Louis Tomlinson struggled to write songs about anything other than Liam Payne
His former bandmate died in Argentina in October 2024.
Former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson has admitted it was “really difficult” to write songs about anything other than the death of his former bandmate Liam Payne.
The 34-year-old said he did not want to explain which songs on his new album How Did I Get Here? were about Payne, but said “people will find what they need”.
He told presenter Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show: “Listen, when something like that happens in your life, it’s really difficult to write anything else.
“I remember the first time that I experienced grief. How can you write a love song when you’re feeling the feelings that you’re feeling? It feels so unimportant to everything that’s going around in your head.
“So, yeah, there are definitely moments where I’ve written about him kind of directly and then other moments that are a bit more subconscious. But it’s also not something I want to over-explain because, it won’t be too hard for people to join the dots.”
Asked about the song Dark To Light, which has been rumoured to be about Payne, Tomlinson added: “It’s a really intimidating concept to entertain, definitely, because there aren’t enough words really to explain love like that.
“But it certainly is one of the songs on the record that, pretty much every time I hear it, there’ll be a moment where I get goosebumps and drift off in my head and have a little think about it.
“It’ll probably be a challenging one to do live, but it is still one that I want to do live.”
Payne died at the age of 31 in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, and the boyband’s surviving members, Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik, reunited at his funeral alongside former manager Simon Cowell in November that year.
It comes after Tomlinson’s former bandmate Styles announced his fourth studio album Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally, which is due to be released on March 6, with a world tour also announced to begin in May, with 10 dates at London’s Wembley Stadium.
As a solo artist, after One Direction went on hiatus in 2016, Tomlinson has achieved two UK top 10 albums, including a number one in Faith In The Future (2022), and two top 10 singles.
The full interview with Tomlinson can be heard on Apple Music.
