Have you seen this Daily Mail article? There is no way this isn’t coming from Louis’ camp.
As the eldest member, Louis was often pushed into the background during the band's heyday. He was viewed by fans as the 'cheeky' one, while his bandmates, the late Liam Payne and Niall Horan, were the more 'gentle' ones. But the spotlight always shone brightest on their more charismatic bandmate, Harry Styles.
“Pushed into the background”?? How exactly?! This is classic Louis. Also, note that Zayn isn’t mentioned in that paragraph…because he’s in his not-mentioning-Zayn era.
'The last thing he wanted was to compete with Harry on his big day. It feels like history repeating itself.' Said an insider?
All of this has to be coming from his PR people.
They have a ‘join the debate’ box as well: Do YOU think Harry overshadowed Louis on purpose? Well, clearly Louis does! Because a lot of his fans are being quite generous with their explanations for it. (And he could be right! That’ll teach him to invoke Harry for clicks and shade him at the same time. That’ll teach him to embarrass a younger kid in interviews and who knows what behind the scenes. We’re supposed to feel bad for him but I think he just exhausted Harry’s patience to be honest, any why would he organise his career around that of someone he doesn’t talk to?)
In a bitter twist of timing reminiscent of their days in One Direction, the looming presence of Styles has once again overshadowed Louis's big moment.
Styles, 31, broke his near four-year musical hiatus last Friday by releasing a new single – on the exact same day Tomlinson's album – called How Did I Get Here? – dropped.
Harry, who is worth a staggering £175million, announced the release of Aperture last Tuesday, a single ahead of a new album due in March.
As expected, he broke the internet: within two hours, his Instagram post had racked up more than five million likes.
Louis, meanwhile, took to X with a personal plea. He told fans: 'Going to need your help over the next few days to cut through the noise. Time to give this record the moment it deserves!'
Fans rushed to insist that, far from a dig at Harry, the comment was aimed at album leaks that had surfaced days earlier online. But those close to the band say the comment could easily have been a direct dig at Louis's former bandmate.
'They are not friends,' one insider told me. 'Yes, they will forever be bonded by the band, and all that happened, but that is in the past.
'Harry has no loyalty to Louis as it stands, and it's safe to say this whole song release has p***ed Louis off.
'The last thing he wanted was to compete with Harry on his big day. It feels like history repeating itself.'
Louis later revealed, during an appearance on American host Elvis Duran's radio show, that he had no idea Harry would be releasing music the same day.
During the promotional interview, the host said: 'Harry Styles, we're playing that this morning. So you didn't know that was coming out?'
Wringing his hands and with a forced smile, Louis replied: 'I didn't actually.'
He then added, stuttering slightly: 'I found out a couple of days ago.'
The conversation swiftly moved on. There were no words of praise for his former bandmate – or indeed any indication he had even listened to Harry's track.
That sad sap Chris Frewin probably spoke to a Mail journalist. It backfired because the whole article makes Louis sound insecure, neurotic and bitter.