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berlinini · 1 year

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Some thoughts on the Silver Tongues MV. I tried to avoid seeing other interpretations but obviously not much of this will be brand new.

It's very much British (as Louis is) and references his upbringing in Donny in some interesting ways: what looks like a teenager's bedroom (obvious), the shots of the houses ('terraced dreams' in Common People), the vintage car, and the fact that the band plays in the living room (an hommage to his first band? or at least the idea that he started making music as a teenager, that music makes him feel at home?)

When alone, all the characters are sad (angry even) and looking straight ahead, including Louis in the opening scene. You understand why he doesn't "feel like going home" - it's lonely and sad. Contrast with the warmth and energy of the scenes in the pub that matches "when I'm with you I'm so much happier". You get that one lonely guy in the pub who looks sad, but his whole body language changes once his friends reach him.

The inclusion of Louis' bandmates: not the first time we see them in an MV, but this time they're not just playing music. I view it as a continuation of Louis having his real friends play his party crew in the Miss You MV. But the contrast with the rest of the characters being young makes me think Louis is saying: this was me then (younger) and this is still me (now). I'm still a normal guy who goes to the pub with his mates.

Call me crazy but some of the younger characters make me think of other people around Louis: the redhead teenager for Oli, the blonde girl with Krystle's bangs, even that one tall guy could make you think about Chris. Might just be a coincidence!

The characters beeing linked by being in the same communal spaces like the pub and the street (Louis walks down the street alone, the car parked, then the boxing besides the car, same street where the guys are smoking weed by the window, at the end everyone gathered on that same street). They also seem to be in the same room... I'm taking this as a commentary on the universal experience of growing up in a working class family in Donny? Or as @slvertongues points out: being alone in a room full of people.

The trio of guys boxing - siblings? A reference to family?

The first time he sings "when I'm with you I'm so much happier", we see the teenage girl closing her fist - which is the opposite of the lyrics. There's also the anger in the guy in his bathroom and the siblings boxing, reminding us that adolescence is full of angst. And as pointed out

The fashion: the Umbro England 1996 jersey, the Burberry shirt and the Fred Perry jacket and polo: classic British brands that Louis wears and that are associated with football/pub/chav culture.

Finally, several elements of this MV would fit perfectly with the things Louis talks about in Change(s).

The MV isn't exactly groundbreaking - it's making me think of one of Zayn's and one of Sam Fender's. But Louis is taking the concept and making it his own with little references. And as @silverfoxlou told me, he's reclaiming that part of himself - the '10% too British', the part that he had to erase to fit in, and probably was made ashamed of his family and social background. So just like the album, he's saying 'this is me'.

#silver tongues mv #tumblr user berlinini

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paigeschapterbook · 2 years

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i can't wait to read your show recap! i hope you had the best time! take all the time you need to process the post-show emotions and when you're ready, just know I'll read it with a warm cup of tea like I'm reading the day's newspaper and I can't wait to do that!!! <3

Oh thank you! That is so sweet! I actually just posted my recap and it is long and all over the place but I got something down and it felt great to put it down into words. I have never related more to Elton John’s lyrics than with Louis: ‘I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words / How wonderful life is while you’re in the world’

#asks #tumblr user berlinini #sweet louies being very sweet 😘#recap of my show

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shutterbug2012 · 3 years

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MISSION 369 - THE DOSSIER FILES

Report #2

ENGLAND, UK, (July 18th to July 23rd)

Saturday, 7:11 am

Saturday, July 17th: not a lot of content. Eleanor posted a picture of slipper+sock clad legs that are supposed to be Louis'. Later Louis was spotted with some fans on some lame lookin English beach filled with pebbles. And so the cycle of getting content from girlfriend/fans but not the artist himself continues. Hoping for better times soon. ✨ Sunday, July 18th: nothing. literally nothing. here's a random emoji bc like. nothing. 🏊 Monday, July 19th: uh nothing as well. mr. lightening posted an old throwback picture from the wmi promo tour in new york . nothing about that documentary though. how rude indeed. another random emoji. ✒️ Tuesday, July 20th: nope. nuh uh. 🐌 Wednesday, July 21st: nope, he's too busy getting his arse eaten apparently 🤨

Thursday, July 22nd: THE IDIOT LOST HIS PHONE CAN YOU BELIEVE IT he tweeted saying he got over excited at the euros. I'm choosing to believe that the meme face pic we got on the finals day I when he realized that it's gone and with it some of lt2. Stupid head (affectionate) got an iPhone, I hope he doesn't get sued by Samsung for that or sumn 💀 Friday, July 23rd: dude tweeted *facepalms* Him and Liam were the only ones and Liam's felt like a cop out, almost sarcastic. Louis is too loyal and too good, but he really didn't need to tweet :/ he did it like two hours before midnight, but still. The one time we needed radio silence, and this happens. Guess Mr. O wasn't able to keep Louis away from that wretched iPhone. Happy weekend! 💖🥴 𓆝 𓆟 𓆜 𓆞 Footnotes - Shutterbug!! Clem and I miss you loads, but honestly it's not a lot of fun here tbh. The Lrought is a bit unnerving. I meant to send this last night but I fell asleep, I'm sorry it's a bit late. Glad I didn't though, I would've been celebrating too early. Anyways, I saw what the ask looks like in email format, and it's absolutely horrendous, I promise it looks a lot better in the inbox. Sending hugs! 💜

amazing. iconic. showstopping (about the report). i still cannot believe how people can be so nonchalant about losing their phones (like??? are u not emotionally attached to it does it not preserve all the scars u gave it is it not like a child to u) but i saw that Samsung responded to that tweet? if it was intentional then it's a genius marketing ploy methinks

#not his arse getting eaten pls 😭😭😭#i do hope mr o is keeping those peaches happy #mail #28louistomlinson💫#the dossier files by manu <3 #have i mentioned im in love w those little fishies you put before the footnotes #also tumblr user berlinini makes an appearance here we love to see it <3

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berlinini · 2 years

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me, during AFHF: he's gonna sing a new song, it's AFHF he has to!

(louis: does not sing a new song)

me, during Taormina: he's gonna sing a new song, the single is literally out and it's the most gorgeous venue, he has to!

(louis: does not sing his new single)

me, during Milan: he's gonna sing a new song, it's 3.09, it's his biggest venue and it's his last show, he has to!

(louis: ???)

#welcome to clown city population: louies #mayor: tumblr user berlinini #hope springs eternal #😅😅😅#clem's tour commentary #ltwt:taormina #to update #lol

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berlinini · 2 years

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Clem's Tour Commentary: Vancouver (y/n edition aka my show)

Sooooo!!! Last May I was lucky enough to get tickets for the Vancouver show, which wasn't sold out at the time, and Portland 2, which had just been announced. I love Vancouver so I thought I'd visit once again. Having heard of the city of Portland, and especially because of the venue (one of the smallest of the tour, with GA), I thought let's do both! I ended up buying tickets to LA and so for months I have been thinking about what I called Clem's West Coast Tour 2022. This has been a simple way to explain to friends and family the reason of my trip - and get concerned looks at the idea that I was seeing the same artist 3 times, to which I wanted to say... bestie I'll have seen the show 20 times before I even set foot in the first venue...!!! I know the show by heart at this point! Anyways.

All of this to say, you can imagine the anticipation of finally seeing Louis live myself, especially after witnessing his performances over livestreams for the last 5 weeks, and after months of waiting and incertitude!

As usual, I wrote a full length novel about my experience, so each show will have its own post. Recap under the cut! :)

VANCOUVER

Pre-Show

The show was on Sunday night and I started feeling jittery on Saturday. I went to check out the venue, unfortunately Louis' name wasn't on the marquee. Sunday around noon I went around the artist's entrance and fans were already lining up to see Louis arrive. I spent the rest of the day being a mess. The show was an all seated venue, which I loved because I found it less stressful, and thought it would be as good as Nashville. Oh! And by the power of the Louie God, I had the chance to exchange my balcony tickets for better seats in the orchestra, in ROW 28 so!!! It was a blessed event! Even more so because Louis showed up at the venue in PURPLE???? Very truly blessed!

