Louis Tomlinson, the former One Direction star, has spoken candidly about the profound emotional challenge of writing new music following the tragic death of his bandmate Liam Payne.
The 34-year-old admitted that crafting songs for his latest album, How Did I Get Here?, about anything other than the devastating loss was “really difficult”, though he suggested listeners would “find what they need” within the tracks.
During an interview with Zane Lowe on his Apple Music show, Tomlinson articulated the overwhelming nature of his grief and its impact on his creative process.
He explained: “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.”
The singer acknowledged both direct and more subtle references to Payne in his writing. “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,” he revealed. He added, “But it’s also not something I want to over-explain because, it won’t be too hard for people to join the dots.”
Addressing speculation around the track “Dark To Light”, believed by many to be about Payne, Tomlinson described the concept as deeply personal.
“It’s a really intimidating concept to entertain, definitely, because there aren’t enough words really to explain love like that,” he confessed.
He further elaborated on the song’s profound effect: “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.”
Despite the emotional weight, Tomlinson expressed a desire to perform the song live: “It’ll probably be a challenging one to do live, but it is still one that I want to do live.”
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Liam Payne tragically died at 31 in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina. The devastating loss saw the surviving members of One Direction – Tomlinson, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik – reunite with former manager Simon Cowell at Payne’s funeral in November that year.
This poignant interview emerges as another former bandmate, Harry Styles, prepares for his fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally, due 6 March, with a world tour including 10 Wembley Stadium dates.
Since One Direction’s 2016 hiatus, Tomlinson has carved out a successful solo career, achieving two UK top 10 albums, notably the number one Faith In The Future (2022), and two top 10 singles.
The full interview with Louis Tomlinson is available to stream on Apple Music.
