Could it be?! More art from the wonderful and talented @latelierderiot?!? (Thank you thank you again, it’s absolutely gorgeous! If commissions are still open you should definitely consider one of your own!)

Indeed it is! From part three of Bound To You, The Touch of You.

Consider it something of a thank you to our lovely and patient readers, the next part is still in the works we swear! Real life is just a sunnuvabitch lol

Hi hi, would you tell us your favorite thing about the Bound To You verse?

I really love a lot about it, but I’m curious what the author(s) like about it most! <3

Anon I am kissing you on the mouth for this ask!! MWAH 💋💋💋

I’ll let @riotwritesthings speak about what she likes about writing BTY, but as for me, I think first and foremost is that I get to write a story I love with my best friend. I am so grateful that I get to be friends with Riot and work on this incredible story that we’re both so passionate about, it’s truly a joyful experience!!

Secondly, I love that in writing this story I’ve gotten the chance to change Bucky’s story a little and give him the opportunity to heal on his own in his own way without having to “make amends” (side eyeing that whole steaming pile of shit from FATWS real hard). As a mental health professional that was a very poor representation of how a therapist should be, even with a client mandated to your services, so I really wanted to address that for Bucky and take the opportunity to demonstrate good mental health practices by qualified and caring people.

Thirdly, as a domme I wanted to write a story that is BDSM and D/S but utilize a less common side of it which is gentle domination and non sexual submission. This has been something that’s really important to me to share with people because it’s very underrepresented in stories, and while I wouldn’t ever tell someone to use a story as a guide for their own kink practices, I do want to show something that people might not have seen before!

The number of comments that Riot and I have gotten on this topic from people who feel seen because this is the type of kink they engage in but have never seen in fic before is truly humbling and rewarding.

Finally, though I could go on forever about my favorite things, I’ll say that one of my favorite things about writing BTY is the way that it’s made me a better and more creative author. This story pushes me to be nuanced, to engage in paced storytelling that is true to the characters and their trauma, and to think critically about who these people are and what their needs are within the story.

I truly hope that everyone enjoys this story as much as we enjoy writing it, because we have so much left to tell and I can’t wait to share it all with you ♥️♥️♥️

🥰 Louis singing his 2023 version of Back to You, FITFWT Uncasville, 26 May 2023 x

You and I do not agree on a pretty big aspect of Louis’ life but goddamn if some people from my neck of the woods don’t bury their heads in the sand about this situation. Maybe he should give up music and start a parenting podcast because that seems to be the real priority 🙃

No, but a point that I have been trying to make for years now is that whether you believe it’s real or not, the situation is still abnormal—and detrimental—and has been from the start.

Let’s not get into 2016, but a birthday cake was brought out for Freddie during JHO promo, that’s how far back this goes in being indivisible from how Louis is “promoted” in his solo career. BTY was launched with an exclusive in The Sun—this was the headline: Louis Tomlinson pictured smiling and laughing with girlfriend Eleanor Calder on break from filming his new music video in Doncaster; followed by a round of press about Freddie on his IG, and then an interview with Dan Wootton. Soon after there was an actual round of press about the E tattoo too after an “interview” with Andy Cohen that had four questions: about Zayn, 1D, Eleanor, and fatherhood. For his first ever UK festival performance debuting MY, the host radio station’s article was headlined: Louis Tomlinson talks about hs similarities to baby Freddie. One random verse about his non-famous girlfriend in WMI was highlighted for promo. For Walls album there were exclusive interviews with Telegraph, Metro, Sun, Independent—with content focused on his personal life and 1D reunion(!)—instead of features in relevant magazines. When fans made Walls chart again months after release there was immediately a new round of mini-me press—after the round about the picture shared by Briana on Father’s Day. In a year in which he released his first album, started and postponed his tour, and organized a record winning livestream concert, his main press was still about fatherhood. The latest Dutch interview is representative of too much of Louis’ promo: In Milan I spoke to Louis Tomlinson about his new album ‘Faith in the future’, his world tour, his son Freddie and of course about One Direction, and the article reads [loosely] ’the name Louis Tomlinson might not tell you anything, until I say 1D’ and then in a video of two minutes over half is about 1D and Freddie. Look at what TODAY Show has to say about Louis, August 2022: Tomlinson, known for his pranks and overall great vibes he brought to the band, also went solo after 1D stopped making music together. The singer released his first solo single, "Just Like You" in 2017, and followed it in 2020 with his first full studio album, “Walls." He also has a 5-year-old son, Freddie, who he co-parents with his ex, Briana Jungwirth. A line about his solo career with the wrong single. And fatherhood—and it will never make any sense why the non-famous mother should get name dropped all over the place.

