but honestly i’ve talked to a couple people on here about this and i could be dead wrong ofc but given the way he’s spoken recently i think a big part of it could be that he just still has a lot of insecurities and fear/anxiety surrounding whether he can really make it all on his own under his own song-writing chops…i know a lot of us (myself included) had previously speculated for some time that he/his music was being intentionally held back by tptb, along with the other beardy boys, and that could still also be a part of it, who knows, but just listening to certain things he keeps repeating and the way he’s been talking about all the setbacks with the album release and other artists taking priority and it not feeling like the right time etc., more and more i’m starting to feel like he maybe doesn’t quite see himself as a priority either? and like he maybe still isn’t quite that confident in his own song-writing abilities at least as far as his own songs selling as well or being as well-received as songs other people have written is concerned. and when i say that i don’t mean that he doesn’t think he can write songs well (obviously he can lol or 1d wouldn’t have gotten where they are, and i’m sure he knows/realizes that to some degree) but just that he might feel like his songs won’t do nearly as well as the singles so far have and so he’s maybe scared to take that risk and put out stuff that’s purely his because not only would it be like laying himself bare which he might not be ready for yet, but if that dreaded reality by chance came true it would prove all his worst fears right and ofc absolutely crush him. so for now he’s maybe staying ‘safe’ and in his comfort zone by relying on songs that he knows have been written by hitmakers and more big names in the industry that kinda guarantee him success even if it’s not all quite exactly what he himself would prefer to be singing about or the kind of sound he would necessarily want. anyway i hope that made some amount of sense in answer to your question lol