When Louis Tomlinson kicks off his upcoming solo world tour in March, chances are he’ll include some One Direction songs in his set list — but they may not be the ones you want to hear. Why? Louis says they’re too dirty for him to sing.
Louis tells Billboard, “I like to pick one that I wrote — but the biggest challenge is finding a lyric that feels all right to sing as a 34-year-old guy. And that’s actually not the easiest thing to do, because some of those One Direction lyrics are f****** raunchy, man, proper! But it’s also a really fun thing to try and integrate something sonically.”
However, Louis says that he does enjoy doing a reimagined version of “Night Changes,” and in the past he’s performed “No Control,” “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “Drag Me Down.”
As for his One Direction bandmates, Louis has teamed with Zayn Malik for a Netflix docuseries that will stream later this year. But when asked if he thinks he and Zayn will continue to be buddy-buddy in the future, he says, “I suppose that we’ll see in time. … [I]t definitely feels closer than it was. But I think we’re all so busy, it’s hard to keep that consistency.”
And despite the proliferation of other boy bands, such as BTS, Louis says, “I still don’t think there’s been anything similar, really, to One Direction. … [P]retty much every boy band that had come before us would fit into a quite specific mold. There was a way of doing boy bands back in the day — dressing in the same outfits, dancing. We broke free from that mold.”
Louis’ tour comes in support of his new solo album, How Did I Get Here?, which is out Jan. 23.
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