but like 1 - i think all of us, myself included, can sometimes forget just how ambitious both harry and louis are. i mean, she's been my queen since we were sixteen we want the same things we dream the same dreams. arguably the most ambitious two out of all of 1D, though tbf i always have a hard time getting a read on niall (i think zayn loves music and has a lovehate relationship with fame, now very strongly hate, and i think liam just wants public affirmation). but it's also obviously not just about the money. like, i think a lot about the fact that louis could (i think) very easily have taken his career in an ed sheeran direction post-1D, leaning into songwriting. he'd wrote hit after hit for 1D, he could've done a few high profile writing collabs and then just... made absolute bank, much more than he's making right now almost certainly, writing hits for other people, while also being able to have a very private personal life. and i think within the industry he would have been seen as successful for doing that. but he absolutely didn't do that, so it's obviously about the art and performance and maybe even public acknowledgement of his achievements at some level. same for harry - it's hard to be objective when we have the advantage of hindsight, but creatively harry doesn't do the commercially obvious things. again, because he achieves massive success, it's hard to see them as not commercially obvious, but it's there. so like, even if the money maybe plays a role, that's not it.
and then 2 - i do think that if they could plop themselves in an alternate universe and start from scratch this isn't the type of career either of them would choose for themselves. like both of them obviously identify much more with.... for lack of a better word artists than pop stars (though that's reductive i know i know). but i don't think harry would want to work his way back up to this level of fame versus have a career like, say, ben harper! or florence welch! same for louis, he clearly connects more with indie artists. BUT they can't just plop themselves into an alternate universe. they became pop stars at a very young age and it's very difficult to say "okay everyone look away and then come back and look at me like a new indie musician person where it's totally chill if i'm queer and/or if you never ever learn anything about my love life". they just can't, they are and to some extent always will be in the pop game, and so then it becomes a question of how do you play the pop game. louis is i think trying very hard to get himself as out of it as he can and rebrand himself as more indie, in a way that has i think only been moderately successful. whereas i think harry has gone the route of, okay, if i'm stuck in this game, might as well be a player and not a pawn. which, honestly, similarly, i think has only been moderately successful. but like... they got put onto a path when they were 16 and 18 respectively and i do think if they want to continue making music and performing, which they clearly both do, their options for how to do that in the environment they're stuck in are very constrained.