Me and my excellent solo louie companion @bbrox arrived around 7:30pm, and lined up in the short line (there were two lines because there are two entries to the venue). Upon entering (at 8, so we knew the show would be delayed), we saw that the lines for the merch stands were a literal maze going up and down the stairs, it was insane!!! The venue was SO beautiful, a palace fit for a King. We got drinks, which was funny because I got carded (being confused for a 19 yo is always nice) and my mind was elsewhere so after that I took my drinks and started leaving and they were like... girl you have to pay! That gives you an idea of my state of mind! We renounced getting merch and decided to join our seats. Row 28 baby!!! It was the last row, right in front of some of the sound consoles. We did a little visit of the front of the stage, where people were taking pics. You could feel how everyone was so excited! Sun Room was nice, and the girls in front of us were apparent fans and it was very cute to see. During the break @captainlouisuniverse (which I sadly didn't get to meet :\) texted me to say that if you payed cash at the merch counter you could go quicker. So we jumped on the opportunity and cut the queue (sorry not sorry). I got the white tour t-shirt (with the eye!!!). Also, I asked the venue lady if they were handing out water and she was like...well you have to pay for it?! and honestly I'm suing LTHQ for discrimination against Canadians fans...

It's Showtime!!!

I was SO nervous when Smells Like Teen Spirit started playing and we KNEW the guys would get on stage, we KNEW the drums to WMI were coming up and we knew LOUIS was coming up!!! To paraphrase Louis, one year of built up energy!!! The atmosphere in the room was crazy, Louis showed up wearing all black (so sexy of him!!!) and honestly from that it's just a blur of emotions...

Compared to Portland show (more on that later), I have a hard time describing how Vancouver felt. I hardly remember stuff... (ok this 1 000 words post is saying otherwise) Maybe because it was too intense on a emotional level, maybe it's because I wasn't as close to the stage... It's gonna sound weird but I was so focused on myself during that show and on the communal experience in the room. It really felt like we were sharing a moment, after such a long time waiting. When I think about it there was Louis singing, me singing with Louis, and the awesome atmosphere. I was just living the moment and I honestly felt like I deserved to have this moment of pure joy considering how bleak life has been for the last two years.

And the way I experienced the show was so different from watching it online - I didn't care to find out what brand Louis was wearing, I didn't care to rate the crowd, I wasn't focusing on Louis reacting to fan signs, hell I hardly looked at the guys (except Michael). I wasn't trying to take pictures (RIP my iPhone XR's shitty lense) or get Louis' attention, I just wanted to have a good time and give him a good time. The crowd was good and all the fandom drama was far away - we were there and we were happy, and so was Louis and the band. The songs just kept on coming, with the rush of OMG THIS IS XYZ!!! and before you knew it, we were losing our minds to KMM and it was over.

I had so much energy singing and jumping around and yeah one thing about me is that I scream a lot at concerts (RIP the people standing besides me), so I did that. I screamed. A lot. I had no voice at the end of the show... I was so hot, thank God I was wearing layers but my fleece-lined platform Converse were very uncomfortable. Suddenly I understood the fans fainting in the pit - at least we had room to move around.

My (almost) enemies to lovers story with Matt Vines:

Ever since being in Vancouver at the same time as Louis and his band but especially ever since knowing me and Michael had walked the same street on the same day, my mind was going overdrive with some y/n fantasies, which became a running gag among some of you here (I love you all). It wouldn't be the first time in this fandom that fans think they're in a fanfic, however I'm not dumb enough to think Louis will invite me on his tour bus so I had placed all my hopes (delusions) on Michael, because... well you know why. So that was the joke. Alas, if someone noticed me (even that...) from that night it was... Matt Vines.

Matt was standing behind us, a little bit to my left, in between the sound consoles. He was there almost the whole time, on his phone for a good part. I know because I looked at him a few times, since @silverfoxlou had given me the order to give him a stinky eye if I ever saw him. So I sent him bad energy. So what happened for me to say he noticed me? Well bestie don't believe anything you read on tumblr dot com especially dodgy fan reports because nothing concrete happened LOL. But I was so close to him and as I said I screamed so much, jumped so much, that there's no way Matt didn't at least looked at me once and thought: who is that crazy chick with her wannabe Ariana Grande ponytail and her bouncing cross-body bag and who's wearing awesome Converses (ok there's no way he saw my shoes). Dreams do come true!!!! If anything I hope he saw me going hard on the non-1D songs and I set a good example of solo fans (as if that was written on my forehead lol - though my attitude during Habit probably gave a clue). Anyways, fuck you Matt I still hate you.

Some honorary mentions of the show (the bits that I recall):

The lights during Two Of Us: this was not a fan project, it just happened organically? Not to brag (but I will) but I was one of the first to put my torch out, it just seemed like it fit with the emotion of the song? I'm glad we had that <3

There was a fan project for the rainbow lights for OTB . We didn't have a lot of flags (some will say we were homophobic for that), but it was still a very emotional moment. I haven't seen what the rainbow lights looked like - that's what happens when you're at the back of the venue... Also, it's interesting to see how the perspective is different being live vs being "front row" via a stream.

We did the lights for Beautiful War as demanded asked by Louis. That song always makes me tear up and hearing it live, I feel so lucky. Just thinking about this makes me emotional.

Louis messed up Walls (video) which I didn't realize because unfortunately I always forget Walls #dontcancelme. I'm so glad we got to scream YOU WERE MY BECAUSE to him twice!!! It was so awesome!

This was me when Habit rolled on. I boycotted the song and kept my mouth shut, yes I'm petty. I hope Matt caught that.

When the drums to 7 started playing I was going INSANE. Unfortunately the crowd wasn't that much into it but me and my bestie went 110% on it, I was out of breath at the end, it was everything I ever dreamed off. I had a slight obsession with that song last summer, so seeing it live was a real #wemadeit moment.

I had this urge to scream "Michael you're so hot" because... why not... but didn't want to be disrespectful, so finding the right time felt tricky, but luckily I saw an opening during the band pic break. Around 0:35 in this video if you squint really hard you can almost hear it? God I wish I had been closer or had a louder voice. Anyways I hope he heard me <3 If anything Matt definitely did so I count that as a win in the things he's gonna tell Louis and Michael about me because he totally noticed me and talked about and this is my y/n moment

OK but talking about Michael being hot... He's insanely talented and the way he works that guitar during 7, LBD, is sooooo hot!!! He's just out there manspreading like a king while a whole venue is screaming for him, go little rock star!!! I'm also "manspreading" thinking about it but for different reasons

Fearless: I've been saying for months that hearing Fearless live would cure me and boy did it work!!! It's so good!!! I still have the reflex of singing "enjoy this Crystal Palace" (lol) I hope Louis would give us a "enjoy this (name of city)", because it's the perfect introduction - he know... he knows.

Defenseless and Always You are so good, fuck the person at Sony who didn't make at least one of them a single, because you can tell these are bops that the crowd loves. It was awesome to sing "it's been two years since I saw your face" and "just wanna be loved by YOU" to Louis, the way he reclaimed those songs, go off my love.

The energy for KMM was insane (video), it's such a good way to end the show, but it's also so bittersweet? The high is insane and then you're left to yourself, with the inevitable realization that it's over... :(

See @seasurfacefullofclouds1's wonderful highlight post about the show here.

Post Show:

In true Groupie Fashion™️, and because we couldn't handle the show being over over, we waited outside to see Louis getting on the bus. We spotted Oli going back and forth several times, Kyrstle and Jessie (to whom I sent bad vibes) going on the other bus, Isaac, Zak and Matt getting on the bus together.

