Louis Tomlinson has explained how a songwriting trip to Costa Rica led him to his “breezy” third solo album How Did I Get Here?.
The former One Direction star is set to drop the follow-up to 2022’s “mildly dark” Faith in Nature on January 23, 2026, and he has revealed how the sunny destination inspired the record sonically.
In a cover interview for Rolling Stone UK, Louis said of the album: “I hope it feels like a reflection of how confident I am, but breezy is a real nice way of putting it.
“It’s been a long time since, professionally and personally, I’ve been able to have a little spring in my step. So, hopefully that comes across in the record.”
Louis got to take things “slow” and spend time nurturing his relationships with his collaborators, including Nico Rebscher, David Sneddon and Theo Hutchcraft, and has finally found a team that makes him feel confident.
He explained: “What it does for me is build up a lot of trust and confidence in the people that I’m working with. What it isn’t about – and I did many of these sessions [in the past] – is being in a room where people are hoping that we write the single. I get that everyone’s got a livelihood, but sometimes in that situation, you can feel more like a means to an end than [like you’re working with] someone who really wants the best for the record.”
He continued: “Ever since being in One Direction, I’ve been searching for this kind of team mentality.
“I’ve done it the same with my live band on tour – we very much move as a unit, and that’s really important to me.”
Louis said several of the songs on the record wouldn’t exist “without Costa Rica”.
He added: “As I’ve got a bit older, I’m really buying into more hippie-ish ideas. I realised I liked the idea of just bathing in that atmosphere and seeing what happened to the music there. I don’t think songs like Lemonade, Sunflowers and Lazy would have happened without Costa Rica.”