You can find Louis in an article like Dad Admits He ‘Cannot Stand’ His 5-Year-Old Daughter, Hates Being a Parent under 'Stars Who Had Kids Young,' but not in a ranking of best solo singles from 1D members on Entertainment Weekly.

Louis has said he wants to be known as an artist, literally told an interviewer he was there to talk about his music—and she agreed, only to end the interview asking him about Freddie. And while there are artists whose parenthood is part of their image and included in promo, they are always known first and foremost as artists. That is not the case with Louis.

It’s not exaggeration to say almost every single interview and article over the years has made sure to mention that Freddie lives in LA with his mother, Briana Jungwirth. How is that interesting, how is that relevant, how is it something that bears continuous repeating? Same with the insistence on Freddie being identical to him—especially when for four years they were not even seen together. Article upon article—seriously, so many articles—about Freddie, and where they had to use pics he hadn’t shared himself and in which they weren’t together. How does that make sense?

Now he goes on Lorraine and not a breath between: as somebody who writes songs, somebody who performs, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it. I can’t believe your little boy is six. Though that makes sense for the show’s audience, I guess. Note BTM has only kept going down in the charts after the interview aired. Were there even performances booked in the UK?

Whatever you believe, the disproportion is abnormal, strategically unsound, and at odds with the goals and views Louis has expressed regarding his career and his privacy.

The focus on his personal life—and 1D—has made it so that it defines him to the public—we know interviewers were encouraged to ask for BTY promo, and what for? It’s done nothing to make people interested in his music. And it’s been years, why would people be any more interested now? In 2019 too you had interviewers asking about fatherhood as though it were something that had just happened to him, three years later, a novel talking point.

And how does promoting him as a tabloid personality fit in with an artist intent on building his artistic credibility, reintroducing himself as an artist defined by his music? Does it not undermine the artistic credibility he might gather with, like, that NME feature on his festival?

Won’t let this get any longer, but the situation has never and continues not to be normal and certainly not beneficial to Louis. And I would think any fan as a fan of his music, whatever they believe, would want better for him.

This is long, sorry in advance. After watching AOTV I had a thought about louis disappointment and the sense of rock bottom at the end of the band. I do think that by 2013 it was clear to the others that things were being put together for harry. But louis puts this aside and focuses on how he would make himself an asset to 1d and we get MM and Four. These are crucial moments in louis career because it establishes him as singer songwriter. I think that louis had hoped when the end came, at least the end of the 5 album contract, he himself would have a record deal and would be able to do the kind of music he liked. And not with Syco. He has a pop rock punk vibe from the 1d days - then came Always You and Miss You with it's great rap style verse. And his collab w Steve Aoki along with his ties to the DJ's he knew well. On paper, louis had a lot coming off of No Control. His popularity in fandom was huge and his charisma on stage during oTRA was something else. Imagine then finding it all crumble to the ground and having to sign with a near dead and cash poor label. Its must have been a stunning and horrible blow along with the bad press in 2015 and then 2016 got even worse. The more I think of zayn and his RCA deal the more I believe that louis had a sense of what was coming and doing his best to be prepared. I just feel so strongly that Louis has been a resourceful person for a long long time and his sentence that he did not want 1d to end is more a metaphor for he did not want to be stuck in that no mans land of ex boy band but make a go at a solo career. Then suddenly and cruelly all the support is pulled away from him. I think the pain of putting all the effort to be a vastly improved version of himself from 2011 and then finding himself treated like a non artist by his label must have just doubled down on his panic and distress.

Louis has stated numerous times now how he did not envision himself as a solo artist whilst in the band. So I don't imagine he had any dreams of signing to a label.