Then LOUIS!!! The King of England! God I can't believe he was there, right across the street from me (video). He got in pretty quick and then sat at the window like the annoying little shit that he is, just being there and basking in the attention (Michael's that is). I truly wondered how it must be like for him...Like there is no reason for him to have that window open (except for when he smoked)?? He's just a superstar. The crowd was shouting "Louis we love you" and because I had to balance my karma from my 'Michael you're so hot' shout out, I yelled at least two times "you're so pretty" because Louis needs to know it and also I love to objectify men.

Michael arrived late, by himself, with his huge backpack, which is one of the things I considered worthy of my camera roll. I have 3 blurry pics to prove it.

JD and Wolsey were stellar in their crowd management, especially because it was a busy street with a lot of cars (and trams - we were joking that the tram would block Louis from our view when he got out, à la Walls mural van). At some point the fans shouted some praise for JD and Wolsey and Joshua was filming and it made a little bit of a commotion, thus prompting Louis to curiously put his head out... Drama queen!

Joshua was hanging out a bit outside the bus, taking pics from under the window. Charlie was really doing the rounds, he was so close to me, I almost started chatting him up about dinners in Portland. Instead I made sure my mask was all up so I wouldn't be recognizable if I ever make it in that damn documentary he's making (another 18 months before I find out, another y/n moment wow I'm so lucky).

Post-Show: the Crowd/ Fandom stuff (anecdotal notes that you can skip if you're tired of reading this essay):

The crowd waiting outside was interesting. They started singing No Control - it was inevitable... but luckily it was the first time of the night, since we didn't get it during the show break. The problem with my brain is that I just start singing songs without realizing what they are - I'm on automatic mode. I truly thought we were singing Miss You before I realized it was NC... RIP. They also sang Home, WMYB and later Perfect Now (cute). At some point the singing got drowned by shout of 'we love you', which was nice.

In waiting we chatted a bit with the girls close to us and this hilarious (to me) interaction happened, when Louis was still inside and someone rolled out a box:

Girl: OMG maybe he's pulling a Harry and he's hiding in that box LOL

Me, turning around: excuse me? Céline was doing that first

Other girl: yeah I was going to say Taylor did it before Harry

Me: Sorry. Céline Dion.

Don't disrespect the queen like this UGH.

Also some fans were acting like the fandom police telling other what to do/ not to cross the street and I rolled my eyes to far back into my skull. Can we not? It's not your job so please stay in your lane.

Anyways, it was fun to wait out for Louis and see him, and I could already picture the gifs I would see on tumblr the day after of his adorable face out the window. It was a bit strange to think about how the show would be "perceived" and brought me back to fans who've been saying that livestreams don't do justice. I know it was a good show but at the same time I truly didn't give a damn about how people on tumblr and twitter had reacted - I had a good time, we had a good time. Louis sounded amazing, the crowd was loud and supportive, it's all that matters!

I feel like this was all over the place... thanks for keeping up with my Thoughts™️

TLDR: I fucking love Louis Tomlinson.

PS: for another recap of the night you can read @bbrox's post here

#clem's tour commentary #ltwt:vancouver #(y/n edition aka my shows)#tumblr user berlinini #ltwt fan report

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berlinini · 3 years

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thinking about the confidence that Louis had on stage and, I have to assume, this is something that he had to work on from within, seeing as his solo stage experience was cut short months ago.

he owned the stage like someone who knows he deserves to be there, someone who's worked hard to create from the ground up the opportunity to perform, someone who sees the unbreakable support from his ever-growing fanbase and says: this is where I belong.

he didn't get to that point by performing night after night on his world tour, but he got there anyways. "faith in the future". "confidence and momentum". "chill, breathe, live, fuck it".

for all the messed up things that are (still) happening with the way his career is handled, Louis walked on that stage and very clearly expressed (once again) his desire to create and perform music as a solo artist.

he said it years ago with a t-shirt, but he said it again very loudly with the Away From Home Festival, in every aspect: "no matter how hard you try, you can't stop me now".

#we've always knew he was optimistic and future-oriented #but i feel like this is a new step #idk maybe i'm making this up #but there was something about this whole thing including his stage presence that was screaming I'M HERE TO STAY BITCHES #it's like 'these high walls never broke my soul' on steroids #louie discourse (serious)#tumblr user berlinini #the away from home festival

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berlinini · 2 years

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Clem's Tour Commentary: Portland 2 (y/n edition aka my show)

(Reading my Vancouver recap is highly suggested to contextualize my comments about this show)

OK so most of you have heard about the Portland Night 2 by now - how could you not??? It was the tour's most insane show and words fail to describe how Louis and his bandmates pulled surprises after surprises. I am sooooo glad I got to experience this in person, and let me tell you it was a wild night.

Recap of my experience under the cut! :)

Pre-Show

I wasn't even over the Vancouver show that I was on my way to Portland, OR. Because of COVID requirements and border crossing, I spent most of my day in public transit, at the airport, in a plane, etc. I was tired (running on 6 hours of sleep I believe). Ah yes, it didn't help that the first thing I did in the morning was a self-administered antigen test and I almost fainted/puked/cried AT THE SAME TIME while inserting the swab in my nose and it took me 5 min to stop coughing and tearing up. Nice way to start a day!

I was in My Feelings™️ all day... Tired, thinking about the show of the night before, which I've said was very intense emotionally, stressed about going to another country, travelling for the first time abroad in a while, travelling by myself for the first time in a while...

I had booked tickets for Portland because it was a standing venue (unlike Vancouver) and one of the smallest of the tour. But suddenly I was stressed about being in the pit (especially because how hot it was in Vancouver, in a seated venue). I sadly hadn't found anyone to take my extra ticket and was a bit anxious at the idea of going alone - though I thought that was one of the advantage of the pit. Portland wasn't as I imagined it would be, which didn't help. The venue was in a part of town that didn't look safe.

All to say, I was having a hard time getting myself hyped for the show. (special shout out to @awayfrmhome for cheering me up during the evening <3). But there was no way I was going to miss this show - I was there, Louis was there, I was going to have a good time no matter what. And boy did the night deliver!!!

The Show

I rolled up at the venue around 9pm, there was no line (duh), passed security (who took away my snacks :(). Chatted a bit with the security guy about fans who had camped. I said it didn't exactly look safe and he told me indeed, it wasn't but not only that, there are sadly people who have to resort to living in tents in the area so having fans do it "for fun" wasn't a good look. Took my tickets from the box office (so i have a physical memory of the show, like the good ol' days!) and walked into the room. It was FULL and loud and hot. Sun Room was done playing but Louis wasn't on stage.

Fortunately I was able to access the balcony, which had seats. The balcony was 21+, so some people who had bought seated tickets without knowing that had to go downstairs, which left seats empty. I also think that the show wasn't at full capacity, because of the venue's stupid will call tickets (which made reselling tickets virtually impossible). Anyways I hanged out a bit and finally took a spot in the stairs (between seats), in the last row, right in the middle of the stage. I had a great view, and lots of room to move around.

Louis was late, which was terrible for me, because I was just standing around waiting. Sadly I don't have a data plan in the US so I couldn't even be on tumblr/ message some mutuals. Also, some people (cough cough) had told me that I didn't need to carry cash in the US but that was a BIG LIE because the bar was CASH ONLY and so my plan to enjoy a little drink or two went out the window. Which wasn't so bad because I thought I could really take in the night from an analytical perspective. As I've said, I was so focused on me during the Vancouver show that I didn't realize most of what was happening. I thought this would be the occasion to look around, to see fans, etc. Oh yeah, the worst part about Louis being late is that they did play Smells Like Teen Spirit around 9, which got us all hyped up... for nothing. Then 15 minutes went by and I started panicking, thinking something had gone wrong and anytime someone would come up on stage to tell us the show couldn't go ahead and I would just cry. Boy was I wrong! (Thank God!)

It's Showtime! (For Real!)

The show started and I soon as Isaac and Zak walked on the stage wearing costumes (and a weird hairdo for Isaac) I thought... what the hell is this??!?! And then Louis SHOWED UP WEARING SHORTS???? That was the sign that the night was going to be special... how special?! No one could have predicted.

