Last year Louis released his debut solo album “Walls”. Louis also premiered the first episode of his new YouTube video series.
Ask Louis why he only recently felt ready to record a solo album and is only now itching to be back on stage and he’ll tell you straight – the songs. His run of hits in 2017, including hugely successful collaborations with Bebe Rexha and Steve Aoki, were in retrospect a mere dipping of toes in the water. Temperature tested he made some decisions – Louis wanted to be an artist who had his own sound and something to say. Chasing chart positions and radio play had to take a back seat to making music that meant something to him and, in turn, to those all-important fans.
“There was definitely a process of understanding where I sit musically,” says Louis. “I have my own tastes and, to a certain extent, they are fighting against the musical tide. “When I grew up, pop meant Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, The Killers and Amy Winehouse. Times change, obviously. Currently pop is very urban and street, which is not what I relate to. Sure, I could make those sort of songs, but they wouldn’t feel like me. The puzzle was how to please both myself and the fans.”
In 2019 Louis picked up the Best Song Award at the Teen Choice Awards for his single ‘Two Of Us’, which has so far hit 40 million streams on Spotify, with YouTube views at 23 million. In 2018 Louis won an iHeart Award for ‘Best Solo Breakout’, and an EMA Award for ‘Best UK & Ireland Act’ in 2017. He was ranked No.5 on Billboard’s emerging artists of 2018 and has over 60 million combined followers on social media.
As a member of One Direction, Louis has sold over 100 million records. Overall Louis’s solo music has garnered over a BILLION streams.
“I feel like a new artist now. It’s taken a while for me to be comfortable on my own, to learn to trust my gut and make sure I get what I want. I feel the most confident I’ve ever been, both as a songwriter and a singer, and the most mature. Of course I want to be successful, but what matters is what my music means to me and what it means to the fans. That’s the priority. The rest we’ll have to wait and see.”