However, you're right about Louis' popularity at the end of 1D and likewise, at the beginning of his solo career. The numbers for JHO, BTY and even Miss You don't lie. He was too popular for some people's tastes and that's where the rug was pulled from under him. LT0 never seeing the light, the XFactor. And it worked, because his fanbase was decimated and years later he has to come out with a documentary about his (former) lack of confidence that gets people saying "yeah, what has this former 1D guy been doing all these years?!". His career might be going strong (or stronger than he could image) but it still lives in a bubble. Even AOTV itself is proof of that, in a way.

What were your thoughts on the silver tongues mv? Did you enjoy it?

I've decided to answer all my music video questions, because I love talking about music videos - and I'm going to start here.

I love the Silver Tongues music video. I've often said that I think all a music video needs is a sense of place and some sort of emotion - and it definitely has them in spades. But I think it has something else as well, which really elevates it, and that's tension.

I really like Silver Tongues as a song and its vibe of 'love is a night out/a night out is love' and I think the video extends that idea interesting ways.

The first is that it really emphasises the collective nature of the song. The video starts with Louis singing the first verse in his own space, alone, staring into the distance. In the scenes that follow we see other characters do the same, creating a parallel between them. In each of these shots the character is carrying a sense of weight. The shots are enough to know that they carry weight - that's enough. (I feel like there's another tension with the character with a shaved head - a man who looks like that staring in the mirror - culturally that's a gun in the first act, but it doesn't go off - subverting expectations and undercutting some of the stereotypes).

These scenes are then intercut with people partying together - in a variety of different locations. Houses, pubs, outside someone's house, in the street. I think we eventually see all the people alone in some of the partying scenes. The fact that we've seen other shots of people brings a depth to the party scenes - and emphasises that this collective joy has a purpose - people need this. I also really like the range of party scenes - most for people without very much resources - showing the way people do create space to be together.

The key idea of the video is that people need to come together and have fun, because of all the difficulties that we face in our lives. I think it's really important, post-covid, to value collective joy. By creating parallels between all these people's lives it tells that story in a way that is much larger.

Then, about half way through another mode that characters (Louis and the other featured extras) exist in is introduced - staring defiantly at the camera. We see this intercut with the other types of shots (both the alone shots and the partying shots), until it ends with the characters from the video, together - staring at the audience. There's another sort of collectivity here - a standing together that has been suggested by the parallels. Suggesting I think that there are lots of different ways of being together and lots of different ways of being isolated and they can coexist.

That's what I love about Silver Tongues - I think the energy in the partying scenes is really good, the sense of place is strong and the piece is interesting.

I do think that within Louis' music videos he is hitting some of the same notes over and over again and that that does make it less effective than it might have been if we hadn't had Out of My System, and the Walls Trilogy (not including Walls) hitting some of the same notes. I also think the lightness of BTY is missing from his more recent videos - and hope that he feels a little freer in the future, now he's established himself as serious.

The Flash 9x05

Well, that was the underwhelming conclusion to Eric Wallace’s worst “graphic novel” yet. I mean, he always runs out of time with his strange “Oh, no, we can’t use more than a handful episode for a graphic novel because the Mirror Verse Arc was too long and did not work out because of this” thought-process, but this one did make even less sense than the Finale of Season 8 and that is saying something.

Like:

+ By this point the show has kissed anykind of continuity goodbye, but you know: back after Crisis in Season 6 it was said that Gorilla City is now on Earth Prime. Was Cisco lying to us or are we to assume that Gorilla City is here but the sentinient gorillas for some reason aren’t?

+ Did they not say just three eps ago that Ryan Wilder did vanish? Where to and why? And why did she show up at all in this episode, if she was not involved with the Red Death Storyline before? Would it have hurt to have her say anything about her actual whereabouts?

+ They are expecting us that Ryan, who never even meet any of the Superfriends, is now meeting once a month with Kara, Alex and Nia? Why is Kelly not invited (or *sigh* LL for that matter)?

+ Maybe I missed something but what ever happend to the Rogues in this episode? Captain Boomerang, Murmur and Fiddler just - what?-  split at one point because they weren’t needed anymore? Or are they still out there as a gang causing chaos and everyone is just fine with this?

+ Eric Wallace’s logic of decent human behaviour and what is considered normal struck again with Joe basically taking Jenna from Cecile and ordering her to only see her (and him) on the weekends. Because you know no crime ever happens on the weekend and Team Flash does only need Cecile five days a week and will totally not die when their most powerful member is not at hand on a sunday because the father of her child has ordered her that this is family time, but she is also not allowed to live with him and her child for the rest of the week. (Yes Jenna is totally not going to come out with a damage out of this situation). And of course everyone is acting like this is totally normal. Bty where is Cecile supposed to live now? Alone in the House? Are Barry and Iris moving in there instead with her? What about the Loft?