At this point you all know how stuff went down... JD showed up to spray deodorant on Matt, which was a very confusing moment because I didn't understand what Matt had say. Steve did a handstand out of the blue. At some point Louis ordered Matt to do some push-ups, and we all counted to 15 with him, then later he did a plank (and Steve too, but I didn't see). His guitar almost fell on the ground and you could see the guitar tech's life pass in front of his eyes as he lunged to catch it. Michael was... quiet(er)! but awesome as always and at some point he had his guitar near his face and I thought he was playing with his teeth???? But no, he was just holding it up (playing with his fingers still)... What a God. Michael really shines during his solos and he LOVES the attention of the crowd, out there spreading his legs with his (deserved) BDE. I may or may not have physically felt things looking at him. Ah yeah I forget... Matt was making himself a bowl of cereal on stage??? Joshua was trying to navigate the chaos of the stage without hit by the guys who were jumping and running around. Poor guy!

And the end... what was that?? Someone showed up playing maracas besides Zak and I thought "is that Oli?????" but then told myself it couldn't possibly be OLI on STAGE?? playing maracas??? BUT IT WAS. And then there was a whole party and it was pure chaos and I didn't know what was my life anymore!!! I didn't see Louis leave, I just remember thinking he would do his famous mic drop, but he didn't... I didn't catch him leaving the stage but that didn't matter because the guys stayed and kept playing???? And honestly I'm sorry for this image, it literally felt like having a second orgasm when you're still riding the high of the first one????? IT WAS INSANE. They didn't want the night to end, and tbh I understand why, neither did I. I literally turned to the girl beside me and said "what the fuck was THAT?!?!?"

Random Thoughts

Louis interacted with the crowd A LOT, especially the right and left sides of the balcony. It's very cute how he doesn't want fans to be left out. I will say though that he wasn't looking so much at the middle of the balcony (so cruel). He was pointing at signs all the time, having the time of his life. Honestly he spent the whole night smiling like an idiot and giggling.

One thing that Louis and me had in common is that we seemed to blank on the setlist. I literally forgot Louis' discography and the order of the songs and I had no idea where we were in the show. Don't ask my why. Louis, on the other hand, was looking at the setlist all the time, so I thought he was also a bit confused, but that's because there was so much more banter between songs that I figured he lost track. Then when I saw the setlist, I understood that he was looking at his notes for the planned shenanigans!!!

Confession... The crowd was SO GOOD that I didn't boycott Habit and they got me singing along.... Habit Redemption??? Ok, I still didn't sing that line but... I realized it's actually quite catchy live???? Somebody call the doctor I think I'm delusional.

7 wasn't as good as in Vancouver, because I wasn't going as hard. But it was still a special moment, during which I reflected on Louis' future sound and how much rock his future shows will be (can't wait!!). I know I'm being greedy but I'm already thinking about LTWT 2023.

Damn, Copy is SO good live!!!

Beautiful War was SO emotional. Here's a video from someone sitting not so far from me (who I recognized from Twitter - fandom is weird!). Again, I'm pretty sure you can hear me scream. Oups. But you can see how I had a great view. Louis was actually closer than where I was sitting in Vancouver even if I had an orchestra seat.

Louis' waist in that SHIRT???? Boy was a snack, a whole meal. Can't believe he there in front of me with his little shorts and his little socks.

I wasn't as excited and loud as the night before, because I felt a bit shy, but I had a great time anyways. Had a lot of fun looking around and judging fans (lol). There were a lot of people with their parents (or parents by themselves) in the balcony. Some had bags FULL of merch. I talked to two other girls who were alone. One came up during the break and was waiting for OTB. The other girl was vibing by my side the whole time. We all talked during the break and one asked if I had seen another show but before I could respond I understood that the question was have you seen Harry's show and I was like.... no. Anyways, it's heartwarming to see fans who are comfortable to go to shows alone, it shows that they know they will be welcomed by other fans and that Louis is definitely worth it - nothing can prevent us from experiencing his concerts!

I was wearing a short sleeves t-shirt, but it was actually cold on the balcony... Take note if you're doing balcony seats!

I choose not to stay afterwards to see Louis in the bus, instead running back to the hotel to text the girlies a big "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT" and try to make sense of what I had just lived. Which I couldn't. (Glad I didn't wait after, since Louis barely interacted with the fan when he left the venue... at ONE AM local time...God to be backstage after that show....)

See @seasurfacefullofclouds1's highlights of the show here.

My y/n moments

With Louis

So there where two girls sitting in front of me. It was obvious that one was a big fan (very excited) and the other was the kind, accompanying friend (often sitting down). While they were not front row, I think the people in front of them were seating down so they were right in Louis' sight. Around the end of the first part, the fan kept flipping him off with both hands, which was SO annoying. She just put her hands up all the time. I rolled my eyes SO hard. But... it worked! At some point Louis saw her and flipped her back, and she immediately squealed, jumped and made a heart with her hands. It was so cute to see. Her friend was like OMG!!!! afterwards. Anyways, I was right behind them, in between the both of them so safe to say I was also in sight. I'm so dumb tho that I didn't do anything, I just stood there but that's because that wasn't MY moment, mine will be way more epic stay tuned it's happening tomorrow I can feel it.

While we're on the subject, yeah it's easy to say "Louis looked at me" because he looks at EVERYONE. He really interacts with a lot of people.

With Matt Vines <3

Who was - again - standing not too far from me?! My bestie Matt (sadly the wrong one). He was standing in the back by my right, with someone else. He was in and out. I looked at him a few times, so much that I had to tell the girl on my right that I wasn't starring at her. In my mind Matt recognized me because only my shirt was different and I wear a very fashionable sports cross-body bad (a banana bag if you will) and how many Louies have this taste in fashion? Not a lot, I can tell you. Anyways. This is my y/n fantasy so let me have this.

Conclusion

Once again, the show is a blur in my mind, but for very different reasons - it was just SO CHAOTIC that it was just too much to compute. I'm so thankful for all the videos and pics we got from barricade fans to help me remember (or see for the first time) things that happened. There was SO much going on, and that's on top of the ACTUAL show (the songs!!!).

The crowd was SO loud, for the 1D songs especially but also very much for his solo songs. Louis said at some point that this was one of the smallest venues but we were such an amazing crowd and honestly, he didn't lie! I'm so glad he complimented us! When I left I wondered how @stelloulas would rank this show and if we'd be #1 and we did!!!

I'm glad I got to experience two shows. From the start they were going to be different experiences because of the venues, but knowing I had the chance to be at THE Portland show... wow.. I feel so lucky! Never would I have imagined the night would take a turn like this...

In Vancouver it was a high of emotion because I was seeing Louis for the first time. As I said, the show was very much about my experience - about hearing Louis, about singing the songs I've been obsessing about for so long with him. In Portland it was a high because of... *gestures wildly*. I was a bit more detached, looking around, taking it all in, noticing how he interacted with the fans. It was a show about Louis and his band and his connection to the crowd, which I was a part of. But it was a collective madness. And the parts that I will remember are the stage antics, it's almost as if the songs were secondary to what happened. So I'm glad that I could have my moment singing with Louis in Vancouver.

I'm very much looking forward to my third (and final) show. Is it going to be even more crazy than Portland? Or will it be a mix of both shows? We'll see :) And you'll get another long recap about it! :D

TLDR: If you've seen some of the footage of the Portland show and thought, damn, that was crazy, I can assure you IT WAS!!! Unbelievable.

