#lots of solo louies have left the fandom

[zot3-flopped]

In Part 203 of Louies are the Most Stupid People on the Planet, we have this anon on Sea who Sea did nothing to correct:

The unfortunate thing is that because BBC is basically who chooses the lineups for the reading and Leeds festivals Louis can never be on those lineups.

🤣🤣🤣 Sea really does need to visit her doctor and get a referral to a neurologist. Reading/Leeds has nothing to do with the BBC. This is the guy who has overall responsibility for organising it and booking the talent. It is an alternative music festival and doesn't book mainstream pop acts so anything 1d related is anaethma to them.

[louisisalarrie]

wow there is an insane amount of Larry articles now holy moly and even if some of their info is incorrect, well, it still brings attention to them.

to be fair, Louis could appease a lot of people by saying “yes, Harry and I dated very briefly during the early 1d days, but we didn’t go public with it and then broke up because of the pressure and I met me gf Eleanor” to literally:

1. not out all the stunts

2. somewhat out him and Harry as potentially still being queer

3. seeding a future coming out by “rekindling the romance” so it’s gently introduced prior to the GP as opposed to a denial

4. let antis and solos believe Larry isn’t real anymore so they don’t feel lied to

5. confirm larries’ beliefs

6. Receive public sympathy if the statement says “we were young and scared and it didn’t work out” or something along those lines

This strategy would make his life easier, his promo bigger, help with the fact people think Harry is queerbaiting if he’s actually seen as queer, make Louis not seem like a homophobe but a vulnerable real person, and would cover all bases.

Now, why would louis not want to do that? Well… there’s a couple of reasons, but I think the main ones are:

1. If they come out about it, he doesn’t want to lie. He doesn’t want to say he and Harry weren’t closeted and that they didn’t fight for their love, and not expose Simon and the industry executives for their awful behaviour

2. Harry and him are still together, they want to come out together, and they’re waiting for the right time (post stunts ending)

Now some of you may say “but… Louis doesn’t want Larry to take away from his career that he’s building, he wants to do it separate from that” and okay, fair point, but not after this denial. This proves 150% that his team, as a last resort, will bring up Larry to boost his promo. If he really was bothered by it, he wouldn’t bring it up. It wouldn’t connect them back together. And you wanna know something?

His denial would have had to be approved by Harry and his team.

Yep, this isn’t just Louis spouting a denial for promo off his own back. This is in collaboration with Harry’s team. With Harry’s fame and this linking them together in a way that will affect his fandom and bring him a large amount of publicity that he may not want, it needs to be approved by his team.

This isn’t just a random person claiming to have slept with Harry, it’s not a random person spouting some bullshit about Harry… his team don’t care about a lot of rumours. They let them slide because some of them just aren’t big enough or scandalous enough to care about, and it keeps him in the headlines. But the Larry thing goes waaaaay back. It makes people become larries and dig into it when this shit is online. It jeopardises Harry’s current stunt. It threatens to out him and a long line of massively important music industry professionals. It’s been an ongoing thing for like 13 years now.

Harry doesn’t comment on it, because he doesn’t need to. He doesn’t need more promo. He doesn’t want to jeopardise his image that hints that he’s queer. It doesn’t affect Louis’ image to that degree due to previous stunts and denials.

So… yeah.

Harry’s team approved the denial. Louis approved to be asked about it and released it as edited and pre recorded for promo as soon as he left LATAM. It’s rehearsed. Let’s push on and keep this all in mind.

[twopoppies]

I’m a newer Larrie and pretty naive about the One Direction days because I didn’t listen to that type of music during the time they were a band. I started liking them individually and somehow found myself in this fandom. I guess my question is why do fans compare them constantly? They all came from the same band, they all seem to support each other at least privately if not publicly and appear to be pretty grateful to have had that same experience. I’ve seen some some solo Harry fans really attack Liam and Louis negatively with even comments on their looks. They constantly compare them to Harry and how they’re somehow losers because they don’t currently have the kind of commercial success as Harry. I’ve seen other solo fans also go after Harry for all kinds of reasons too, which is just so sad to see. Was it like this in the band too? Or has this all heightened because they all went solo? They all have different sounds, so why compare them? Am I missing something maybe?

Hi darling. Welcome to the hellhole fandom. So, no. When they were in the band it was actually unusual for anyone to ever voice a dislike for any one of them. People had their favorites, but publicly everyone supported everyone.

