Louis Tomlinson doesn’t think his early solo material "really represents" him.
The former One Direction singer enjoyed collaborating with the likes of Steve Aoki and Bee Rexha but he doesn’t think the sound of their tracks were really right for him and decided to "follow [his] heart" instead of worrying about what would do well in the charts.
He admitted: "When I first started my solo career, I did an electronic track with Steve Aoki. He’s a f***ing legend. And I did a track with Bebe Rexha — she’s cool as hell.
"But when I look back at those songs, I don’t think they really represent me.
"So it took me a second to work out that I just wanted to follow my heart.
"Because I have the luxury of having been in a band like One Direction. And luckily, I saw a lot of success with the band.
"But instead of focusing so much on numbers and chart position and radio, I thought, ‘I’m just going to follow my heart.’ And, hopefully, it’ll be a more authentic record that way.
But the ‘Two of Us’ singer admitted it took him time to be "at peace" with the fact his solo career would never be as massive as his time with 1D.
He told Rolling Stone magazine: "My only experience is being in a band the size of One Direction. So naturally, as much as you try and stay humble and realistic, that’s your experience.
"And that experience is based on something that isn’t real life, really. So it took me a second to be at peace with that."
And Louis believes ‘Two of Us’ – which was written about the death of his mother – marked a turning point for his music.
He said: "It was funny because around that time, for obvious reasons, I felt really redundant creatively. I was really struggling. When I look back in hindsight, it’s because I needed to get that song off my chest. Other concepts lacked significance, until I’d fit in that song."
Louis Tomlinson doesn’t think early solo work was right