#clem's tour commentary #ltwt:portland2 #(y/n edition aka my shows)#tumblr user berlinini #ltwt fan report

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berlinini · 2 years

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we made it (2021 version)

So this is longer than I intended and if you read the first sentence and ask yourself what the fuck is this, you can skip to the important part aka the end. TLDR: Thank you from the bottom of my heart for an incredible year in this fandom, 2021 would have sucked (even more) without you, Louis & Louies i love you so much ❤️

So I'm at the point in my NYE "celebrations" where I decided to listen to Fireproof in honor of that time in March-April 2021 when I would listen to that song obsessively because it just conveyed my mental state (there's something about blasting "I think I'm gonna lose my mind" at the beginning of the work day from your dining-room-turned-home-office). There were many songs that I would go and listen on repeat later on in a probably unhealthy manner, like Louis' cover of 7 for the whole month of September (somehow "I need another year lone" felt right to me 2 years into a pandemic), Zayn's entire and thankfully very long discography this summer, Sam Fender's Last to Make it Home this fall and more recently Arctic Monkey's One for the Road. My weird consumption of music apart, what these things have in common is that I associate them strongly with different periods of this year and they are all songs that I've discovered thanks to this fandom. Anyways, when there isn't much going on, at least we have music and nature.

It really isn't an understatement to say that this year has been completely changed for me when I discovered Louis' music and joined tumblr and this amazing amazing fandom. So many of my memories this year are linked to being here, with the things Louis did or the stuff that happened on louie tumblr, and the endless fun I've had with people I met here.

I'm not joking, if someone asked me the highlight of 2021, I would reply AFHF. I have such vivid memories of watching the festival on blurry streams on August 30, and all the emotions I felt in my living room, and doing the same a week later with an amazing documentary and an HD version of the concert. It was peak Serotonin Boost™️ for my pandemic brain. Thank you Louis!!! Thank you for being such an incredible person and artist, you make it so easy to be your fan! Now release new music. I will also remember 2021 for the fun Euro content it provided (and my first interaction with @shutterbug2012), how I was secretly hoping England wouldn't get eliminated, watching the finale in a bar during my vacations and being so torn about cheering for Italy.

I will remember the excitement every 28th of the month, the merch drops, the monthly check-in tweets, the awesome fandom projects we've had for Hallouween and to celebrate Louis' 30th birthday (s/o to @louisprojects), the tag games (s/o to @seasurfacefullofclouds1 and @venusrobots), the random horny asks (s/o to @silverfoxlou #flatfingers and to @crankydee's cursed images), the zouis breakdowns (no thanks for @louis-in-red @itsallaboutzayn and @icarusfallsforwalls), the louie love letters, the daily what's-Val's-breakdown-of-the-day (@bluelightsaber never stop ilysm) and the awesome GIFs and edits that never fail to amaze me (s/o to @longhairedlouist91 and @quetzal-28 moodboards, @fruitylouis mindblowing gifs and @stormyhale manifesting edits). Special mention to fan fic writers and rec blogs (@allwaswell16 and @quelsentiment) for the endless tabs I have open on my computer and that weird moment a coworker asked me what I was reading at the moment and couldn't exactly tell the truth. I even want to thank the unhinged anons in my inbox for making me laugh out loud a few times, and the 'normal' anons who allowed me to ~discourse~.

Thank you to everyone who is part of the fandom and who's here to support Louis as he's preparing to take over the world ❤️Thank you for welcoming me, thank you for sticking around and for making cookies out of crumbs. Thank you for being here, for interacting with me, for following me.

If you've made this far, I want to wish you a Happy New Year!!! 🎉

☀️2022 is the year of Louis Tomlinson and of Louies 🤞

✨ Faith in the Future ✨

#sorry 🙃#louies i love you #happy new year #faith in the future ing for 2022 to be better and filled with loutent #anyways bye ✌️#tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 3 years

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Sense you seem pretty new what exactly it is about Harry that put you off to begin with how did you reach your conclusions about him. I am just curious

Anon, this has been sitting for so long in my ask box that you've probably forgotten about it... sorry!!! I struggled with how to reply, thinking I would pull out all the receipts, then thinking I wouldn't even answer, but here we go... I tried to keep it somewhat short (I might have failed).

[TW: anti-Harry Styles discourse below the cut! (LOL)]

I have much to say about this but I'm gonna go with one thing that I felt. There are of course many facts that helped me reach this conclusion but as I've said, I had an intuition, an uneasy feeling when I was in ~Harryland~.

So, in my brief (but intense) stay there, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Harry was so different through the years/eras... like how is cute fetus harry the same person as frat boy harry, who is the same person as hot and intimidating long hair harry, who is the person as proper and suited up dunkirk/hs1 harry, who is the same as grandpa fine line harry? I really had the impression these were separate Harry...(and I'm not just talking about the looks/fashion).

And then I realized it's because they are, it's the public persona du jour... it's become very clear to me that Harry is projecting so many different "personalities" so he caters to everyone... you have closeted by management, victimized, larry Harry Styles, you have rainbow-flags-waiving LGBTQ Icon Harry Styles, you have only publicly dating handsome white women Harry Styles, dating my director who broke her 10 years relationship for me Harry Styles, HS1 "rockstar" Harry Styles, pop star FL Harry Styles, singing WS in a leather suit Harry Styles...

It's everything and nothing at the same time. There's something for everyone (and this becomes more apparent as we see him catering to the GP) and so, in the end, there's nothing. It's Harry Styles™️.

It could be that the man is a chameleon! And he absolutely has the right to change over the years. However when I looked beyond those apparent changes, I couldn't find anything about who Harry really was, not even as an artist.

It's a lot of vague stuff, like "I haven't found a cause to support", "sexuality is just fun", "i don't see gender in clothing", "just making the kind of music that i like"... His inability to take a stance on anything has proven to me that either he has no opinion or, most likely, he does not want to be firm on anything, as a PR technique, so his image stays malleable and he can permanently reinvent himself to stay relevant. He's playing all sides of the coin; of being a "woke king" without putting any real work, of participating and benefiting from Holivia, but without ever confirming it so it's easier to deny it when it's over; of saying "everyone's a little bit gay" and singing about making out with boys in concert but keeping it safe when answering sexuality questions in interviews so he's seen as both woke and non-threatening for the GP, and he can always change the narrative in a few years when it's safer to do so.

It's a lot of props, industry relations and empty words/performative activism...

It's having TPWK as a slogan but shading his ex-bandmates all the time, all while saying he's proud of coming from a boyband. It's making a big deal out of Zayn and Louis smoking weed and almost "destroying" 1D and then bragging about taking mushrooms to create Fine Line. It's sending flowers and gifts to the cast and crew of DWD, as if it would be enough to make up for creating a messed up work environment because he's an actor sleeping with the director. It's literally telling Zach Lowe that the way Zayn left the band was "unprofessional" and then, one year later, having a public affair with his director ON SET...

The only thing I could figure about who he was, is that he is someone who has decided to become very famous, and I gotta give it to him for working hard and having people around him working ever harder to achieve that. The end justifies the mean, I guess.

So when I realized all that, I honestly felt like I had been duped all along. Then I found out there are literally blogs for "ex-Harries" so I gathered I must not have been the only one to realize that it's a lot of glitter and gold but nothing of substance...

Of course, to a certain extent, we don't really know any celebrity. It's all a façade so there's no surprise here. But I was really put off by what I found out about Harry and sadly I don't find his music good enough for me to brush it off and continue supporting him or enjoy his work. I did enjoy his songs for a while, but now all I can think about is Watermelon Sugar, and the fact that it's gonna be his legacy...it tells you everything you need to know.

#answered ask #anon #harry styles #if you've read this till the end you deserve a prize!#btw everytime i read/hear the word watermelon i want to throw up #i was thinking about suing HS for emotional and physical damages #should i do it?#i'm joking #...or am i?#tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 3 years

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Some Final Thoughts About Larries

I started drafting this as a big response to previous asks about Larries, which I have finally answered individually here and here and here (or simply peruse my larries tag for more discourse).

However there is one point that I would like to emphasize and that I did not have the opportunity to discuss in replying the asks, which I could title "My Main Beef With Larries" and it's the following: How Larries downplay Louis' musical ambitions and blindly ignore his career sabotage.