+ That whole arc would not have happend if Barry would have had the decency to check in on Grodd somewhen in the last three years! But as we know by now the Earth Prime Barry Allen forgets about his friends on a regular basis, so no surprise there.

+ What was wrong with the writers of this episode anyways? Five minutes after Iris tells her you can be useful as a normal person Khion discovers that she has powers. Five minutes after Barry tells Joe he is useful for the team and he needs him in CC, Joe tells Cecile he is taking Jenna with him to bring her up somewhere else and that Team Flash only needs Cecile.

* If Iris gets pregnant three months too soon, the baby actually won’t be Nora, just saying. So either Barry was wrong or they just erased the lastest version of Nora from existence.

+ Also, let’s just say it at least once: Barry did not need the Rogue Squad. Cecile, Allegra and Kramer are so  powerful  that the city would not even need him for anything, if they would just explore their powers properly or just - you know - actually use them! (Hence the Meta-Cuffs for Kramer in the most akward moment of the episode).

On the plus side: No more overacting from Javica in this episode. See, a director can make a difference.

But this sadly is not enough to make this “graphic novel” anything other than a desaster.

bop or not: back to you

Listen ok I............ fuck with this song I don't listen to it that often but I bop to it honestly and I can't tell if it's just because I love everything Louis does or bc I actually like the song but I DO I LIKE IT

When I'm listening to this I almost always watch the mv also because it's just so cute. They are both so CUTE in it and it makes the experience tbh. Like absolutely what the fuck is this.

x BYE EXCUSE YOU BOTH

And this. Always this. This gif and the nonbinary windbreaker myybabbbaaayyyyyy

And I like Bebe's voice, I think it's cool and unique. So, like. The first bit of the song boop a doop I'm boppin along I'm having a great time yes Bebe go off u absolute cuteass then we have Lou's verse and of course he sounds wonderful but then

Then. Then we get Lou's chorus. And I........... ascend to the astroplane I’m zayn’s shirt same shit ENTIRELY different celestial plane ass just WOOOOOOOWWWWW HE SOUNDS. SO. FFFKKCKCCIING GOOD ON THAT CHORUS

We oh my god I just I can't I needsdfjksf ONE MORE TIME

HE SOUNDS SO FUCKING GOOD ON THAT CHORUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We don't get a ton of Louis vibrato these days, but loorddt if we don't get it in this song. It fucks me up it kills me man. It kills me. It's so delicate. Oh jesus. Oh jeeeeezus it's so good. Oh JESUS it's so GOOD. sldfkjslkdfjs when he goes I DON'T KNOW HO~**O~O~*O*~OW TO MAKE IT STOP i just I JUST!!!!!!!

where's @dyingstars-x that's ANOTHER ONE THAT'S ANOTHER REPLAY 2808 TIMES MOMENT I JUST RUN IT BACK OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND SCREAM EVERY TIME HOOOOOOOW DOES HE

sound LIKE THAT GGGGOOODDDDDD

Also, so many artist collabs are just, like, the two artists' voices...... just singing...... separately but at the same time...... and it's underwhelming but this song makes clear (as if we didn't already know) that our baby blue boi really knows how to sing so as to complement the other person's voice, turn duet parts into something melded and twisted-together and really lovely. (For it to work, the other person has to know how to do it, too, so I'm not knocking Bebe, but Louis specifically also showed all throughout his time in the band how good he is at this.) He sounds damn wonderful on his own, obviously, but it takes a really special voice to be able to work that well with that many different types of voices. King of blending. Honestly so impressive.

