Louis Tomlinson is so many things and so many words. The world knows him as the guy from One Direction who knocked up a random girl, the rude kid who flips off the paps, but the fans, the ones who go beyond this facade, beyond his words and his faked smiles, they know him as “love and bravery”.
Louis Tomlinson is like a coin with love and bravery as its two sides, two elements perfectly combined to create a human being with a heart of gold and a voice itching to be let free. He’s like a violin string waiting to be touched, to release in the air the most beautiful sounds. This is the Louis Tomlinson that lots of people will never see, the Louis hidden behind a wall made of lies and falsehoods, the Louis separated from us by a layer of dirt waiting to be scraped. Behind this wall of fake smiles stays an hidden treasure, so shining and precious that even imagining it could be difficult.
Louis Tomlinson was only eighteen years old when he found himself stuck in a world of lies, too evil for the blue-eyed boy, but he didn’t hesitate to be part of it, because it meant taking care of his beloved ones. Louis Tomlinson is the boy that for love found himself holding the hand of a girl in front of everyone and lying in front of cameras again and again. This is Louis Tomlinson. Not the rude kid who flips off the paps, but the brave guy, the brave man, who has been forced to do horrible things. And if he agreed to such terms, he did it for love.
Louis Tomlinson is bravery. He is the courage of always fighting back. Because Louis does fight back. He does it with ambiguous words, with his songs, songs that tell a story which can only be sung.
Louis Tomlinson is a flower that, despite having been walked over many times, hasn’t lost the colours of its petals. But there was a time that fans don’t like remembering, when Louis was almost skin and bones and his smiles were rare. When he was always silent on stage and the fans started worrying that maybe those wickednesses he had to bear could have destroyed his light forever. And when we were all wondering where he could find the strength to go on, Louis replied. He answered us with a song which is one of the most beautiful declaration of love of all times: love makes him strong. Love makes him brave.
This is why I get angry when I hear certain comments about Louis, comments of who is still in front of that wall, of who didn’t get past it. If you believe that Louis, with his beautiful heart and his beautiful mind, is a homophobic, or that he knocked up a random girl, then you didn’t understand anything. You let the media corrupt you.
So, Louis, if you’re reading this, here’s my message: I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. I’m sorry that you had to change, that they made you control even the most insignificant gesture. I’m sorry that you can’t be yourself in public, that they made you think there’s something wrong with who you are. I’m sorry for the image they made for you. I’m sorry, because if I search your name on Google, the first results are about you clubbing with random girls and not about your charity events. I’m sorry because that’s not you.
But I also want to thank you. Thank you for your courage, for always fighting back. I’m sure you’ll find your freedom soon. Your beautiful soul is itching for it, and we’re itching too. The world is waiting to go past that wall of lies, to see that hidden treasure.
My last words are for the fans: you, reader, how many times did you believe certain news about Louis? You know the answer. You know it if you wrote angry tweets at Louis, for being a homophobic, for not fighting back. But keep it in mind: Louis does fight back. His life trolley is so full of things he can’t do that it’s hard to close it now. If he can’t have his “not that important” moment yet he’s the last person to blame. He is the victim. But he always finds a limbo between what he can do and what he can’t do, and there you can find his rebellions. In a simple photo where he tries to come out of a closet, in a t-shirt with a rainbow apple on it, in a “who we aren’t” scribbled on a book. Is it enough? No. But if it’s not enough for you, try thinking what it must be for him. Think, and then come back. Try to say another negative thing about Louis. Tell me if you have the courage to do so.