(putting a cut because this is proper ~discourse~)

Based on the obvious disparities between Louis and Harry's situations, and looking at the abnormalities of Louis' current professional situation, it's pretty clear that Louis' career has been sabotaged, but to come to that conclusion there is a big question mark as for why... why would there be only one member of 1D allowed to have a post-"hiatus" success (hello halo!!!), why was Louis the obvious competition to Harry (hello, Louis being the fans' favourite), why was Louis signed to Sony while Liam and Niall were let go, why was Larry still something that had to be controlled by Sony - to both shape the narrative to milk the fans' money while at the same time making sure that it does not threaten's Harry career -, why was Louis' "first" album scrapped, why did he agree to do the X-Factor, why was Walls' promo so different from Fine Line's, why is Louis still not allowed proper promo after having left Syco, why is there no press coverage of the Away From Home Festival...

All these questions kinda bring us to Harry Styles and so how does one reconcile these facts with the idea that H&L are in a relationship? Well pretty easy!!! You simply accept the "fact" that Louis doesn't actually want a solo career, that he's more comfortable working behind the scenes. That's why he's launching a management company! He's not interested in having his songs played on the radio! He just wants to stay home and watch Harry win a Grammy on television! He simply wants to travel the world for HSLOT mere days after his biggest professional event of the year!

All of this is so far from the truth... Louis was excited about the "first" album back in 2018, Louis has talked in details about the making off of Walls (album), Louis said many times he couldn't wait to go on tour, it had been years and performing live is one of his favourite part of being a musician... Louis crafted an amazing, coherent album, an MV trilogy, a fine-tuned livestream and an amazing festival. Louis has persisted ALL THIS TIME against all the roadblocks he's encountered, all these "high walls that never broke his soul". He literally said "Too many times in my career have I had to pick myself up and go “right let’s go again”" in the AFH doc. A documentary about how he created from the ground up a free festival for fans - because he loves live music so much. A Festival with 8,5K attendees, that he recorded so thousands of fans could watch his performance from all over the world.

Yet this idea that he doesn't want a solo career is SO INGRAINED in fandom and it's actually tragic because it's the complete opposite. And it makes me so mad. I would simply ask that Larries understand how, in adhering to this idea, they are doing Sony's job of burying Louis as a serious solo artist. How accepting the messed up situation of how of his career is handled without asking any questions and how focusing on Louis' personal life is doing him the greatest disservice.

Louis is here to be a solo artist, his love and commitment towards music is evident and he's been fighting for a fair chance at a solo career in less than ideals conditions. If you're not here to focus on that, if you're only "supporting" him for being half of Larry Stylinson, for being Harry Style's loving partner and secret stay-at-home-husband, then at least admit it - stop spreading false information about his lack of musical ambitions. Also kindly fuck off.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

#in conclusion: larries are unable to read the real Harry or the real Louis it's fascinating #they prop Harry up and push Louis down while they deserve the opposite treatment #larries #harry styles #larry #larry stylinson #louis tomlinson #louie discourse (serious)#fandom discourse #rambling #tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 3 years

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Like you I refuse to believe that this latest round of stalker and lads night out pics is louis' preferred marketing strategy or image choice. It never has been and has always reeked of some kind of ultimatum that's put him in between a rock and a hard place. Does anyone actually believe that the same louis that came up with The Festival and spent a ton of money on it so that the fans could have something, is the same louis who would appear to be so tuned out of his fandom that he would decide "You know what let's give 'em some old tired shit!" The same louis that works his butt off and sings his heart out and stress cleans when he's talking about wanting to achieve something great is the same louis who we're all meant to believe doesn't pay any attention to what we want and has no clue how we would react to this. I don't believe he puts on THAT t-shirt (the one we were really loud about and the one that points to things not being okay) at the same moment this all goes down. He's said before that he notices how we find meaning in the symbols. Has anyone given any meaning to him pulling out all the vintage jackets? It's impossible for me to believe that he doesn't know that he's giving us recycled shit. And I also can't believe that after years of witnessing Things That Don't Make Sense there are still people out there who haven't connected the dots.

(In relation to this)

I wrote this 30 days ago, just after the live performance of AFHF:

Again, I refuse to believe that Louis has chosen anything when it comes to the current state of his promo/PR. He loves his fans and put the festival on mainly for us, but there is no way he worked so hard not get the recognition he deserves. And he must know he deserves it, because he shatters records with anything he does. He hasn’t given up and he’s still pushing the lid of the box to get it open, and he’s such a stubborn little shit that I hope he never stops pushing, faith in the future yady yady yada, but fuck if it isn’t frustrating for us, and so it must be x 1000 for him!!!

Fans who are unable to see the patterns aren't looking very far. As a reminder, AFHF didn't get any promo and almost 2 months after the global streaming event, we still have no ideas how many tickets Veeps sold for the event. That's even worse than the dodgy way the ticket numbers for the London Livestream were shared in 2020. When Louis' signing with BMG was announced in May, we had Jamie Nelson say Louis was already working on new music. Louis was spotted several times in the studio this summer. Now we know he's been in there for a week/ 10 days. We have no information about the state of LT2 coming from Louis himself or from LTHQ.

So please, don't go around pleading Louis for better promo options when there's no way in hell he's happy with the current situation.

If we, as fans, are able to sense that things are not normal, wouldn't you assume that Louis, being the main interested party in all of this, being the person who's said "Too many times in my career have I had to pick myself up and go ‘right let’s go again’.", being the one who - 2 years ago - announced that his debut album was "finally" coming, is aware of how things are abnormal for an artist of his status?

I'm always surprised at people in this fandom praising Louis' intelligence - his easter eggs, the 369 stuff, his lyrics, etc - on one hand, and then blaming him for the lack of promo with the other hand. Make it make sense, please...

#answered ask #anon #louis promo #stalkers week #louie discourse (serious)#tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 2 years

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I’m sorry I’m really dumb but who is rob stringer and how is he connected to Louis? Is it his “manager” or something (I say manager in quotes cause lthq does close to nothing)

Rob Stringer is Chairman & CEO of Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Group. He's a big name in the music industry, to say the least.

Syco Entertainment (including Syco Music) was owned half by Simon Cowell and half by Sony Music UK. Stringer was working at Sony Music UK in the early 2010s. He then went to work at Columbia Records, which handled the US distribution/market of One Direction. While Stringer was at Columbia, he signed Solo Harry Styles. In 2017 Stringer became the CEO of Sony.

Harry was the first of OT4 to sign a solo contract. Liam and Niall went with different labels under different majors. Louis was the last to sign a solo deal, with Syco in 2017 and thus remained under Sony's umbrella. Zayn had previously signed with RCA (also under Sony), which is also interesting, for different reasons.

Sony retained both Harry and Louis, but at wildly different labels (one with prestige and one with... Simon Cowell), which can be explained by the fact that Harry was 'the star in the making' and Louis was the fans' favourite (and therefore had a lot of potential), and, unfortunately, by how Sony/1DHQ/HSHQ wanted to control the larry narrative, and with that, the fandom(s).

Since then, Harry got to release two albums and do one tour. Rob moved up the ladder and is now Harry's boss and they're very good friends. Harry is now a Star™️ and has Vogue covers and Grammys. Meanwhile, we know that 2017-2020 was complicated for Louis for many reasons, including personal, but several things point to the fact that his first album (LT0) was scrapped (tweets like "just some industry bullshit", the XF UK judge stint, him saying he's "finally" able to release Walls in January 2020) and that he was not backed by anyone in the industry to support his endeavour as a solo artist (his tweets following the London livestream, the lack of promo for AFHF, "too many times in my career I've had to pick myself up and say here we go again").

Now, if I say out loud that Louis' career wasn't handled normally and dare I say sabotaged, and if you look at who when what, well... who comes here but our dear friend Mr. Stringer... There are abnormalities that persist to this day with the way that Louis' career is going, including his promo, so we don't the extent of the contractual obligations he has to feu Syco/Sony.

Ever since Louis and Syco "agreed to part ways" and Louis signed with BMG, there is no longer an active connection between Louis and Stringer (to the exception of Louis' probable contractual obligation to tour Walls; and the fact that Sony handles the catalog of Syco Music, which includes 1D).