1DHQ started the fracture with the constant pushing of Harry vs the band. They really wanted to position Harry as being separate from (and better than) the other guys. Then Zayn left. There were people who were disappointed/angry with him or who no longer cared about his career, so we started having OT5 vs OT4 discourse. Then babygate started and we had the next fracture where people began to think maybe Larry broke up or Louis cheated on Harry. This was when people became houies (people who thought HL has dated, but now has broken up). Then that was followed by the hiatus and Harry/his team pushing the separation of Harry up a notch.

There were still many OT4 supporters until HS1 dropped and then there was a whole faction of people who flipped out over Harry’s lyrics and image not meeting their expectations and I think that was when houies really divided into harries and louies. There were still larries and antis. But now there were also louies who were only interested in Louis and “rad louies” (radical louies) who hated Harry and thought he was the reason Louis’ career was being “sabotaged”. And there were also harries — some of whom hated Louis because they thought he cheated on Harry and some also bought into the idea that Harry was just better than everyone else.

The fractured nature of our fandom really went into overdrive with the popularity of Fine Line and quarantine. Thousands and thousands of people entered the fandom and many had zero interest in 1D. Harry’s het image was in overdrive with Watermelon Sugar and the idea that Camille broke his heart (thus, being inspiration for the album). Holivia, DWD, As It Was, Harry’s House and Harry’s growing fame really made things worse in that department.

It seems as though a lot of Harry’s newest fans see any link back to 1D or his former bandmates as being a step backwards or as the other guys trying to “use” Harry as a way to promote themselves. And until recently, Harry spoke very little about the band and had very little public interaction with them, so unless you paid very close attention, it was easy to think he didn’t care much for or about them. I think many fans do this weird thing of needing their fave to be “the best” — as if that somehow reflects on them, as well. Like, the way many Harries went overboard making sure Lloyd won best tour photographer only because they didn’t want Louis’ photographer to win. It’s ridiculous.

Some of the hatred towards Harry is rooted in jealousy because people feel he had an unfair advantage over the others, thus having a success the others could have had just as well. Some of the hate is people feeling as though he has the power to do whatever he wants in terms of his image and stunts, so he must be fake and only cares about fame and money. Some of it is people buying into the idea that Harry ended the band because he wanted to be a star and he’s actively trying to ruin Louis’ career. There are a million different reasons people send hate his way.

As for comparing the five of them, as you say, they all have different sounds and none of them compete with each other. But I do think Sony very much wants Harry to be the Justin Timberlake and be the only one who reaches that huge level of success. And the media doesn’t help because many of the articles are written in a way that praises Harry and puts the others down (for no reason at all), so fans feel defensive and lash out. I tend to think Liam, Niall, Louis, and Harry all care about each other very much and are supportive of each other. And I really doubt they like the articles that do that nor would they support the nasty way some of the fans behave.

Sorry this was so long. And at the same time, this barely touched the surface, but I hope it helped a little.

[skepticalarrie]

Ok.. so.. I’m a 2023 larrie but very strong one, no one or nothing can prove me to believe otherwise.. Anyway, I’m just wondering is this gayos normal in this fandom? I feel like something’s cooking big time.. but I haven’t been here long enough to know if this is normal? I mean both of them are single at the same time and all this other stuff going on. My question is if this is just a normal spring in Larryverse that or is it something “else”?

There's been a lot of significant changes lately, and I think that's due also big changes to their solo careers - Louis finally being able to kick off his and Harry's skyrocketing - plus the pandemic that left us with nothing for a really long time, so ever since things came back it seems pretty chaotic, more than usual. Not to mention the fandom really isn't the same as it was, recent events really slipt fans into a lot of different corners and a lot of people left. So I'm definitely not going to tell you this is "normal", it feels very weird and off.

But I understand what you're implying, and no, I don't think a coming out or something like that is going to happen any time soon. I'm pretty confident to say probably all of us experienced the feeling something big was about to happen just around the corner when we first joined the fandom, it doesn't matter when. And I get many messages from new fans having that feeling for years now... so, I don't think this is a build up for something, I think things just changed.

[justcallmecappy]

Tag Game

Thank you for tagging me, @sillyliterature! 🥰❤️✨

Rules: Share 10 facts about yourself and tag 10 other blogs! I want to get to know my mutuals, and the people I follow a little bit :) The facts can be about anything!

Dragon Age is not the only game franchise I'm obsessed with! I'm a huge fan of the Assassin's Creed franchise and have been running my AC-only blog, @jacob-mydear since 2016. It's on semi-hiatus now, since I'm not as obsessed with AC as I was before, but it's one game fandom I've been in the longest, and it has given me some of my fondest fandom-related memories.

