I’m here like, wow. How did things change so much in the fandom, man?
Because I remember distinctly when people were up in arms that it was so crazy how overworked the boys were, how much they needed a break.
Remember the outrage when they didn’t rehearse for OTRA? How everyone was like ‘It’s not their fault! The problem is that they don’t get time off because their team overworks them!!!!!’
Remember when Zayn and Louis botched up Stockholm Syndrome because they didn’t know the lyrics? Remember when everyone was crying that OH MY GOD THEY DIDN’T INCLUDE SONGS OF FOUR and GIVE THEM A BREAK SO THEY CAN REHEARSE AND REGROUP!
Five albums in five years. Four worldwide tours in four years. A documentary, countless interviews and photo shoots and red carpets and appearances and seeing them completely fuck up their voices because they had no time to rest and recording the albums in hotel rooms in the middle of the night. Everyone was against it, right?
Everyone was up for them having some rest, were you not? The fandom was pretty fucking consensual AT LEAST on that front from where I’m standing. But now? Nope. Harry is a demon for realising that THEY NEEDED A BREAK. Because for some PR spin now the story is that Louis and Niall apparently didn’t really agree, so Harry was planning his solo career all along and he’s an evil mastermind and he broke up our band…
Do you listen to yourselves? Do you REALLY believe that Niall and Louis wanted to continue to churn out an album a year? Get two weeks off out of 52?
It isn’t even just the EXHAUSTION that they must’ve had, it’s also the fact that they were turning the fans off. YES. THEY WERE. You see it from your superfan perspective and you don’t understand it, but this is the breakdown of sales of their albums:
UP ALL NIGHT (2011) ESTIMATED SALES (IFPI + UWC): 6.0 million SALES + CERTIFICATIONS: 5.112 million
TAKE ME HOME (2012) ESTIMATED SALES: 5.6 million SALES + CERTIFICATIONS: 5.148 million
MIDNIGHT MEMORIES (2013) ESTIMATED SALES: 4.8 million SALES + CERTIFICATIONS: 4.575 million
FOUR (2014) ESTIMATED SALES (IFPI + UWC ): 3.5 million SALES + CERTIFICATIONS: 2.813 million
MADE IN THE AM (2015) ESTIMATED SALES (IFPI + UWC): 3.0 million SALES + CERTIFICATIONS: 2.082 million
Do you see the OBVIOUS decline? And all the albums sans MitAM are prior to the uprising of streaming, yet there’s a drop of 1.5 million between Midnight Memories and FOUR. Harry’s suggested hiatus was allegedly in 2014, which falls RIGHT before they released FOUR… Don’t be fucking dense. They didn’t even sell out OTRA. Don’t you remember that? Do you remember the Groupon ads and how everyone was going crazy?
THEY NEEDED THE BREAK. It’s been a year and a half, not eight. And don’t you dare say that ‘Harry is keeping the band from getting back together’, because his tour ends mid-2018, whereas Niall, Liam and Louis haven’t even released their albums yet, even though they all said they will (Niall and Liam said they wanted to tour and I’m hoping to God Louis does as well). They’ll all finish their rollout WAY AFTER Harry finishes touring.
Did I dream this?
MARCH TWO THOUSAND AND TWELVE and they were already salty about it.
I mean, that did happen did it not? And Harry was pretty adamant about it
His ‘I didn’t want to exhaust the fanbase’ comment sounds pretty fucking consistent with EVERYTHING he’s said as well:
Bottom line is, they couldn’t continue as they were and they needed to not go back to the process of writing/rehearsing/touring/recording/promoting round the clock 365 days a year. That’s what a hiatus means. That’s what’s happening. Exploring their solo careers is just a consequence of them having the opportunity to do so, and seriously, aren’t you glad? They came to the band at 16, 17, 18. They’re 23, 24, 25 now. They’re adults and talented musicians and they have different takes on music. What’s wrong with exploring that?
Niall started writing ‘at the beginning of last year’ (according to himself), so did Harry. Louis was spotted in studios around that time too, and I’m pretty sure Liam was seen in studios as well. Harry didn’t formally start the concept of his album until around May (just before Dunkirk), and by then, Liam was already in talks for a solo album too (considering he announced his deal with Capitol in June and those things aren’t negotiated in two days). There was talk about Niall considering re-signing with Syco at around the same time as well and by June, Louis had signed JGG.
Look at the big picture before taking all the blame on one of them. Look at the things that happened and the circumstances, not just at what they said. Liam can go red in the face repeating that he wasn’t sure going solo was a good idea, but he auditioned for the X Factor as a solo artist twice, performed as a solo artist in weddings in the middle, had his own website set up, called his fans ‘Paynettes,’ etc. I tend to believe Louis hesitated more with the possibility of going solo because of the circumstances last year and because of how he was treated whilst in the band, but I don’t believe for a second that Niall and Liam’s decisions to go solo happened by accident and that they never intended to do so until a solo deal fell into their laps. Give me a break.
Bottom line is, if Harry had wanted to go solo whilst in the band, he wouldn’t have convinced the other four (because in 2014, when he allegedly brought it up, Zayn was still very much a part of the band) to go on hiatus a year and a half later. he would’ve… gone solo. Like Zayn did. Because Zayn LITERALLY left the band in the middle of tour.
So, yes. They ALL needed a break from constantly working. They ALL needed to give the fandom a break and BE MISSED. Exploring solo endeavours isn’t just a good thing; it’s HEALTHY. FOR ALL OF THEM. If you suddenly believe they should’ve kept going regardless of all this, then maybe your bias is showing and what you actually believe is that Harry is an inherently bad person and what you’re actually doing is finding reasons to back up that belief. Even when they don’t exist and they contradict what you’ve been preaching for years.
Bye.