So, in conclusion, I wish Rob Stringer a very may your coffee always be cold and taste like burnt water <3.

Louis' manager is Matt Vines, and we don't like him either. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of people in Louis' team that we like...

#answered ask #anon #sorry for the essay #i hope i got everything right #rob stringer #sony #syco music #simon cowell #harry styles #louie discourse (serious)#music industry #tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 3 years

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Wait, so you came into the fandom through Project Defenceless?! That’s literally iconic!! Can you tell us how it happened?

Yes I did!!!

How to summarize this shortly... [narrator's voice: it will not be short]

So the year was 2021 and it was many months into a worldwide pandemic, which is important because it explains some unusual behaviour and unhealthy coping mechanisms due to the state of the world and the boredom of lockdown... *nervous laugh/cry*.

In short, one day, I heard Adore You by Harry Styles, started listening to his albums, fell into an youtube rabbit hole of mostly Harry but then 1D content, along with the inevitable blue and green hearts but also the #projectdefenseless hashtag. I kept seeing it and thought, well if everyone is talking about this song so much, I should check it out and then I heard Walls and it blew my mind. I was in a brief Larry tumblr rabbit hole (cringe) before I found Sea's blog, which confirmed a lot of the intuition I had towards Harry's fake-ass brand (breaking point for me was reflecting on holivia [the lack of professional behavior on his part + double standard, but that's just sexism in society i guess]+ the dead eyes at the Grammys).

At the same time the more I found out about Louis, his talent for writing, his love for music, his honesty, his work ethics, his positive message, his accent, his laugh, his smile, his dimples, his hands, his puppy eyes, his cheekbones, the way he looks like a baby, an angel, a man who will make you tea and cuddle you but also like a man who will fuck you up ANYWAYS I found my lane. I also found out that Louies are super cool, and funny, and "rad" and thus, here I am.

I'm sure there are new members in many fandoms due to the pandemic. And I can't help but think that as much as Harry tries to put distance between him and 1D/his former bandmates, him getting more famous will bring curious fans into the 1D rabbit hole and some might change lanes (sweet, sweet irony). Not the general public, but maybe fans who will be looking into "consuming" more HS (which is the bottom line of his marketing strategy), and I believe there is more of those fans due to the pandemic (what else is there to do, really). I literally picture a "Harry Styles highway" with a little 1D detour and then a road to merge back to HS or an exit into solo Louis/Niall/Liam/Zayn. Anyways I took the Louis exit (which is now getting close to the Zouis exit hehe!) and I'm very happy that I did!!!

I'm not gonna lie these last few weeks have been very intense, I feel like I got a crash course in the music industry, PR practices, 1D history, Louis' career, etc. which again is due to the fact that life's not normal at the moment. But, soon it will be *fingers crossed* and I will get to see Louis live, which wouldn't have happened if the world hadn't stopped in March 2020. So, silver lining?

TLDR: fan projects work because some people will be curious, defenseless worked for me, so talk about KMM ;)

#answered ask #anon #sorry wrote quite a novel here #oups #sorry I had to mention HS so much #still trying to get everything out of my system #about me #tumblr user berlinini #harry styles

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berlinini · 2 years

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Hey listen I've been following ur blog for a while and Ive come across ur povs about the whole larries, Louis and Harry situation and I agree with it but FOR THE MOST PART. See, I get u thinking that Larry broke up and Harry isn't the angel that his fanbase makes him out to be and he's money hungry and very calculated etc etc, I can see all that but I genuinely don't get why he would try to sabotage Louis' career or even care about his ex bandmates for that matter.

Like we could all have our own opinions so I'll explain where I'm coming from, like H strikes me as a very cutthroat ambitious and selfish individual who doesn't really care about harming anyone UNLESS IT BENIFITS HIS WORK, he looks like someone who would like to keep his rep squeaky clean and stay out of tiring drama and not make any enemies. My observation is that he's intelligent and you gotta give that to him, he's good with people, super diplomatic (even fake to an extent), surrounds himself with a very tight group of upper class A listers and nepo kids and old people holding power in the industry, and he forms close bonds with them to ensure that they don't go against him and to keep his life private and not involve too many people who could make things complicated in the long run cause Hollywood is weird asf.

His whole "mysterious and kind" brand is all for the sake of ensuring that his fans know minimal things about him and he can control what those things are with the help of his competent management, also he is a big name but also somehow very detached from most oversaturated celebs with any messy history to make sure that nobody in the industry goes against him and has a single bad word to say about him, because most people know him surface level and he knows it's for the best, he makes sure to be on the good side of important people and the ones he dislikes, he cuts them off entirely (Simon, a bunch of his previous bandmates who he fired and the 1d tour stylist etc).

He's not the sort of guy to publicly brawl with anyone and he even dates older people and after a breakup he tries to ensure there's no bad blood ALL FOR THE SAKE OF HIS STAINLESS IMAGE. He doesn't want people saying bad shit about him, he knows he's not Taylor and he can't profit off of his controversies but more than that, he wants to look like the "underground indie artist" who's "different" and for that he needs to not get involved in the Hollywood dramatics. He can't handle that, like have you seen him?

I'm saying all of this to put forth the point that unless the downfall of Louis' career would heavily benefit him (btw he wouldn't come up with this on his own, he doesn't seem like the person to jump to twisted ideas like that, not 'cause of morals but just because he seems like he's just good at networking, and then he simply sits back and agrees to everything as his manager's figure out most of the stuff in his career, the strategies and the business part 'cause he doesn't wanna take that load. All in all, he doesn't seem super opinionated, he just seems like a very goal oriented guy who wants to get stuff done and only throws people under the bus if it's necessary but likes to avoid it because that takes a lotta work).

Now lemme be honest, nothing Louis is doing rn seems to be threatening Harry in any way. There genres are different, and they're not even rival superstars or anything. A feud like this between rising stars like Billie with Olivia R or even people at the top of their game like Harry with Taylor(their careers aren't equally established, but they both have HUGE fanbases and you can't deny that) would make sense because they're at the same scale and one losing popularity would make the other one get more free space on the charts.

I'm not saying that Louis isn't popular, but he likes to stay more underground and he said that he wants to do whatever he likes and not care about commercial success and while H said the same thing, I don't believe him that much. Just because they were from the same band doesn't mean anything...like then why isn't Harry focusing on Niall and Zayn when their albums literally charted so well and earlier than L even released anything...Zayn was sooo popular during his solo debut, I don't think Harry tried anything on him. HS1 released around the same time, he should've gotten the Azoffs to try to tear Z down, right?

And Niall, he isn't super star studded but he's doing really well actually, but he and Harry are clearly still friends and went out last year to hike or sumn so why didn't Harry try to sabotage him? Like Harry seems pretty chill and clinical to me, very unspecial, just another sell out superstar who is talented but will rather chase cash, kinda like TS in 1989 era or Liam when he had super underrated great vocals but decided to release Strip That Down to seem edgy which made money but people hated him for it then.

Harry just does things what his manager tells him to do and in turn makes Jeff money, it's all so easy for him.

He doesn't seem like someone who's gonna go so far to take revenge on an ex to burn their career down or to continuously try to push his ex bandmates to the background for no specific reason. That's all, sorry for ranting but you gotta tell me why you're so convinced about your theory.

That's a lot... Feels like you have so many pieces of the puzzle, just need to put them together. Here's a bit of perspective.

Look no one is saying that Harry woke up one day, called Rob Stringer and said: "let's sabotage Louis' career". I think a series of choices made over time and for different reasons led to the present situation, in which Harry is Sony's golden boy, with the industry behind him, and Louis fought for years to have a career. Were these choices made voluntarily, under false promises, under constraints? Were the choices made all by Harry, by Louis, by both, by some men in suit at Sony? Who knows.