I was so obsessed with 'Assassin's Creed Unity' (the AC game set in Revolutionary France), I planned a solo trip to Paris in 2019 to visit all the historical locations that I had only visited in-game up to that point, in-person. It was such a weird feeling, to feel nostalgic in places that I had never been to in-person, but only 'visited' virtually! I documented my trip in this AC Unity Fran Trip Guide to Paris, in case any other AC fan want to follow in my footsteps, lol~ 😆 Fun fact, I spent so many in-game hours in AC Unity, I could navigate my way around Ile Saint-Louis basically from my memories of the game (Bleeding Effect is real! 😂)

Besides gaming and writing fanfiction, one of my fandom-related hobbies is cosplaying. I have been cosplaying since 2007, even though I've slowed down a lot since the pandemic. My dream cosplays (hopefully I can achieve them this year, if I have the time and funds!🤞) is Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars, and Mage!Marian Hawke from Dragon Age 2.

My earliest fandoms were actually anime fandoms, lol! I too have a dark weeb past 😂😂😂 My gateway animes were Ouran High School Host Club, Fruits Basket, Naruto, Bleach, Katekyou Hitman Reborn, Macross Frontier, Code Geass, Gundam 00, Fate/zero ... (yes I started with that era of anime, haha 😂)

Because of my dark weeb past, I studied Japanese for around 5 years, and my highest JLPT level is N3. I don't speak super fluently but it's enough to get around Japan as a tourist.

I took a few months of French classes, but to be honest, I learnt more from free French language podcasts than I did from that French class 😂

Yes I studied French because, once upon a bygone time, I wanted to work in Ubisoft 🤐 In light of Ubisoft's recent controversies, that desire has dampened considerably haha~

I used to work in broadcast media; I work in the games industry now (just not in Ubisoft lol)

I noticed my favourite characters have names that coincidentally begin with the letter 'A' (Anders, Alistair, Arno, Aloy, Arwen, Aredhel).

I have terrible sense of direction and it takes me min 2.5 seconds to identify left from right 😂

Tagging (but only if you want to!): @v-arbellanaris, @dalish-rogue, @glowing-blue-feathermage, @grandmaswormsoup, @sulky-valkyrie

[louisshomesharry]

Love your brutal honesty

Damn I agree with you

1. I don't think it's unpopular but their promos that they aim at fans will flop if larries aren't here to decode that stuff they will have to change their strategy and I do hope they do that, sooner the better, make the promos less of treasure hunt and more here's the date and time goodluck

2. I think louis has lost touch with the fandom, solos, larries, neutrals alike and the way he says he lurks here and knows the fandom ins and outs he doesn't know shit, it's very hard to work with the fandom as together and if he wanted he could easily give something to work together rather than tearing it apart, they could do that so easily too, the more he says that he knows what goes in the fandom the more I think it's unlikely, he's just a bystander through grapevine either that or he truly knows and took part in the decisions of continuing to feed the rivalry and divide I mean he is british they divided and ruled the world what's new (this is a joke that isn't a joke)

3. I discussed this with a close friend of mine , louis' fans are loyal, dedicated, and passionate but it works as a sword, double edged, if you flip it they are as passionate as to turn on louis, the sooner he chooses one side of the fandom the better for everyone and I think he has already chosen the neutral and antis, and his last promo wasn't like Harry's find the house, it was look at my photos, it was aimed and designed more for solo louies and it almost flopped

4. So many larries have left the fandom, or are on the verge of leaving, are inactive and with more denials the remaining will leave too, the new surge knows nothing, like how to work with the artist's promo, Louis is rebranding his fandom and the larries will be sidelined it's better for them, but without them the fandom will be a lot like Harry's current one, casual, no rhym no rhythm just a wave and waves rise and disappear aren't steady

Also loyalty isn't rewarded with humiliation and rejection so theres that but whatever

!!!!!!

"Also loyalty isn't rewarded with humiliation and rejection so theres that but whatever"

I think it might be popular. I think people are also tired of the clues that lead to nothing (hum *369* hum). next promo cycle they won't be able to count on larries they'll only have fans who always told us "it's not that deep" (remember the home thing for harry's house? lol)

I agree I don't think he knows what goes on in his fandom or he would have stopped licking the boot of mediocre white men by now

Look at me becoming Louis and harry's biggest hater so I agree. I don't spend time on them anymore but I'm cheering from the sideline for them to flop hard and fast

yes, Louies are starting to be like harries which is so sad cause they used to have some brains. I think they'll just keep saying larries should leave the fandom and then when promo doesn't go well they'll cry saying it's larries' fault.... they are already doing this btw

[alarrytale]

marte, about the zionist thing. I feel like Harry never speaks out about stuff like that because he’s afraid to show support because it might kill his career. I also feel like he is too obsessed with his career that he is willing to suck up to the worst people to get it. This fandom always gave me the impression that Harry is a push-over or can't think for himself or easily believes everything (tattoo artist Black Carrot also said how his former friends Lou Teasdale and her bf had a bad influence on Harry) I feel like this might be the case since harry keeps hanging out with these people....what do you think?

