The singer is back with his follow-up to debut album Walls, Faith in the Future

Louis Tomlinson unleashes his second album, Faith in the Future, on the world today and admits he had ‘a lot more clarity’ making this record in comparison to his long-gestating debut, 2020’s Walls.

The 30-year-old has already announced dates for the accompanying 2023 world tour, as well as special live in concert shows of the album this week and next in New York and London.

All of this comes despite the fact he only just finished his rescheduled 2020 tour dates in support of Walls in September, so keen is the singer to keep performing live for his fans now he’s finally had the chance to connect with them in that way again.

‘It was a very deliberate choice to go back out on the road as soon as possible,’ he tells Metro.co.uk.

‘That’s always the way I felt, they were always my favourite moments in the band [One Direction]. But it had been a long time coming, this first tour. I’ve been working towards this moment for a long time, four, five, six years even, so to get there and to finish it like we did, I just want to keep momentum rolling.’

He also says he’s ‘very aware’ of the expense of gig tickets during the current cost-of-living crisis, so if focused on putting on a ‘great show’ that will leave fans with a positive memory.

Louis reckons he’s managed to avoid the second album stigma after his music making with One Direction

The chart-topper is proud of Faith in the Future, teasing the musical decisions he’s made with the album and how it differs from Walls as he learned to ‘fully embrace’ his own taste in songs.

‘There’s obviously that stigma that the second record can often be challenging, but I think for me it was different. I almost felt that more on my first record because I’d had the experience of making music with One Direction and at such a high level. There was a lot of… not necessarily treading water, but definitely trial and error on that first album.

‘It was almost like my development phase, but done in the public eye, and it had been a couple years since I’d released Walls so I had enough time to work out what I liked about the album, what I thought I could have done better.

‘So I had a lot more clarity making this record. I knew what it was I wanted to get out of it. And there was an element on my first record where I kind of alluded to my taste musically but never really fully embraced it. I don’t think I was quite brave enough on that first record, so I kind of ran with that idea.’ 

He adds: ‘I just wanted to kind of trust my gut on this record and also lean on the incredible artists that I worked with on it. And I’m really proud of what we’ve got.’

Diving into the tracks on the album a bit, Louis says there’s nothing he’s apprehensive about fans listening to as ‘in terms of my songwriting and my lyrics, my bread and butter is honesty really, so I’m used to people kind of getting an insight to me through my lyrics and through my music’. 

The 30-year-old says he’s been ‘braver’ with incorporating his musical taste in Faith in the Future

‘Out Of My System is one of my favourite songs – I just think it’s going to be really fun to do live. And Silver Tongues, that’s something I am excited for the fans to hear because where we start with Bigger Than Me and then where we went to with Out Of My System, I feel like it kind of sits in the middle of those two songs.’

Discussing his Britpop rebrand post-One Direction, which he leans into more on Faith in the Future, Louis explains the role it had in shaping him as a youngster and his musical development.

‘That’s the sound that I would say defined growing up for me. That kind of music is big in the North of England full stop and especially in working class town-forward-slash-just-been-made-a-city Doncaster. I spent a lot of my time as a young lad in this indie bar called Priory, and that’s how I discovered a lot about music that I’ve grown up to love.

‘And those kind of associations for me are important because that kind of perception – coming from a band like One Direction, you have to chip away at that perception. But that indie/Britpop/alternative/whatever words you want to use to describe it sound, that’s who I am as a listener, and I think that’s the way I am as an artist as well.’ 

Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey of Pulp, a Britpop band Louis references with his new record (Picture: Mick Hutson/Redferns)

Faith in the Future saw Louis write with talent from Hurts and Courteneers among others

Now seems a prudent time to bring up the name of one of his new songs, Common People, and the inevitable link people will make with Pulp’s 1995 signature song. Surely that’s a deliberate homage?

Louis smiles, sharing: ‘I love that tune, so it was one of them [sic] where it was like, once we finished the song, “Do we change the title?” But it was, again, a little moment for me – when I think of that song – the original – it takes me right back to Priory, so because the song is about nostalgia and about Doncaster and about growing up anyway, it felt actually appropriate to have the same title.’

