i feel like this interview will reveal if his pr is going in a new direction or not. If he spends any time addressing ~conspiracies~ he's gonna cement that reactive image to an entirely new audience. Nothing to talk about but what others are saying about you.
look i guess i'll just share my unpopular opinions here right away as well. (edited to add that after reading that synopsis i strongly feel like there is no need for me to watch it as i refuse to watch steven bartlett performatively care for two hours straight.)
Objectively, The Diary of a CEO is the #1 podcast in the UK, it is also the fastest growing podcast with steady growth of around 300-500k subscribers a month. It's popular, it won Best International Podcast in the US this year. There's no denying that audience wise, it's a solid choice.
Now, here are all my arguments against it though.
First off, I will be honest and say that I hate Steven Bartlett. I think he's a stuck-up entrepreneur who thinks he's incredibly smart and important when he just isn't. He's just a man who thinks that because he's been able to 'grift', it allows him to assert himself as the smartest or most intelligent or well-informed person in the world when that's not the case. That lack of judgment has led to bad interviews, terrible questions, and most harmfully, ill-informed episodes with supposed 'health' experts who have shared dangerous pseudoscience through his platform.
Second off, I don't get why you'd choose to do this type of podcast when the entire vibe and roll-out of your single and supposedly your album is a much more upbeat and 'pura vida' approach to life. There are a gazillion different podcasts that have a much more upbeat tone and still offer insightful questions and moments for introspection.
Thirdly, I don't see who - except for Steven - benefits off of this going to cinemas. They can't claim that this is going to be a never before seen deep dive into Louis' life, when he's literally just shared his own documentary that actually was also shown in cinemas. The people who will go see this on the big screen are gonna be the exact same people who've already seen Louis' documentary. So the only person who has something to gain here, monetarily and perhaps if you like his interview style I guess, is Steven and he is using Louis as his vehicle.
Which fine, if Louis is fine with that as well. But it does bring me to the fourth point. Which is that the overall tone of interviews and vibe that we've seen from Steven in the past and also from what they've put out so far, it doesn't make me think that it's going to be very... original. It looks to me - with the question about who he is outside of One Direction, with the inclusion of Two of Us as a song in the background - that they are 100% going to focus on every single low moment and try to dissect it to figure out how it's shaped him. I hate the mindset anyways that you can only grow through grief, because it makes it performative in a way. As if you have to legitimize it, make it useful. When grief doesn't have to be useful, it's a weight to bear - it doesn't necessarily make you a better person and it doesn't need to.
Also, that entire approach makes me uneasy, because we know that Louis has not wanted to do that in the past. To excavate his old selves in front of the world, knowing that it's just going to reinvigorate people's running commentary on him. Which of course he can change his mind about, but I doubt Steven is really interested beyond the fact that he knows Louis has led a rich life in terms of highs and lows and that's something to gain views off of.
And I just don't believe that you need to continuously revisit the past in order to shape Louis as a solo artist now. There's no need for it. We don't see the others do it either, because hey - you can focus on the present and the future. Faith in the Future, remember? And particularly UK press has already had many field days and go arounds in talking about Louis as being part of 1D, as having gone through tragedy, as having had a hard time, as being the victim of conspiracy theories, and smuggling in a TV to Glastonbury. The general public there knows he's been an X Factor judge, etcetera etcetera. What they'll want to hear now is not the music he's making, but if there'll be a 1D reunion ever since Liam has passed away and how that's affected Louis. Because yes, maybe it makes them more human. But do you need to humanise someone who'd actually be better off being treated as a serious artist for once? This idea that 'if only they'd see more of him, they'd potentially like his music' is indeed an old strategy that hasn't worked because the levers to actually promote the music have been blocked from usage/never been used either.
Anyways. What I was hoping for initially, was that the episode could focus maybe on what drives Louis to not only make music, but create it from beginning to end. To have him talk about the intricacies and the complexity of the music industry. He is his own CEO, of his own publishing house, his own label - he can discuss his relationship and move to BMG in depth, from a business perspective. He could talk about diversifying his creative business as well; what does it bring him and why does he want to do the clothing line and the festival, what inspires him, what has he learned from it so far, does he feel like he has gained the experience and skills to be a CEO or does he employ people to take on certain tasks within each company? There are so many facets to Louis and who he is now, and emphasising the empire he's built in the shadows - outside of the periphery of the mainstream. That could be the angle. It's just that it doesn't look to be the angle.
And I agree, I feel like with All of Those Voices, it felt like the closing of a chapter. It wasn't about those voices whether external or internal - it was about him. And him believing in himself and knowing he deserves success and he's earned it as well.
I thought that's where we had left things and where we would pick it all up again come LT3 with its optimistic and light, sunny vibes. But yeah, I really dread any sort of return to a reactive storyline that's just going to inflame discourse in a totally unproductive way.
At the same time, I've been told - and they'd be correct - that there's nothing to be done about it anyways, we should just enjoy the new music and see what happens. It's also 100% on me that I somehow still care too much to the extent that I even have such an opinion on this lol. That needs to stop :')
ellievsbear
stormborns
theartofmadeline
vaporwave
prguitarman
dailybridgerton
discoholicmusic
romaincrisis
turnnoffyourmind