Also, marte, always when zayn calls out people in his songs like "fake friends" a lot of zquads think he is talking about harry. A lot of solo zayn fans really hate harry and talk about how harry (and the other 1d boys) never stood up for zayn when he was being discriminated because of his color. This feeling only became stronger when Harry won a Grammy and Zayn tweeted about how awful the Grammy's are....I feel like Z also doesn’t like harry bc he sees H is kind loosing himself in order to become a hollywood supernova. Solo zaynies also say h wanted the hiatus for himself and was mad when z left first.

Final question (sorry😅) do you enjoy harry and louis' music?.....because I like their taste less and less....

Absolutely final question (😂sorry), do you also feel like the GP is starting to dislike harry more and more...because the moment somebody makes a nasty comment about Harry it gets like tons of likes (20k). Only solo harries like him, but I feel like the GP don't really like Harry....if you agree, why do you think that is?

Hi, anon!

I agree that one of the reasons he might not speak up is because of his career. The issue is polarising. If he speaks up he'll lose fans and if he doesn’t speak up he'll lose fans. He's in a bind though, because while some of the people in power, his management, coworkers and friends are zion*ists or zioni*ts-sympathisers, the majority of his fans are not. The majority of his fans wants him to acknowledge the genocide and ask for a ceasefire. It might lose him brand deals and opportunities if he does speak up. But if he's not in a postition to take that risk and be that brave i order to do the right thing, who is?

I think it's a big difference between being a 16 year old wannabe celebrity moving alone to London from a small northern village and being a well established 30 year old successful man. He might have been easily influenced when he was younger and powerless, but he should have some world experience now and grown to have his own values and opinions, and not just adopting others.

About Zayn. I think there is some jealousy there stemming from H being shown preference during 1D and groomed to be a star. H was given privilege not afforded to Z. I think fake friends is a general critisism of not being able to trust people's intentions in wanting to befriend you when you are a celebrity. H does have a lot of fake friends. And the Grammy's are awful, Z is right. I think the Zaynies (Zquad?) are judging H for things out of his control. He's is losing himself in order to become a superstar, but it's not of his own choosing.

I enjoy Louis' music, i don't listen to Harry's (only heard about five songs ever). I'm pretty sure the more they both move away from the pop genre and the less mainstream the sound is, the less people are going to like it. I don't care what their own taste in music is as long as they stick to making pop. I'm concerned about where Louis is taking his sound and image for his next album. It might not be as bad as i fear. We'll have to see.

I do feel a negative shift in how people in general percieve Harry. He's getting more and more critisism on social media and a lot of the critisism is warranted. It's from both his own fandom, other fandoms and the gp. He's got image problems, relatability problems, overexposure problems, an authenticity problem and a hypocrisy problem. He's not addressing anything so the rumours, false image and false impressions people have of him just grows and grows. He's not doing anything to manage any of it. I don't know where this will lead. We'll have to wait and see.

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

That anon…Louis spent AGES trying to transition into making the music he wants to make and you want him to get back to pop just because you want it…it’s kinda selfish to me

The anon meant well, though.

A lot of fans (maybe new fans who joined fandom after Walls) have not lived through the trauma of solo Louis fandom during 2017-18, and believe me, it was horrible.

Not many people use the term “Rads” anymore, but this was coined by OG Ex-Larrie-turned-Harrie Emmy on Tumblr to bully and drive away any solo Louies who dared not to support Harry’s solo career.

Then, ironically, the majority of Larries followed the biggest Larries to channel hatred toward “Rads” and try to kill off a solo Louis fandom. In 2016, they said Harry Styles visited Jay at the hospital near the time of her death. In February 2017, they denied that Harry wanted a solo career at all. In Dec 2017, they said that Louis was lying about writing / recording / wanting to perform music: “he doesn’t really have an album.” In summer 2018, they denied that Louis was being blacklisted, least of all by Sony, and called solo Louies “tragedy-porn-loving sad trombones.” In 2019, they suggested that Louis would soon sign on with Columbia Records. In 2019, they also suggested that Harry publicly lunched with Rob Stringer 4 days after Fizzy’s passing “to take the spotlight off of Louis.” (The second time Harry used Louis’ family tragedy for his own headlines)

Recently, a Larrie on Twitter suggested that solo Louies don’t even know that Louis is being blacklisted. Maybe they are relatively new / young fans who don’t know fandom history, but the truth is solo Louies left in droves in 2017-18 because they realized Louis was being targeted, and because Larries collectively bullied them for believing this.