Let’s hope Jarvis Cocker agrees.

Discussing the songwriting process that went into the new album, Louis reveals that it was a ‘conscious decision’ to write more with other artists, to provide ‘a better duty of care on every single song’.

He did a multi-day writing camp with Theo Hutchcraft from Hurts, Courteeners’ Joe Cross and David Sneddon (winner of 2002’s Fame Academy), which produced songs Saturdays, Silver Tongues and She is Beauty We are World Class.

To break the ice, Louis took them all to the pub, where he came to a significant realisation.

A proud son of Doncaster, his musical education was shaped by the town

‘We sat there and we’re talking and something that really had a profound effect over me was I don’t find myself in these circles loads, and they were talking about music like I talk about football with my mates, which is live and breathe it.

‘I think to be around these artists that a) have great experience and b) have great passion for what they’re doing, I think that shows in the record. Every song has its own importance and I think that’s the benefit of having these artists on board.’

In a recent interview, the former One Directioner, who was in the chart-topping band alongside Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Harry Styles until 2016, and former member Zayn Malik until 2015, hit headlines for confessing that he thought their hiatus would only last a year or two, that it took him ‘a long time to get over’ it and that it stalled the start of his solo career.

Reflecting on it now, he shares that his first post-One Direction song, Just Hold On with DJ Steve Aoki, which was released in December 2016 and seemed to come reasonably soon after their split, was all he had to offer.

‘When I released the Steve song, it’s not as if I had five singles to choose from, that was the only thing that I had that I thought was good at the time, really.’

He also admits to feeling ‘petulant’ and a bit angry in the wake of the band’s break as he started trying to figure out his own path to a solo career.

With One Direction bandmates Liam Payne (L) and Harry Styles and Niall Horan (both R) in December 2015, before the hiatus that Louis didn’t expect to still be ongoing (Picture: Karwai Tang/WireImage)

‘There was an element of my personal life giving me a little push as well and saying, “You know, now’s the time to start.” It felt relevant at the time but yeah, don’t get me wrong, there was an element of coming out the band at first, it was just kind of… And I think that comes from petulance, you know. 

‘It’s not that I that anyone kind of made me feel that it was going to be back in a year or two years. I think that was me just putting my wall of security up and going, well, hopefully, it’ll be a year or two’s time, because I wasn’t ready for that. I wasn’t ready for the break.’

However, he’s now grateful for it as it led to him figuring out his identity as an artist.

‘I will say now, hindsight is a powerful thing. I really do enjoy having the ability to express myself, musically, and sometimes that’s challenging in a band – especially now that I really feel like I’m finding my feet, musically, I’m actually thankful that I’ve got this time. But as soon as I left the band, I was a little bit angry’. 

He may be hitting his stride with his second solo record, but Louis did struggle in the transition.

Louis is heading back out on the road with a fresh world tour in support of his new album in 2023 (Picture: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images)

‘It’s not as if I was sat in One Direction, speculating what a solo career might look like or feel like, it kind of just happened to me one day and I’m like, “Are you gonna do this?” And I’m like, “Alright, I’ll give it a go”, but I didn’t really get that mental prep to realise what I was going in for – so especially in that first year, first two years even, of my solo career, there was a lot of worry, a lot of unknown. I didn’t really know what was going to happen in future.’ 

When asked what he thinks the biggest misconception people have about him is, he brings it back to the type of music he’s making now in comparison to the days of One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful and Story of My Life.

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‘It’s almost an obvious one, it’s because I come from One Direction and there is obviously a major pop element in the band like that, that people have these preconceived ideas that I can only make music that’s straight down the middle pop, but that’s not what I grew up around.’

Smiling sheepishly, he adds: ‘The irony about that misconception is, if I still lived in Doncaster, I could see myself having the same opinion about myself! I’m very aware that you have to chip away at those perceptions, it’s not an overnight thing. So that’s why when I’m thinking about me really establishing myself in this genre, it’s a five-year, seven-year, 10-year project.’

Faith in the Future is out now.

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‘I just wanted to trust my gut on this record.’