Louis Tomlinson thinks people try to get "cool points" by criticising their own former bands and believes any members of One Direction would be "lying" if they said they didn’t miss the group.
The ‘Kill My Mind’ singer is "super proud" about his stint with the boy band and would never say anything bad about the ‘Steal My Girl’ group as he thinks it looks "desperate" when solo artists slam their beginnings.
After Zayn Malik repeatedly admitted he isn’t a fan of 1D’s music and Liam Payne has admitted being in the group could be "toxic" and hinted he didn’t get on with everyone, Louis was asked why he’s never complained about the band.
He told Rolling Stone magazine: Well, two things. First, I absolutely f***ing love the band. I’m super proud about where I’ve come from.
"At the end of the day, I’m from Doncaster, and the band gave me such a nice opportunity.
"But also, there’s a big history of that, people coming out of bands and chatting s**t. I just think they just look so obvious. It’s such a desperate attempt to try and get cool points. So I don’t think it’s authentic.
"I f**king love the boys, and I love everything we’ve done together. And I still miss my time with them. I think any of the boys would be lying if they said otherwise. It was a special time in our lives, definitely."
The 28-year-old singer thinks seeing the very different solo music each member – including Harry Styles and Niall Horan – have been producing shows the "strength" of the band was that every one of them brought something different to the group.
He added: "I think that’s a testament to this strength of us as a band, really, and what we all brought individually. And we do all have a different range of inspiration — that’s what made it interesting, both on a personality level and on a music level.
"I think we’re all making really f***ing good music as well. So, yeah, it’s nice for me to turn up the radio and hear the boys with another banger."
Louis thinks he and his bandmates were "lucky" because they weren’t so tightly controlled as other boy bands had been, and he thinks that was key to their appeal.
He said: "I think, to a certain degree, we were lucky in the time that we were living in. You look back to some of those Nineties boy bands, and they had to be a certain way.
"But we were always able to be ourselves, and I think that makes it easier for fans to connect to us. And you always want to make people feel as included as possible — everyone."
Louis Tomlinson slams ex-boy banders looking for ‘cool points’