Long story short— for solo Louies, waiting for Louis and his team to promote him like a solo star, and to achieve what he’s capable of achieving and celebrate with the fans who have believed in him all along, has been an elusive, heartbreaking, prolonged, torturous daydream. It was/ is like chasing a rainbow. You get what you get, and expecting anything more is a beautiful illusion.

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

ah so you've been here long enough to see all the times we've thought it was all coming to an end (their closets and bbg) and then ultimately nothing coming of it. don't you think it's healthier to not get your hopes up with every single theory (ie checkered flag theory) and just support them and enjoy their art? bc for years people have gotten their hopes up and then felt defeated when nothing happened; some have even left or taken a step back bc it all became too much. i especially think we (us veteran larries lol) shouldn't get new larries' hopes up. and show them that it's healthier, mentally, to not invest so much of your time and energy and feelings into something you can't control. /gen

((also i don't mean for anything i say to come off mean or accusatory. if any of this does, could you please let me know? I'm on the spectrum and am trying to learn how to convey tone better through text. thank you.))

no, i understand where you're coming from! but i see a lot more advantage in being optimistic than always curbing my enthusiasm. that is at the core my view on life, but then on top of that: the situation right now is different. things have been happening that haven't in the past, especially bc we're in a super unique part of history and in a very new chapter of their career. lockdown just happened and put a pause on a lot. harry blew up, like never before. louis had an insane solo world tour. second album on the way. louis changed management and label. there really is a lot, purely objectively, that makes me pay attention right now. i get it, i don't want people to be disappointed, but i also don't see the harm in supporting them and believing in them - optimistically - despite the fact that i might be 'proven wrong.' i don't really care about that, or about my own disappointment, because i care more about supporting these two people, especially after all they've been through. i believe they need my unwavering support, whatever they do to get out of this situation they're in - their complex closet.

i then definitely want to add that if the cycle of being hopeful and then being 'let down' is too much, for personal reasons, then it's best to take a step back and reassess how your own position is in the fandom. i think it's very normal to get sucked in and become very invested, but at the end of the day these are people we don't personally know and also can't directly help as an individual. if it's too much, it's okay to take a break. it really is so important to keep a healthy balance in the fandom and just feel good while being here. i've been an intense fan in waves and i've never felt as good as now - with my very own focus on specifc things, while leaving other things alone entirely. that's okay.

and then, as a last little point: our disappointment at the lack of change in their situation is nothing to how they must feel about the shit they've been put through. first of all: a whole lot has changed already. second of all: it's not about us. they're being closeted. (so, for example, if you feel like you're being lied to or being used, that's the closet's work, not them. never forget that.)

this also isn't all meant at you, in a ranty way, but i do think i had to make all of that clear for my pov to be understood yk? so yeah. that's what i think. i'm always here if you still don't fully understand where i'm coming from :)

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Hi! What are some ways that you think louis engages with the queer community in his solo career?

Only The Brave seems to resonate with a lot of fans as a queer anthem (even though we'll never know his personal interpretations of the song)

Louis may have seen queer resonances in that song - and there's also the line 'nothing left of us, but a closet full of clothes'. But with music there are always multiple meanings and this fandom has left me very wary of claiming I know the meanings artists gave to songs.

I was thinking more about his use of visual symbols of the closet, going right back to the triangle tattoo. Obviously Polari is the moment that I will never forget. But there are other interesting choices as well, an America flag hoodie where the flag was a Mapplethrope photograph taken in the context of the AIDS epidemic. That sort of image that doesn't draw attention to itself as queer imagery, but has a lot of meaning if you know seems to appeal to Louis.

[goongiveusnothing]

Holy crap I'm so sorry 😫

I'm the original anon that sent the ask about the hiatus, I didn't know it was gonna cause so much discourse. I just thought it'd be an interesting discussion to have.

I definitely agree that he was dancing around the conversation, a thousand percent see him doing that. I guess what always prevented me from believing that he duped them was just how blatant his solo moves were. It just seems so obvious in hindsight, it's hard for me to believe they didn't see what was happening even if we as fans were oblivious to it all.