You have to look at a series of event that happened over a few years. Quick recap: Louis was one of the most loved members of 1D when the band went on hiatus, Louis' first "solo song" (JHO) was extremely popular, both Louis and Harry were signed to Sony for their solo careers (Zayn too but that was before the hiatus and Zayn was never in direct competition with H as they represented different market shares), HS1 and HSLOT didn't meet Sony's expectations in terms of commercial success, Louis' promised album and tour in 2018 was scrapped, Louis somehow decided to postpone his first album by appearing on the X-Factor instead, pre-Walls songs were mainly pop songs that could've had commercial success and establish Louis as a serious pop star.

Walls was released in 2020 - FIVE years after the hiatus. Pinned at the top of his twitter account is Louis saying "Can't quite believe I'm finally saying this"... If you read what he says about releasing Walls and touring it, there are always so many references to "finally" doing it, to being relieved, underlying that he fought really hard to it to happen.

Louis' famous note app tweet about turning away from pop and assured commercial success in favour of his own sound is so bittersweet. He turned a page because he had to. He couldn't release LT0, which we assume was full of bops like Miss You and Always You. He moved away from pop, while interestingly enough, Harry moved towards it - his trial at being the new soft rock star didn't quite work with HS1 so what did we get? The most inane pop single that charted for weeks after intense promo and even got a Grammy. BTW Louis never said he didn't care about commercial success or charting. He said it was no longer the main purpose behind the songs he was writing.

"Now lemme be honest, nothing Louis is doing rn seems to be threatening Harry in any way. There genres are different, and they're not even rival superstars or anything."

Nothing Louis is doing right now seems to be threatening because he was pushed back so much that it's a miracle he even got a career today. The point is that Louis represented a threat to Harry's career years ago. Their genres are different because Louis couldn't go the pop route. They're not rivals because Louis' career was buried, unable to release music for years, losing the post-1D momentum, focusing on his private life instead.

Rapidly, re: Zayn and Niall. Niall is signed to a different label under a different major. Zayn was signed under RCA/Sony. As mentioned, his genre is wildly different from Harry's, his debut album was released long before HS1. I think Sony thought Zayn would be cash cow (amazing voice, amazing looks, established fanbase, potential to expand the fanbase) but Zayn's refusal to work within the rules of the industry led Sony to let him do his own things. NIL barely got promoted. Latest rumours are that RCA dropped him.

Harry's fans from 1D probably represent an important part of his fanbase which is why he still has to appear cordial with some of his ex-bandmates. Let's just note that he's not exactly out there showing they're still friends - unlike Louis/Niall/Liam who have appeared together publicly to support each other's solo careers. On the contrary, Harry doesn't seem to mind letting the world know that he's won the 1D Hunger Games. He's above a simple boyband, you know.

To conclude, I'll say this: we all make choices. It's clear to me that Harry made his decision a while ago to become a superstar. Was he personally 100% involved in all the subsequent choices that had to be made for his career to become what it is today? We'll never know. But as the saying goes, the end justifies the means.

#answered ask #anon #sorry for the late reply!!#harry styles #sony #the 1d hunger games #lt0 #tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 3 years

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Honestly this one foot in one foot out is maddening. We’re supposed to believe that someone who has the drive and ambition to put on what appeared to be a successful, well run festival just doesn’t want any positive press. I just feel like hacking off somebodies’ b****.

I feel you anon...

We've been saying everyday since AFHF was announced that the promo was... well, non-existent. A few, minor media outlets who copy/pasted the press release, a lack of engagement to build up the excitement, a dedicated Twitter account activated mere days (day?) before the event... Seems like nothing had changed.

Then the day of the festival came and we all forgot about this, with the simply extraordinary experience of Louis giving out an outstanding performance to an audience full of loving, dedicated fans. Baby, we were still high...hopeful, for sure.

Today we're still basking in the experience, but the f*ck ups of his career handlings are back...

(serious and depressing yet also somewhat hopeful discourse under the cut)

Not only was there minimal press coverage of the event, but we learn that (apparently), the festival simply did not provide press accreditation.

As you say, Louis would not put on a free, special event "curated entirely" by him and not wish for proper coverage of the Festival. It makes no sense. Not when we know he's been in this industry for years and how perfectionist he is. So there is a big question mark about what the fuck happened. As Shakespeare would say, something rotten lies in the Kingdom of Denmark (lol don't mind me).

Louis has talked about having a vision for 5 albums - and I know he's so grateful for his current fanbase - but I also know he knows that his career cannot be sustained on the fanbase as it is, made of a lot of 1D fans and larries. What happens when he's got enough of his own songs for a 1.5 hour performance and he ditches the 1D covers? What happens when his songs no longer appeal to fans who are already more inclined towards Harry's pop sound?

I feel crazy repeating this, but Louis needs to extend his fanbase and that is done by promoting his music to the general public and that just isn't being done.

I mean really, nothing is being done in term of promotion. Fandom literally had to make a fan project to get #inthemoodforAFHF (shameless self-plug, sue me); we got a rehearsal pic the day before along with lukewarm tweets from Louis.

Ok this is where I stop repeating myself and have New Thoughts (or maybe just another way of saying stuff that's been said before): Louis has been put in a box - that is obvious to anyone who looks at his career trajectory. With the BMG deal announcement and the 369 merch, we had some hope that he was getting out of it. What AFHF shows, for me, is that he's finding every way he can to expand the box, but he's still stuck inside ("can't get through the glass" :/). He created his own opportunity to perform, to support smaller bands, to thank his fans. His idea was allowed to take form and be realized, but the old patterns - lack of promo, let's even use the words blacklisting - are still in place. Maybe I'm reaching, but the AFHF Twitter account is telling - it was "well" run for the event and I'd bet 100$ he was able to have someone work on it that is not from LTHQ (because that team probably forgets the password to their socials every 2 days). I think where ever there are "exits" or "loopholes", he grabs them with both hands - the deal with BMG being one, in a way.

But it's clear that his public image, his press relations are still very much controlled. And this is where the blow hits, because for every great song that Louis writes, for every masterpiece he records, for every festival he organizes and for every worldwide tour he sells out, if there is no opportunity to connect beyond the existing fanbase and, from Louis' POV, to be recognized by his industry and his peers, then his career plan is threading on a ~ fine line ~ (SORRY), because, as I said, it's a gamble to think the actual fanbase can be sustained. (at the same time, louies are indestructible, so who knows...) There needs to be casual fans, there needs to be male fans, there needs to be fans who are here for his music and his music only - not for a ship, not for his previous band, for him.

Again, I refuse to believe that Louis has chosen anything when it comes to the current state of his promo/PR. He loves his fans and put the festival on mainly for us, but there is no way he worked so hard not get the recognition he deserves. And he must know he deserves it, because he shatters records with anything he does. He hasn't given up and he's still pushing the lid of the box to get it open, and he's such a stubborn little shit that I hope he never stops pushing, faith in the future yady yady yada, but fuck if it isn't frustrating for us, and so it must be x 1000 for him!!!

The next "test" will be LT2 - seeing what BMG can do for him, because if they have two braincells (unlike Mr. Stringer), they see the potential ($$$$) of Louis Tomlinson and will work for him. But again, there's so much they can do if LTHQ, Simon Jones and co. are still in the picture.

I know this is all frustrating. We all want Louis to get the recognition he deserves... the lack of press is a hard reminder that he does not get it. But if it's any consolation, the fact that everyone, from fans to his bandmates to the people he works with, is always supporting him and praising his work shows us that he's a beautiful person inside and out. And the joy that he emanated performing, and the quality of his new songs, and the unbelievable BTS footage we'll get on Saturday... I think AFHF has rekindled the fandom's fire, and now we wait and see, and hope for news about LT2 and for the tour to happen as planned. We can focus on Louis and make the best out of this. <3

#answered ask #anon #louie discourse (serious)#but also hopeful #(in the last paragraph lol)#i guess i'm still high from the pics of L smiling as bright as the sun #this is long and all over the place #as always #there's a quote from Macbeth in there if you're curious about how much shit i can say looool #i put a cut for #tumblr user ellabellami #:D #louis promo #the away from home festival #lthq #sjpr #bmg #tumblr user berlinini

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berlinini · 3 years

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Hello Clem,