Conclusion: bty is a bop. We’ll let it be a bop IT'S A BOP have a gif of the little fist bump at the end. Sunshine bbs, sobs.

her little necklace that says Bebe bye i'm done marry me ok i'm out

END OF THE YEAR: THIS OR THAT

thank you so much for tagging me @berlinini <3 i'm sorry it took so long i didn't see it until now

JHO or DLIBYH - as much as i love JHO, especially the live version, since the pandemic began DLIBYH has really become my go-to comfort song. i have such a soft spot in my heart for the piano edit, it works like the warmest safest blanket

BTY or miss you - she'll always be my fav off the singles pre-walls. the sound, the lyrics, the huge difference between verses, chorus and bridge... i love it, i'm all in for those type of songs that when you first listen to them you're like "how can this be the same song?". also i'll always be curious about how present louis would go for the live performance of this song rn, but i guess we'll never know :(

JLY or OTB - always, all the way, i'll never forget the shock after listening to OTB for the first time that January 31st 2020 at 00:38 am

fearless or defenceless - as much as i love the lyrics and the bridge in defenceless, as well as the incredible way it translates to a live show like we could see in afhf; fearless will always remain superior, especially bc it's THAT song live

always you or habit - always you is a banger, but the instrumentals and the verses in habit are something else for me

too young or WMI - only bc of the opening of afhf i have to say WMI, but Louis' soft tender voice in Too Young never fails to make me emotional

KMM or walls - i want more songs like KMM, i want more rock louis, more electric guitar louis, this are the type of songs i usually listen to so i definitely need more like this from Louis. But Walls is a masterpiece top to bottom: lyrics, instrumentals, strings, all the layered meanings behind every single word. So... BOTH!

perfect now or two of us - as much as i love the live from london version of Perfect Now, i have to choose Two Of Us, it's just too special (and my first time listening to louis)

copy or change - aaah this was the hardest one, i think based only on how much more excited and curious it made me for the sound of LT2, bc it had some aspects both in structure and sound that we hadn't seen before from louis, i have to say Change. But i could easily choose Copy too tbh

beautiful war or 7 - bc even some Catfish and the Bottlemen fans say it: louis sings it better than them

drag me down, TTD or LBD - the three of them have things i like more and things i like less, but i think DMD is the one i enjoy the most. also, louis taking ownership of it and forgetting about the "nobody, nobody" is poetic justice

live from london or AFHF - live from london was perfect but as louis said in AFHF you could feel it, there was something special in the room (even through a screen)

sorry this was quite longer than intended, and although i know i'm late...

Happy New Year to you all louies !!!

I remember you once brought up the idea of the ‘brother to you’ characters meeting the ‘flip the coin’ versions, and I’m thinking of that even more so now with the recent chapter. FtC Sasuke (15?) is still adjusting to living on his own (with Shikamaru) and having a hard time imagining how Naruto did so at an even younger age. Just imagine him seeing BtY Sasuke and Naruto. (Also with the awareness of /why/ this Sasuke is in this situation)

I mentioned writing some kind of dimension travel once yeah, and talked about the FtC version of the characters meeting their canon counterparts here.

And of course the worst off here would be Sasuke. Even if (when) he does learn the full extent of Itachi’s involvement in Danzo’s aborted plan to deal with the Uchiha, well, he didn’t do it, in FtC, and none of them ever wants to think he actually would have, not even Itachi himself. Walking into a world where it did happen would be a massive blow to FtC Sasuke and he probably wouldn’t be able to truly wrap his head around it. It would probably damage something in his relationship with his brother, to know that he could do something like this, that he had it in him in this world.  Not as much as it would damage Itachi’s relationship with himself lol, since in FtC he hasn’t even recovered fully from it even if he can still hold on to the meager hope that maybe had it come to pass he wouldn’t have gone through with it in the end. A hope that would be shattered, was he aware of canon. It’s entirely possible that if Sasuke was the one to get a glimpse of those other ‘verse, he would hide it from his brother. He’s gonna take the protective role more and more haha, as he is stronger and more stable than Itachi, mentally speaking (I’ll never be done expressing my love for well-adjusted Sasuke).

At least in BtY he’s marginally better off than in canon because he has Naruto with him from the start but still. It would only fuel even more his “Take down the whole system” plan haha, but sadly enough he’s gonna have several more moments of “damn it’s actually THAT bad”. Sasuke already has a very strong case of “must fix every problem I come across” so visiting either Canon or the BtY ‘verse  when they’re kids would probably haunt him for the rest of his life.

Tbh I had a moment of “I can’t have the kids living on their own so young” in FtC before remembering that... well. I can x) though it’s different of course cause they’re not orphans (for a change) but since so many kids do live on their own already in their f-up world what’s one or two more heh. Plus they’re rich which always help. And in FtC it’s their choice to move out, and they’re around fifteen yeah so it’s not so out there.