Also the very palpable resentment they had for zayn always kinda threw me off as well. Like that was a situation where they were indisputably blindsided by a bandmate and I always thought well if harry did anything remotely similar why wouldn't they give the same energy towards him? Idk maybe Zayn was just an easier target I guess 🤷‍♀️

All I know is I can't wait for a tell all book lol

i think they liked just kind of suspected something, but weren't sure exactly about the full scope of his plans.

i think it's also because harry wasn't being honest with them or talking with them, that they had to sort of piece it together themselves and likely learn about it from people within the industry.

i think the zayn thing was mostly because louis obviously felt betrayed at his friend basically ditching him out of nowhere really. i think that hurt louis. they were actually friends.

i also think that there was a lot of negative and hurt feelings in the fandom, so speaking up about it was easier, as a lot of the fans were on their side.

but with harry he always kept the fans on his side. so the fans were never angry or betrayed by him. part of that was because of the larries/harries who kept telling everyone that the solo deal wasn't happening. but it meant that harry got to coast by on it and none of the fans were upset. i think after zayn left it was also just easier for harry to have a solo career without hurting feelings, because zayn had kind of done it first. so all the anger hurt and betrayal had already happened and been cleared out of the air with zayn. i think fans at that point even felt that the band had changed. it was very hard to not notice the tension and distance between OT3 and harry.

but i really think it's just that harry basically never spoke to them once 1D ended (i don't think he spoke to any of them on a personal level much after 2013) and so they were all just wondering what was going on.

but lmao, i to this day will find it amazing how his fans both love that he betrayed and ditched all of them, but also still want to defend him about it and pretend it's not evidence of what a conniving manipulative social climber he is. the only reason i think they do that is because they know it looks bad to outsiders.

[louisisalarrie]

Hi i wanted to ask something. So many old vet larries like Srslycris and Ssfoc left and came back and said that Harry is an awful person (fame hungry and all) and used Louis. Some of their theories do make sense because it does look like Harry used or misled Louis to have a better career. Also, in 2018 things changed so many vet larries left....I really think because they either knew something we don’t or because they also thought it was going South.....what do you think?

Hi lovely. This turned out deeper with more feelings than I thought! But im a bit cooked wearing a 1d shirt so it was bound to happen, and now here we are. Welcomeeeee to the show!

Many of the vets have left, unfortunately. There are still a solid amount of us left, but tumblr was such a different place back in the day. There’s only so much kind of… non evidence and stunts and hate you can take. This fandom is very toxic at times and we all encouraged each other to take a step back (I did too! But more because life got in the way… but also because it’s easier when you’re not being constantly fed larry content like in the 1d days) to keep our mental health solid and not subject ourselves to all the NEW hate we were/are getting.

Because, as Larries in the 1d days, we got hate from antis, and antis only. It was one fandom, split up between two sides (with the third being neutrals which there weren’t a lot of because you kinda were expected to pick a side).

After the boys started releasing solo music, we didn’t just get hate from antis. We now get hate from solo harries (which there are SO many of), solo Louies, and other solo fans who’ve been here since the 1d days who now just Stan one of the boys. So many larries turned and picked a side because it’s just… easier. Being a larrie these days is no easy thing. The hate and back and forth and lack of evidence is really difficult and well… it’s a lot easier loving the boys from afar, that’s for sure.

But it’s also because tumblr 1d stans are such a smaller community now. Whether you’re a solo, anti, or larrie, there are so much less of us. This platform has been on the down for yeaaaaars (unfortunately), and it’s not what it used to be. It’s just… different now. And Twitter has made a weird comeback but it’s very extreme solos and larries and antis. It’s not a space you can talk about your interests/theories/beliefs without one or the other finding you and just hating on you hardcore. The Tumblr larrie community is fucking wonderful, but Twitter Larries are so different and it’s all just… a different world.

Also, be mindful about our ages at the time. A lot of Larries and 1d fans were similar ages, right in that peak demographic. Around 2018, a lot of us had hit an age where we were really becoming adults and sorting out careers, moving out, having partners… not having time to focus on larry with such little evidence/content coming our way. If 1d were still together? Sure. A lot of us would’ve stayed. But I took a step back in that time too, and I get it 1000000%. Loving an artist and listening to their music, going to concerts occasionally, and buying some merch here and there, is so much easier than running a successful or even a lowkey blog on a (sadly) declining platform. Plus dealing with an influx of fans who don’t care about the lore. Or 1d. It’s just… frustrating when the new kids take their media images as gospel and don’t look into their development as artists and people from the start. No matter how you feel about 1d.

