âPreview, buy, and download songs from the album Walls, including "Kill My Mind", "Two of Us", "We Made It" and many more.
How does an artist find himself after leaving the biggest boy band on the planet? He leans into authentic self-expression. âIâm aware that to a certain degree, Iâm swimming against the tide,â Louis Tomlinson tells Apple Music. âIâve had all this amazing success with One Direction, I realised that I might as well just follow my heart.â And so the English singer-songwriter has: Walls, his solo debut, is electric pop-rock, triumphant in the face of tragedyâhe writes with diaristic precision (the balladic ode to his late mother on âTwo of Usâ and the â90s Britpop guitars on âKill My Mindâ) and consideration for his most ardent fans (the 1D-channelling âDonât Let It Break Your Heartâ and the life-affirming âPerfect Nowâ). In this track-by-track guide, Tomlinson opens up about Walls, revealing a side of himself previously undiscovered.
Kill My Mind
âThat song was written for two reasons: One, I was listening to the album and it annoyed me that I didnât quite have that moment of excitement, and I think that song definitely evokes excitement. [Two,] it was a bit of a statement of intent. âThis is where I want to be, this is the space I want to move into.â But Iâm aware thatâs a transition as well. I wasnât going to put ten âKill my Mindsâ on the album, because I donât think that wouldâve been right.â
Donât Let It Break Your Heart
âStraightway, that chorus reminds me of a big One Direction song. Itâs got that big, great, hopefully hooky chorus. In terms of concept, it almost sits in the same world as the Steve Aoki song I did, âJust Hold Onâ. Itâs just one of those songs thatâs trying to promote hope regardless of what life throws at you.â
Two of Us
âI wasnât ready to write that song. The original lyric on the verse was âSo Iâll leave a message after the tone.â And it always f**king bugs me, listening to it, because thereâs so much beauty in that song. Then I changed it to âSo Iâm not aloneâ, and I think that really captures the weight, emotionally, of the song. And that song is probably the most special song that Iâve ever written.â
We Made It
âI wrote âWe Made Itâ about three years ago, so I had about 20 different mixes. That took a second to get right, and we made it. Listen, I like the song, I like the song. Would I say itâs one of my favourites? No, probably not. It was one of the record labelâs favourites. So I kind of rolled the dice on that one, really. The strive for authenticity is a constant battle. Thatâs something that I have to be strong on, as often as I can.â
Too Young
âI can remember that feeling of being 18 and meeting the person that you might spend the rest of your life with. We all made mistakes when weâre younger, and I just wanted to capture that idea of true honesty. Look, I wasnât ready for that responsibility. And now I reflect, and Iâm older, and I can look back with experience. I can see why that was wrong. But at the time, thereâs a lot of 18-year-oldsâespecially 18-year-old ladsâtheyâre not ready for that responsibility. I wanted to capture that.â
Walls
âWe had an amazing moment for this song in London. I went down to record some live strings for âWallsââthat was a real f**king breakout moment for me, because thereâs been times on this album where Iâve been pretty frustrated and itâs been hard to keep with the get-up-and-go because the creative process can get frustrating. But I had this moment, in this massive, amazing studio in London called Angel Studios, watchingâI donât know how many people were there, but letâs speculate 15, 18 people there for my song. I feel like the live strings on it really give it an extra edge of credibility.â
Habit
âItâs got quite a storytelling lyric that I know hardcore One Direction fans will like: Thereâs a line about the place that we all grew up with in the band, and that was an apartment complex called Princess Park. Itâs like an Easter egg for fans. Iâm sure theyâll like that.â
Always You
âItâs autobiographical, me making that realisation that itâs always been that one person and that no matter what you do or what you see, you miss that person.â
Fearless
âWhat I wanted to try and capture with the song is the idea of feeling youthful and how important that is. Iâm at this age where Iâm on the cuspâIâm definitely not a teenager, Iâm not a young lad anymore, nor am I old, but I sit in this space where Iâm aware of my age now. I hear it as a playground or going back to real youth.â
Perfect Now
âI worked on this with Jamie Scott, who was part of the One Direction writing team. Lyrically, itâs kind of an extension of âWhat Makes You Beautifulâ, One Directionâs first single. It was written quite deliberately as an attempt to write a fan favourite song. There is a long history of people coming out of bands and then talking s**t about that band. I absolutely f**king love One Direction. I love the music. I love the music that we made, the fans, the culture, and everything behind it. There are songs like âKill My Mindâ and âWallsâ where Iâm trying something different, but of course thereâs always room for those [1D-like] songs on the album.â
Defenceless
âIâm trying to be vulnerable and Iâm trying to be honest. Iâm trying to write as many different feelings as I can. One day you might be feeling great, youthful and amazing, and the next day you might be feeling a little bit down in the dumps. I wanted to capture that.â
Only the Brave
âThe crackly sound goes way beyond my production comprehension. The way the guitar was recorded, I donât know. But what I love about that song is that it feels classic, like going back in time. Itâs one of my favourite songs because it doesnât have a traditional structure. You only really get the chorus once. You havenât heard a song like that the whole record, and then you get it at the end. Thereâs something interesting about that.â
