his team are lazy and use Larry and Larries as a fanbase to cause a stir, but using Louis connection to Harry Styles is lazy marketing, but does it work? I guess we'll see, but what it has done is get the media linking the two together again and have solo fans and anti's (fans who refuse to even consider the possibility that Harry and Louis dated) hating on a large portion of Louis fanbase (Harry's too, but this article is about Louis and his marketing/ denial.) 

Many fans of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and in fact One Direction as a whole are aware of the so-called conspiracy theory around Harry and Louis, aptly named Larry Stylinson and while we at the Behind The Curtains believe that the boys are together and closeted, we also accept that they cannot come out and say so.

The reasons for this are many and complex, but this article will be about the most recent denial by Louis Tomlinson where he stated that there’s nothing he can say and nothing he can do to dispel the rumours that he and Harry have dated or are currently dating. Some of the reasons for not coming out  are to do with privacy. We believe, as many others do, that there’s a freedom in the privacy around keeping the relationship secret, keeping the fact they’ve dated or are dating under wraps. They don’t have to then go through what they went through in One Direction, with fans watching and analysing their every move around each other and they don’t have the media on their backs interfering and commenting on their private relationship. 

Another reason for remaining in the closet and probably the most pressing one, is contracts. We, as fans, don’t know and cannot know what clauses, NDAs  and contracts these boys are under. We do know there are still contracts from One Direction days in effect but what the image clauses are, and whether they are life long, we can’t say with certainty. However, some NDAs have clauses within them that can never be breached so I think it’s safe to say that unless there’s a major shift in the music industry and entertainment industries as a whole, then there may be a chance that the boys can never come out, should they want to. 

One other key aspect of their remaining in the closet will be career wise. For Louis who’s been marketed since One Direction as almost homophobic in his denials of him and Harry, it would be especially difficult to shift that narrative and given his career is going well, to come out now could be career suicide. He has denied his relationship with Harry time and again, but has never looked comfortable or explicitly stated that they have never been together. He’s danced around the subject, rambled about iphones and conspiracy theories, but not once has he stated that they were not, are not and have not ever been together. 

His body language when asked about dating Harry in this recent interview is interesting to me as someone who watches body language and understands non verbal communication as it’s a huge part of my job as a nurse to watch patients for non verbal queues to understand their pain, their comfort level and to offer help when required. Watching this interview gave me a feeling of anxiety and while he was clearly expecting the question, his body language was tense from the get go. He was stiffly sitting upright, shoulders tense and hands clasped. When One Direction was mentioned he rubbed at his chin and his cheek, both are signs of him trying to comfort himself. He knew the Harry question was coming up and he was trying subconsciously to comfort himself. 

Then the interviewer mentioned him dating Harry Styles and he nodded. His first instinct was to nod when this was mentioned. If a person nods they are agreeing with what’s been said, so in effect in the first few moments of this question being asked, Louis actually confirms through his subconscious body language that he is dating Harry Styles. He then goes on to answer, while fidgeting, rubbing his hands together, clasping his hands in front of his face and becomes more uptight and tense. There is a break in the segment and when they return he begins to stutter a little and then rubs his legs multiple times which is a sign of giving oneself comfort while lying. 

Further to that his tone of voice changes. His pitch becomes higher and his speech becomes slightly faster, with him stuttering over words and repeating himself. He also in the second part uses more gestures and his eyes dart around, showing his discomfort. All in all, watching him squirm and try to deny his relationship is uncomfortable and heartbreaking to watch. 

If Louis really wanted to stop the Larry rumours from floating around then he wouldn’t go on stage wearing blue and green, wouldn’t sing a song that starts with the word of the thing he’s trying to distance himself from, wouldn’t use blue and green lights when there are so many other colours he could use, wouldn’t have dreamed of recording a song like All Along which talks about how he and Harry  saw Ed in Manchester. He wouldn’t be singing a One Direction song Harry has writing credits on, wouldn’t have used Harry’s tattoos as Spotify canvas art for the first anniversary of Walls. He also wouldn’t have gotten the chicken dish mixed up, knowing Larries can recited word for word what the dish was. 

Louis feeds into the rumours and encourages Larries, by using song choices, clothing and lighting as ways to give nods to that side of his fandom, and as much as he denies his relationship, he’s never once said no, it’s not true. He’s only ever, on camera, danced around the topic and he’s right in the fact that he can’t stop us from believing in the relationship, because he constantly gives us clues, gives us hints and blatantly sings, ‘Larry call a load of smoke in…’ when he chooses to sing the song 7 by Catfish and the Bottlemen. He also stated that Too Young was about meeting the one at 18 when he didn’t meet Eleanor until he was 19. There are so many contradictions out there to the given narrative that you just need to be open to look to find out what’s happened and is still happening to Harry and Louis. 

And  to Louis pr and marketing team, should you happen to read this, we don’t buy the denials, so can you give it a rest? We don’t know what your game plan is for marketing Louis, but having him throw a large portion of his own fanbase under the bus isn’t how to correctly market someone. If you’d like some tips on how to market him correctly, contact me, or other fans on X because I’m 100% sure we could do better than having him lose fans, hurting the most loyal fans to him and dragging them through the mud for clicks. Stop using Louis to dispel Larry. Stop forcing him to lie and stop forcing ridiculous PR on him where he only gets clicks and attention through being linked to Harry. Louis is incredibly talented, a total sweetheart and one of the most humble musicians around, so maybe market him as that instead of constantly hurting fans who love and admire him for more than his dating life. He’s so much more than that. 

Lastly, Louis, if you read this, we are always on your side, regardless of what’s to come, we are here, we are strong and you are loved. You are always our idol, our co- conspirator and we as your fans are so sorry your hard work promoting yourself has been dragged down to your relationship. Wishing you all the luck on your tour in LATAM and looking forward to seeing festival Louis later this year. 

All our love to Louis and our Larries 

BTC