Hell, I find it frustrating. All these new solos who don’t like 1d/don’t care about ot5 make ridiculous claims and start a witch-hunt against the vets (non-larries who are just ot5s/ot4s included). The shit I’ve seen on Twitter in particular is filthy. And a lot of these fans are younger, have a different relationship with social media, and interact in an entirely different way because they haven’t experienced a proper solid fandom and what that means/meant to us (many other fandoms like supernatural, doctor who, Sherlock etc who were also massive on tumblr at the time have dealt with a difference in it too, I’ve noticed). So it’s a lack of fandom dynamic and understanding and experience too (not that this is a bad thing if you’re new to fandoms/the 1d fandom, quite the opposite, you’re always welcome here!!! but an observation of the younger kids who are solos/antis and haven’t been in a fandom before).

That’s not to say that all new fans are of a younger generation, far from it. There are a beautiful amount of larries, one direction, and solo fans who are older and have embraced the fandom life and either support larrie or stay tf out of this shit. And it’s just people leave because they simply are just… growing up. Life gets in the way. Many found it harder to be on a platform where the most influential larry blogs, who have so many receipts and thoughts and theories and stories and followers and love to give, start disappearing. It makes people lose faith.

I cannot express how deep in this fandom was during this time. How incredibly trusting and loving we were of the bigger blogs. How we looked to them as gospel. And it’s bizarre to me now having a lot of followers and getting lovely anons like yourself, because I was the one reaching out to the bigger blogs to talk to and get reassurance and to listen to, back in the day. But the larries who are still here are carrying that torch and we are the ones still fighting, with a beautiful new group of Larries with us.

And don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the Larries who left. It’s tempting at times. It’s easier and it’s just about enjoying the boys and their music for what it is. So don’t feel disheartened. It was a bit of a chain reaction and it comes down to so many variables, but not larry being untrue. People give up. People’s lives get in the way. People remove themselves from hate. People don’t wanna deal with an influx of younger fans (not baby Larries no matter the age, im talking about antis/solos here) who don’t know their lore and come in guns a-blazing, when we’ve watched the boys and larry unfold in real time with our own eyes.

Plus, larries have always (the majority now, too) been the most supportive section of the fandom. Larries are 99% ot5s, or at least ot4s, and with one d going on their “hiatus” and no reunion in sight, it’s super disheartening. Im sure a lot of the other vets can agree with me here. It’s just… not the same as it was (pun intended), but it is what it is (double pun intended).

I think when we start getting larry content again, tumblr and Twitter are gonna go through the roof. A few of the vets who have left, who I still talk to on occasion, are still larries, but aren’t gonna involve themselves again until something larger happens. Until something brings the fire back and makes it (this sounds awful, it’s always worth it) worth fighting again.

Anyway, that’s my take. And the longer larry are forcibly closeted, and the longer 1d distance themselves from each other (which seems to be less in the past two weeks, thank fuck), we aren’t gonna see a resurgence of fans. But I think there will be a lot of big larries coming back and saying “I fucking told you so” when it happens.

Anyway, to actually answer your question because sometimes im just really good at going on long tangents, is that im not 100% sure on the theories you are referring to (I had taken a step back at the time) and would be interested to see, but Harry’s solo career and image can definitely make it look like he used Louis. But we know he’s not that kind of person. His managers are godawful and will do anything it takes to get their cash, and that encourages the idea that he’s baiting (whether it be queer or larrie) fans and dropped louis when he went solo and got bigger. Solo louies HATE Harry so much, and solo harries HATE louies so much, and it’s just… yeah. I have no reason to believe Harry did anything out of line of his own choice, and had been groomed and manipulated by those awful gross dudes, into doing what’s “best for his career” which is unfortunately, squashing 1d.

While I still can’t tell you what I do, I can tell you that Harry’s team are very fucking smart. As awful as they are, as much as they pull out every evil trick in the book, they are excellent at publicity and his managers fight for his worth and get him the best deals possible, and have built his image so differently to what we have known him as. He’s always been incredibly marketable, and they’ve taken that on and exploited it exponentially and made a pretty penny. He’s not a bad guy, he didn’t use Louis, and shit just looks very different to what it did back in the day.

Thanks for reading if you got this far through my ramble! Hahaha

[twopoppies]

Hiiii Gina, when I started reading fics your tumblr helped me a lot to find good fics

And as you are someone who has always read fics, I would like to ask you if there have always been many authors who are anti or hate Harry/Louis writing Larry fic?

I personally feel uncomfortable reading a work by authors who attack H daily on their social media

I feel like all the amazing things in this fandom are ending, including the fics, which is sad (feel comfortable not responding if you don't want to

I would imagine there were antis back in the old days who were writing fic. But I only really started to notice people doing it after the hiatus.

