he who is brave is free

His label situation has been unknown for over seven months—months of nothing but press about his personal life, and a record breaking livestream for which he got no promo save a Telegraph interview [that described him as the one in 1D who spent more time perusing contracts than singing!] and no real press afterwards—yet the first announcement is about an idea, an intention to one day start his own management company.

Whatever that may mean for him in the future, personally it’s hard for me to celebrate the hypothetical chance of him helping other artists some day when he still needs help right now for himself and his music career.

And all I can think is how it seemed that for once, despite the perpetual division in the fandom, there was focus on Louis and his developing music career—all that was on anyone’s mind was new merch and LT2 and tour. Now that focus has shifted, and the old time, enduring idea that his true, ultimate goal is working behind the scenes and helping other artists with their careers gains foothold once more. [4K likes on a tweet calling him a manager!] As though he isn’t in a position where he still needs help for his own career.

Additionally, ‘it won’t affect my music or release plans’ is exactly what he said before when he had to do XF—which was also presented as his idea and a long time dream of his own—and it most certainly did. It set him back years. This may absolutely be different, but claiming it must be so because this feels different seems like little more than hindsight bias. “Trust Louis, be supportive and positive!” was the exact same reaction back then too. “He knows what he’s doing [as though he has total power and everything is under his control…], everything is going to be fine!” is what people have been parroting for years, and here we are: “nothing to promote” after two weeks of minimal promo for the release of his delayed debut album, more press about Freddie than a record breaking livestream, and a team that didn’t even acknowledge an impactful fan project to promote his music.

Whenever, if this ever comes to fruition, may it be good for Louis, but excuse me for not finding it cause for celebration at this point in time.

Hey Louies!

Take a few minutes to vote for Louis in the 2021 Power Radio Fandom Awards. The winner of the contest will have their music added to the ‘high rotation’ playlist!

It’s unlimited voting (I try to do ten votes every time I see the link) so let’s do our best to win this!