Louis Tomlinson: Success without Support

Louis Tomlinson: Success Without Support 

Many artists have come through the music industry/Sony machine and have faded away into the background, playing to small venues or trying to hold on to fame that was fickle and short lived. This has been the fate of many boybanders over the years. We just have to look at the solo members of boybands such as Nsync, Boyzone, Westlife, The Backstreet Boys to see that more often than not, solo careers often failed or one member had success, but it dwindled down and they went back to the band that made them famous. 

One exception to the flop after a boyband rule is Justin Timberlake, but since Britney’s biography came out and he was hit with a tonne of bad press about his behaviour in slut shaming her over the years, up pops the boyband friends who were in his band and suddenly the bad press disappears in light of a much anticipated Nsync reunion. 

Another example of a solo star who successfully used his fame to launch himself into the stratosphere is Harry Styles. Harry, as anyone who hasn’t spent the last twenty years under a rock knows, came from One Direction, who were and are the biggest boyband ever. Harry’s fame however came as a result of an exceptional media presence, a tightly managed media image and the full might of Sony. Harry was to be Sony’s golden goose and was sought after by many until he ultimately decided to stay with Sony at the Columbia label. 

The other members of One Direction, from Zayn to Liam and Niall have all had majorly successful careers, number one singles and excellent spotify numbers. All get radio play alongside Harry, however in recent years both Zayn and Liam have had multiple controversies piled on them by the media and their press has been less than favourable. Niall however seems to have escaped this media backlash, however he remains with Modest Management so this could have something to do with him not getting negative press. 

The final member of One Direction, who I’ve purposely not mentioned until now is Louis Tomlinson. Louis was the backbone of One Direction, the songwriter, the one with the uniquely high voice that carried multiple songs, however he was also the one that management, the label and producers tried to break. Louis was told his voice was unreliable and that he wasn’t good enough, so much so that when One Direction ended, Louis was devastated because he felt, in his own words, as though he’d just started to find his footing within the band. It took his mum Johanna to tell him to pursue his singing career before he took steps to continue singing. 

Every member of One Direction was and remains to this day to be incredibly talented, but Louis, who has the most writing credits in One Direction, remains the artist from the band with the lowest number of spotify streams. He also remains largely undiscovered and although his music is different from the down the line pop of One Direction, he is an excellent songwriter. His latest songs are more Arctic Monkeys, Oasis style, but his lyrics portray a story of a young man who has fought through hell to have a career in the music industry. 

When Louis' most recent album was released fans fought for it to get to number one, against a Sony artist and yet even when it hit number one in the UK, it was largely underrepresented on radio. It wasn’t even on the rotation of songs that could be played by DJs on the nation's radio. Songs such as Face The Music, Out of My System, Silver Tongues and Holding onto Heartache show the depth of his songwriting and his versatility as an artist; Bigger Than Me shows Louis’ vocal range off; Silver Tongues is an epic anthemic song and Holding Onto Heartache has a bridge that is insanely well written, yet not one of these songs would you hear on radio, regardless of the repeated requests of Louis’ fans. 

Louis himself has stated that he goes to radio stations for promotional interviews, but holds little hope that his music will be given a fair shot of radio play. In fact bands that Louis has discovered and taken on tour, such as Only The Poets get played on Radio one, but when Louis’ single Bigger Than Me was released to radio, the producers were happy to listen to it until they heard that it was by Louis then it appeared that their opinions changed since it was never given any rotation.

One of his BMG managers stated that Louis sonically doesn’t meet the requirements for radio play, but if Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, Catfish and the Bottlemen and other bands can get fair radio play, then why can’t an alum from the biggest boyband on the planet? Why did his promo team acknowledge that there would be little to no radio support for Louis? 

One fan theory that resonates with me is that Louis gets zero radio play because he didn’t want to fade into the background when One Direction went on hiatus. He wanted to be a singer and even though Rob Stringer, Sony’s CEO was trying to push Louis into songwriting and managing music instead of allowing him to proceed as a singer which Louis obviously fought back against since he's out there, singing his heart out on tour right now.  

Was this why Louis had to jump through multiple hoops before the release of Walls? Was this why his talent was poorly managed by Epic and then Arista? Has Louis stepped on the toes of those at the top of the music industry in such a way that they don’t want him to succeed? 

This past weekend, June 1st, Louis was the first artist to play a show at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, in Mexico City to a staggering crowd of at least 70,000 fans. This for a man with no radio support, but who has some of the most loyal fans in the world. Fans from all over went to this show. I know personally of fans from Scotland,England and the USA who’ve gone to see Louis in Mexico. 

Louis is eternally humble and takes nothing for granted, always crediting fans with what they and he created together, but his talent draws fans in. His humility captivates the audience and his voice sells the story of the one from the band that they tried and failed to break. Louis made it, on his own, based on his talent, his incredible fans and without media or radio support. 

His fans all over are so proud of him because we feel connected to Louis, like he says: he needs us as much as we need him and we’ll always be by his side, regardless of what’s to come because he loves us as much as we do him. Our fandom is incredibly protective of Louis, proud of all he has achieved and in awe of his talent. 

It’s just disappointing that Louis, himself doesn’t get more support from the radio stations that play his bandmates, his friends and his One Direction songs without reservation, but refuse to play his work, but he proves  time and again that he doesn’t need them or their support. 

There are also a contingent of Harry Styles’ fans who, for whatever reason appear to hate Louis and any successes he has. They fight with Louis’ fans, call him names and try to downplay his achievements without realising that Harry is successful because of the support he has from his label and management. Harry is tied with golden handcuffs because of how popular he is and whilst  Harry is incredibly talented, he is also lucky in many ways to have the radio and media support he has, although one needs to remember that the more famous/popular you are as an artist, the deeper the industry hooks inside go. Harry, although he appears free, is far from it and even now, while he’s on his break, he’s still out being papped and shown in the media even though he has nothing to promote at present. 

Does Louis scare you Sony? Does an artist without support make it harder for those under your control to scare? I hope he does, because one thing you should know is that Louis’ fans love him for who he is, who he’s always been underneath the mould you tried to media train him into. We see him and we love him, flamboyance and all. 

Here at Behind the Curtains we are so indescribably proud of you Louis. Keep going, keep showing them that you don’t need them or their poisonous support and lead the way for others to follow you. Congratulations on the success of the Faith In The Future World Tour and best of luck in the final shows and the festivals to come. 

Your fans have your back and always will have and we would happily support more artists getting away from the toxicity of an industry that bases sales on sex appeal, marketability and 1960s models of what is and isn’t acceptable. It’s 2024 and the time of those dinosaurs is over. 

We need to move into the new world of artists getting support regardless of sexuality, gender or race. Equality, fair pay and fair contracts, no blacklisting of singers and PR that supports artists as people instead of products is where we should be heading. No more closets, no more scandals, just selling based on talent. 

Here’s to faith in that future and faith in the future.

Cheers to Louis 

BTC  

Photo credits- Joshua Halling, screencaps from Veeps