Louis William Tomlinson (né Austin, born 24 December 1991) is an English singer-songwriter who has also done work in football, television, acting, and philanthropy.
He gained notability as a member of hit boyband One Direction, having auditioned for the 2010 season of The X Factor as a solo artist. Out of all the members, he contributed the most in songwriting with credits on over 38 songs across the band's discography, particularly on the later 3 albums, including 6 hit singles. Outside of music, he initially made his name as the larger-than-life funny one with Keet tendencies.
Since the band's hiatus in 2016, he has gone on to release several singles as a solo artist and an album Walls (2020). He also appeared as a judge on the 2018 season of The X Factor.
Solo Discography:
- Walls (2020)
Tropes:
- Big Brother Instinct: In addition to being an actual big brother and the oldest of the boys.
- Britpop: His music, his album in particular, has often been referred to as such and he has cited the likes of Oasis as his inspiration.
- Grief Song: "Just Hold On" and "Two of Us" are tributes to his late mother, with whom he had a very close relationship. "Don't Let It Break Your Heart" also deals with the theme of grief.
- Adding to the devastation, he then lost his 18 year old sister Félicité only a week after releasing "Two of Us", less than three years after losing his mother.
-
LGBT Fanbase: As a solo artist, a huge amount of his fans are queer women, to the point that it's an inside joke in the fandom. - Oop North: A Yorkshireman and proud of it. The thickness of his accent varies: it tends to be very thick these days, but there was a time during which it leaned more towards RP, likely due to media training.
- He once divulged in an interview that a boss at his former American label said he was 'ten percent too British'. His response: "The fuck do you want me to do about that?" He has since resolved to, quote unquote, "always be ten percent too British".
- Plucky Comic Relief: There are several clips, especially from the 1D and X Factor days, in which he has everyone in the room rolling.
- Sir Swearsalot: Tends to use swears as punctuation marks.
- A large amount of his fans love to tease him, so it's hardly uncommon for him to call a fan 'little shit' when meeting them in real life while in the same breath calling them 'love' or 'darling'.
-
What Could Have Been: Louis was originally set to release his debut album in late 2017 or 2018, but a number of external factors from the label to personal loss continuously delayed it. In the meantime, he switched genres from electronic to rock – one can ponder what an album fresh off his early singles might have looked like.