Anyway I’ll maybe see about writing crossovers one day, but updates come first ^^ Thank you for your thoughts!

Bound to You—Outtakes

I’ll Wait Out the Storm With You

Bucky presses Tony deeper into the couch, kissing him intently, wishing for nothing more than this.

The first of our outtakes from the BTY verse for our second place winner of the group chat Easter Egg Hunt, @missmoodybear !!!

I just watched FIMQ new video and now I’m confuse !! Through their lyrics what do you think happened in their relationship ? To me it looks like Louis broke up with Harry but then he asked him to forgive him and now they are together bc Harry sang you’re still the one last year !!

My gut feeling is that they have had ups and downs. The songs about hurting each other and not communicating could have taken place any time between 2013 and 2018. I wasn’t in the fandom in 2013 or early 2014, so I can’t say.

[[MORE]]

I’m not going to dissect the songs for clues and timelines. Habit, Defenceless, Too Young, and Don’t Let It Break Your Heart all sound like songs written before KMM, some in 2018, maybe even 2016 or 2017. Habit is a love song— like the flip side of KMM, which Louis has described as a toxic but fun relationship. The metaphor of Habit is addiction: the shiver that I can’t shake. Back to You is also about a toxic but addictive relationship: you stress me out, you kill me, you drag me down (a 1D reference), you fuck me up, we’re on the ground screaming, I don’t know make it stop, I love it, I hate it, and I can’t take it, but I keep on coming back to you. Miss You is about regretting a break up, written in the middle of a supposedly healthy, happy reunion with Eleanor, love of Louis’ life (so was BTY).

To me, for a man who has been publicly and happily committed to the same woman for nearly seven years of his young life, Louis knows more than he should about excruciating heartbreak, difficulty communicating, the inability to make public declarations, the inability to change himself (written in these walls are the colors that I can’t change), a long and deeply felt but also extremely stress-inducing relationship... why so much stress?

And we can see that Harry, a guy who supposedly has had model girlfriend after model girlfriend, also sang songs about wanting domesticity (fridge light washes this room white) and longterm commitment (still the one).

My personal opinion is that the end of Harry’s Rolling Stone interview, where Rob Sheffield talks about Landslide, is revealing. It’s very well known that Rob has written in RS about Harry and Louis as the Stevie and Lindsey of One Direction. Landslide is a song Stevie Nicks wrote when she was almost ready to give up on music and on Lindsey Buckingham. Having been to Fleetwood Mac shows, Harry knew when Landslide was coming up. He’s described as somber, with Anne putting an arm around him as the song is played.

I also think of Don’t Let It Break Your Heart as the song about surviving a heartbreak. It could be about grief, but it doesn’t sound that way to me. The first verse is about two people who have intentionally moved to opposite sides of London, who have homes in the UK and in New York, but one of them has abandoned a box of personal belongings in NY. It’s about managing the leftover pieces of life after heartbreak— moving down the one-way road of time, “time takes time to heal it.” The lyrics, “when you love someone, and they let you go,” doesn’t sound like grief to me. It has intent. Someone has decided to let “you” go. But the song is also about forgiveness and courage. “You can do it by yourself.” You are alone, but you will survive, even thrive. Other people (Louis) have done it, so can you.

Personally I think they have had a few breaks, and are no longer together (have not been for a while, maybe 2018). As we can see from the songs that Louis sang at Madrid, and from FIMQ’s video, Louis still has a lot of strong feelings; they’re all over his songs. They have always shown strong feelings in their love songs, even at the worst of times (Strong was written when their closeting became unbearably rigid, unbearably quickly. Happily and Something Great were songs in response). I wrote in tags that I felt so sad for both of them. I think they both tried their best to keep a relationship going, but the music industry is shitty. The worst part is that they blame themselves— Louis especially— for having hard times. Without details, we will never know for sure, but it is so shitty that he should feel this way. I know sometimes people write songs only marginally based on personal experience, but Louis does tend to write from the heart, and his songs, especially his lyrics, are meant to be organic and real.

