One thing that’s puzzled me about the fandom in recent years is the increasing hate towards the boys.

That’s not to say I think there aren’t good reasons for disliking them, because there are, I am fully aware that they’re all awful in one way or another, and I’m used to seeing these opinions from people outside the fandom.

I’m just confused as to why you would join a fandom and engage with its content when you don’t like over 90% of the main cast?

This isn’t by any means a complaint because, you know, this doesn’t really affect me and it’s your life and you can do what you want in your own time, I’ve just never encountered another series where I’ve seen this sort of thing and I don’t feel like the story/world-building in DL is good enough in canon to really act as a reason to stay?

I guess the reason why I’m so puzzled is because for me, the cast of DL are what makes the series. Sure, none of the characters except Yui can be described as good people (in fact the rest of them fall under the dictionary definition of a red flag), but I find them interesting enough that it makes up for all of the retconning and the incredibly inconsistent lore.

In my opinion there are series out there with characters who, you know, are not all bastards, and much better storytelling and worldbuilding than DL, but at the end of the day, you do you friends, I will just be sitting here on the sidelines, a little confused.

I don't understand their marketing plan and what demographics they want to target other than relying on fans. BTM is being added to pop playlists despite Louis posing as an indie artist. They had months before the new era to try to change his image a little bit and they didn't do anything, he remains isolated in the industry. Sorry if I'm wrong but I haven't seen artists like Dmas, Sam Fender or The Snuts talk about BTM. It's very clear that the indie niche doesn't see or treat him as an equal.

Yeah, anon, I kept hoping they would do something to start turning things around before a single—not the festival in 2021 or him in the studio for months or his impressive tour around the world reached outside the fandom bubble. One might argue it was better to wait for there to be new music to link to his name, but then, what are they doing now? It has all been essentially the same as in the past.

A couple good press interviews are only going to take you so far. If radio play is a problem—and it obviously is in the UK, why aren’t other avenues not being explored and why miss a chance to perform at The One Show, which had a nice interview? Then there was Lorraine: useless if not detrimental. And then? Nothing for days when it hasn’t been two weeks since the song was released. Even Louis’ accounts—active throughout tour, are dead? No end of tour post or about his biggest show to date, which he even mentioned in interviews? It doesn’t make sense.

The thing with Louis is that it goes beyond artistic erasure where people need to hear his music—and you can’t wait and hope for them to be inspired to check him out—there is an embedded negative bias to counter, belittlement that goes back to XF; years of disrespect, casual and expected. BMG should have made certain TodayFM played his song in full after granting them an interview, for instance. They shouldn’t allow two thirds of an interview to be about 1D and Freddie. They better keep that harrie DJ who is hosting one of the listening parties in check. If they don’t protect him, what’s the point?

There is a lot to overcome. It won’t change in a day, but it requires work—it won’t change with the same promo or even less.

I think with a good strategy you can target and reach different demographics simultaneously. With his background and the associations to his name, an ‘indie’ label is always going to be hard, but what you can’t do is undermine what progress is made in that direction with e.g. NME and AltPress with tabloid personality ‘promo’ that is damaging for any artist.

Listening parties for fans in random cities in the US will not expand his audience or keep his current fanbase engaged either. An international singer doing a meet and greet at a coffee shop? I still remember the Q102 Jingle Ball where he was the entertainment for the pre show instead of having him perform—Niall was headlining the actual show…

I hope to be wrong and there be much more good and beneficial promo to come. But UK has definitely been… bad.

To be fair, The Snuts did include his song in their playlist; Johnny from DMAs at least went to one of the shows and their account tweeted about it. Sam Fender would not be caught dead with him—but also for people who claim that Louis as an ‘indie’ artist wouldn’t do or get this or that: Sam celebrates charting, gets played on radio, has attended award shows and walked red carpets, etc.