Louis Tomlinson: Louder For Those in The Back
Over the last few days and weeks there have been many discussions held within the fandom regarding Louis and his queercoding. Louis Tomlinson, former member of One Direction and current indie rockstar, has recently been in the news for once more attempting to deny he had a relationship with former band mate Harry Styles, however this denial was more of the same non denial that fans have heard before.
He never actually denied anything and instead quoted a song that was once performed by One Direction while on X Factor called Total Eclipse Of The Heart (originally by Bonnie Tyler.) The interview with the denial was also released on the day of the solar eclipse and once Larries made the connection we exposed it.
Louis has spent his career, both his early years in One Direction and later as a solo artist fighting an uphill battle- for radio play, for recognition and for confidence. Louis is an incredible songwriter and singer, but if you ask the general public who they know from One Direction now they’ll most likely say Harry or Niall, Liam at a push, but not Louis.
There a multiple reasons for this. One is, [ take out comma and replace with ‘that’] fans believe, Louis is blacklisted on radio, on award shows and on Spotify. If you look at streaming numbers you’ll see Louis are actually the lowest of all the former members of One Direction. One Direction gave the boys a great spring board for their solo careers but for Louis it also gave him an uphill battle in getting an album out and gaining new fans.
Labels wanted Harry, and as for Louis he was encouraged by Rob Stringer to go into songwriting and when he resisted because he wanted to sing, this was the result. We’ve seen how they belittled him during the band and heartbreakingly, gave away solos to the other boys while using Louis’ incredible talent to pad out the chorus.
One Direction wouldn’t have been half the band they were without Louis. He gave them a unique sound, both with his voice and with his songwriting skills. Savan Kotecha was unhappy with Louis and fought against Louis when he wanted to take more creative control, but Louis won in the end and Midnight Memories is the result.
Another thing Louis was up against was his natural mannerisms. To look at Louis in the very early days of One Direction and until 2012 one would say Louis was flamboyant, exuberant and quite clearly queer, but this was trained out of him. Gordon Smart said that Louis could have sunk] One Direction before they got out of the gate and as such he had to tone down his personality in order to comply with the media training and demands of management. In fact if you look at Louis in 2013/ 2014 he’s barely recognisable as the sweet kid from the X Factor.
During early One Direction, both Harry and Louis were quite loud in their attraction and affection with each other and Louis stated on video that he was gay. What is said in the audio clip is, “I’m gay, that’s pretty unfortunate, isn’t it, Eleanor?” This was apparently debunked and fans were told he said same day, in response because apparently a fan said they shared the same birthday of Christmas Eve which yeah he could have, but it doesn’t make sense in that context, does it? Regardless, hold that thought. He also told Harry he’d love oral sex if Harry could just wait, has multiple corresponding couple/ matching tattoos with Harry, said Harry was really good with his hands, jerked off a plant mid interview, sang I can’t compete with my boyfriend, he’s the best I’ve ever had, I have loved him since we were 18 and sings I love him, I hate it on stage now. Harry let slip his sexuality too, to Zayn in the ‘You’re so comically… genius!’ interview when Harry covered Zayn’s mouth and said, don’t say gay.
He uses rainbow flags during his tour videos, has rainbow lights bathing him and the fans during She Is Beauty We Are World Class, has used pink triangles in Miss You, has had a rainbow arcade game behind him during We Made It and has never, not once on camera stated that he’s straight.
There is an infamous tweet that is often referred to by solo fans where Louis apparently said he was straight and another where he apparently said “Larry was the biggest load of bullshit” he ever heard. It is widely known, however that artists’ management teams have access to their social media accounts and this would allow them to tweet from Louis' account.‘This still goes on still as evidenced when Harry apparently tweeted while on stage. I know they have different teams, but it shows that their accounts are also under management control still.
Another more famous tweet, that’s still up to this day is the ‘always in my heart’ tweet which was one of the most retweeted and liked tweets of all time. This tweet almost marked the end of public interactions between Harry and Louis and they still don’t interact, aren’t seen together at events or in public and although Louis has said Harry attends his shows and that they are in contact, solo fans still say they’ve not seen each other in years.
Louis further uses clothes to code his queerness, using Polari which is a brand that is based on a language used by gay men to communicate with each other when public interactions and relationships with other men were illegal. He also wears other brands by queer designers and has wore a giant H, making clear reference to Harry on his chest when performing his livestream concert during lockdown.
There are also lyrics, songs he highlights and shares, exit songs during concerts and many other things that I’ve probably missed, but if you can look at all of this and still say that Louis isn’t queer then I don’t know how to open your eyes. I’m not giving Louis a label, that’s his personal business and not mine, but I’m happy to be part of his queer community and to have found a place to belong thanks to Louis.
Louis is a strong, determined and beautiful person both inside and out. He’s kind, sweet and loving to his fans, but he’s also fighting a battle none of us know the extent of. To support him in this battle is more important than accusing other fans of insulting Louis by calling him queer, when in fact all we are doing is acknowledging the plethora of coding Louis has done over his long career.
To Louis, we see you, we accept you too and we know.
Always your Larrats
BTC
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