When it comes to pop music, everyone’s a critic — just ask former One Direction member Louis Tomlinson.
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Louis recently appeared on an episode of the Smallzy’s Surgery podcast — and when talk turned to his old band, he didn’t hold back on his opinions when it comes to how 1D started out.
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At one point, Louis found himself reflecting on the fact that the day the podcast was recorded also marked the 12-year anniversary of when One Direction was first formed.
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“Twelve years ago today, the band got formed, but the first album was shit anyway,” Louis said. Ouch!
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The album he’s talking about, in case you didn’t know, is One Direction’s 2011 debut Up All Night — which featured the hit song “What Makes You Beautiful.”
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Louis’s criticism didn’t stop at One Direction’s early music, though. He was also candid about how his own solo career has gone so far.
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“There’s still pressure, obviously, for me to deliver a good record,” he said, possibly alluding to his 2020 solo debut, Walls, while also citing the challenges that come from “trying to find my feet coming out of a band as big as One Direction.”
Of course, Louis isn’t the first 1D member to criticize the group’s work. Way, way back in 2015, Zayn Malik said that One Direction’s music was “generic as fuck” in his first interview after leaving the band.
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Considering the recent evidence that Louis and Zayn have ended their long-running feud, it’s possible they have something new to bond over now too.
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Listen to the entire interview here.