One doesn't say 'girlfriend at the time' if one means the current girlfriend. So whom is We Made It about? That person whom he discussed things with when he was 17-18? the girlfriend at the time? the fans? Hahahaha same as with Freddie he sure isn't sure about the two people whom are supposed to be the most important. So up until now it was only Oli listening to the songs. She wasn't mentioned. Oh and Oli lives with them cause they can't ever be alone ever.

He didn’t say ‘girlfriend at the time’. He said: ‘In the verses I’m kinda talking about ME RELATIONSHIP WITH ME GIRLFRIEND AT THE TIME’. Why are you lying, anon???

He says in every single one of his interviews who ‘We Made It’ is about. If you chose not to listen to him - that’s your problem, not mine and not his.

“So up until now it was only Oli listening to the songs. She wasn’t mentioned.” - Why the hell are you lying again, anon? Why the hell are you not listening to Louis’ own words? 

“-Whose opinion do you rely on the most after you’ve completed the track? Who do you wanna play it first?Who I rely on it’s a difficult question but I always, always make a habit of playing my music to my girlfriend, to my best friend Oli, to my friends like lets say for a lads trip and I say like ‘guys, what you think of this’ coz it’s very important to me”

He was asked the same question in 2017 during BTY promo. And he gave exactly the same answer. But you never listened to him. You never do.

I just watch the 3 times Harry sang SOML. In fact, Harry never sang Louis part, he absolutely screamed out of his lung and smiled ear to ear. What are your thoughts? It was after his surgery in his first which it has a rumour that Louis stayed 1week longer in LA because of Harry..

You goddamn right.

Dallas, 10 October 2017, 1:59.

Radio City Music Hall, 28 September 2017, 1:38.

Boston Wang Center, 30 September 2017, 2:00.

Atlanta, 7 October 2017, 1:56.

These are Louis’ solo verses:

And I’ll be gone, gone tonight

The ground beneath my feet is open wide

The way that I’ve been holding on too tight

With nothing in between

Louis’ voice wasn’t there, but he was there, in spirit at least. His boy loves him. It makes so much more sense that Harry would have the audience sing Louis’ verses in IICF, doesn’t it?

I remember when Louis stayed in LA!

Harry talked about injuring his wrist on the set of Dunkirk, in his interview with Roman in July 2017. It was first noticed on 7 September 2017 that he had a bandage on his right wrist from surgery. He played the NOVA Red Room event.

Louis played BTY at the Teen Choice Awards on 13 August 2017.

I think it was either August 23rd or 30th that Louis was supposed to fly back to the UK, but he didn’t. It turned out that he stayed in LA for an extra week.

We also found out that neither Anne nor Gemma came to LA during that time. Funny!

Not to take anything away from other interpretations but the official line on Habit is that it’s about the fans. The fans are the habit he can’t break or the feeling he can’t put down. He took some time away from fans & fame but he wants them in front of him always, needs them right now. Regardless of other connotations, it’s how he got away with mentioning Princess Park. He’s come so far as an artist on all those stages since then. Gotta admire the layers of meaning in his work.

Hi anon,

So there’s two things here and I’m going to take the idea that Habit is about fans first.  I’ve seen some tags about this idea and got some messages and I actually think it’s a really interesting one.  

I think, particularly if you widen it out to performing and the music industry more generally, that it works as an interpretation. I can see how all three pieces of the song (the first and last verse, the chorus and hte middle verse) connect with ways that I imagine Louis feels about the music industry. 

And I think it could be true in a lot of different ways.  Louis could have connected with some of those feelings in writing that song.  And then it developed into something that sounds a bit like a love song - which is one of the things that happens in music (I actually wondered the same thing about BTY when it came out).  Or it could be that the song was conceived and will be presented as a way of communicating how he feels about the industry (which we will know soon enough).  

I am wary of saying a song is about something with any level of certainty without a strong evidence base. Personally if the song was presented as a song about the music industry/performing/fans I would understand it that way.  But unless it’s presented that way - I would think about it as one possible interpretations among many.

Which gets me to my other response to this anon.  What are you talking about? How can you know what the official line on Habit is? If this is an evidence based claim can you please provide a link?

I also find claiming that Louis ‘got away with mentioning Princess Park’ without evidence quite frustrating.  That’s very specific framing that makes all sorts of assumptions.

So I’ll wait and see, I think this interpretation of the song is interesting. And I think it’ll always remain a possiblity for me.  But we’ve only had one performance. We don’t really know how it’ll be presented.