Louis Tomlinson looks back on the day One Direction decided to go their separate ways, a moment that is still vivid in his memory.
The singer opened up about that emotional turning point during his appearance on the channel Diary of a CEO podcast on October 8, which evokes the exact mood in the room when the group, including Harry Styles, Niall Horan and the late Liam Payne, agreed to end things in 2016.
“The room felt cold that day,” Louis said. “That’s what I remember most.”
Although he felt the end was near, the now 33-year-old admitted the reality still hit him hard.
“It was terrible,” he said. “It wasn’t until after the event that I realized that I had actually calculated all these feelings. But it was like I was genuinely mourning it: the band was mourning.”
Louis explained that although he had suffered loss before, this type of grief was different, even though it had the same emotional weight.
“What’s really fascinating are those really serious moments; we wouldn’t have many of them in One Direction,” he reflected.
“We just went with the flow and were really happy for each other and stuff like that. But I think those kind of moments where you have to be selfish was a vibe that I never really felt in the band.”
He said that when the group, which Zayn Malik was originally part of before his departure in 2015, “began to think more independently,” something in their dynamic changed.
“These are all the same faces I’ve seen every day, but I’ve never felt such energy in the room,” he recalls. “There was a void. And I think probably because we all knew where it was going.”
When it came time to label the band’s breakup as a “hiatus,” Louis admitted he struggled with that label.
“I remember saying, if I want to try some things on my own, and at the time I didn’t even know what I was going to do, I thought, it would be good to know how long this break is going to last,” he said.
“So let’s speculate. One year? Two years? Five years? 10 years? 15 years? I never really got an answer to that question, which I understand now.”
When he thinks about it, he believes that those involved in the decision were not ready to face what it really meant. “I think they probably knew the reality,” Louis said, “and that’s why it was difficult.”
While One directionThe band’s split marked the end of an era, Louis has continued to carry that experience with him, and in recent months he has admitted that he can’t imagine a reunion after losing his bandmate, Liam Payne, in 2024.