When the band was together, basically you were an anti, a larrie, or a neutral. Everyone publicly liked all the boys. You could have a fave, but not at the expense of loving all of them. When Zayn left you then had the OT4/OT5 split. Now, it’s just a free for all. I say all of that to point out why it’s so much easier these days to know an author’s “politics”, so to speak.

One of the big complaints back in the day was ex-larries pretending to still be larries so they didn’t lose their following (the larrie fandom was much bigger, much more active, and had almost all the content creators then). These days, apart from larries, you’ve got het harries (or GF harries as they call themselves now), antis, and solos writing (and reading) Larry fic but not publicly expressing their “status” because Larry fics get read exponentially more than other pairings and they want to keep their stats. To be fair, some of them probably keep writing Larry because it’s just a pairing they enjoy writing, but I do find it bizarre that you could actively dislike someone and still write a romance story about them.

A lot of people only want to support larrie authors. The best place I know of to look is @thelarriefics, although I don’t know if they’re still updating. At the time, the mod was very much on top of who was a larrie and who wasn’t. But, again, not sure if they’re still updating because that’s a huge job to go back and remove authors who’ve changed their beliefs.

That’s a very long answer to what should be a simple question. But, as with everything, this fandom takes simple things and complicates them. 😂 I hope it helps, nonetheless.

[septembersghost]

I didn't know you were a 1d fan. I always thought you were a solo harrie. Do you listen to other boys solo stuff? If you do what do you think about Louis and zayn's music?

help! i have not made my fondness of the band obvious enough if you thought this!!! although i did do that a bit backwards, i got into 1D through being curious and listening to harry's work first, which at that time was HS1 and lights up, along with niall's music, which was flicker and nice to meet ya, then i got the fun of adore you and put a little love on me debuting on the same night, which was a trip. and then of course, fine line and heartbreak weather when they were released! i had 12/13/19 and 3/13/20 *jotted down*. the rest is (you and me got a whole lot of) history. 💕 1D's albums were literally saving graces for me at the end of 2019/throughout 2020, that music and those boys gave me inextinguishable joy during such a difficult, painful time (both personally and for the world as a whole). i watched...so many videos, interviews, concerts, specials, this is us...the escapism brainrot (affectionate) was real. i've mentioned before that i was entirely away from social media for a while (well, i wasn't actively posting. i did lurk on insta for updates around my interests, which i still do), so this was a very independent, pure experience, and completely untainted by any outside noise/opinions/fandom weirdness, and that was really dear to me, so i still try to skirt around some of it now, even though unfortunately it's impossible to avoid altogether lol. they also have not left my rotation since. i love them unabashedly.

zayn's music is objectively good, and he has an amazing voice, it's just not super aligned to my taste genre-wise. i looooove niall's music, as much as i love and adore all of harry's albums, niall's might be closest to my personal taste overall. they also both just make me smile for the people they are. i liked quite a bit of louis' first album (defenceless <333), i have not had the chance to listen to fitf all the way through yet, but i will! i have heard silver tongues and angels fly and enjoyed them both. they're all really talented in their own unique ways.

[gemm08mu]

What happens to the audience when music bands split up?

This week I want to talk about music bands because today a lot of music are sung by bands and by singers who have left their bands to begin their individual careers. And the interesting thing to study is the impact on the audience when a music band splits up.

Firstly, according to ReverbNation Blog, there are three main reasons why band members decide to stop producing music together. Money is the primary factor as everything in the music industry is costly. Band break-ups often happen because of arguments involving money, which can sometimes be considered a poison. Music industry is based on contracts between musicians and producers or companies and the sole purpose of the link between the two is to reach a large audience, or in other words, to earn money. The second reason is the compatibility or rather the lack of compatibility between the members of the band. As time goes on, views are changing and the goals of each are replaced by others. Creative differences can deteriorate relationships. Their perspectives may not be the same after several years of working together. And the last reason can be found in jealousy and quarrels. For example, when a music band goes on tour, living together for months can be difficult and unpleasant and, in some situations, communication turns into disrespect. Hence, the music groups break up. But what happens to their audience? How do fans experience it?

Some bands stop making music altogether, but others start solo careers. It’s notably the case for the One Direction who started their pop boy band in 2010. The group signed with Simon Cowell's record label Syco Records after competing in The X Factor the same year. The group was composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik, the one who decided to leave the music band in 2015, much to the dismay of the band's thousands of fans. But all the other members of the group decided to split up and go their separate ways and start solo careers. One Direction's fans were considered one of the largest fandoms on the internet and when they heard about the break-up of the group, they were devastated. A part of their audience was angry and didn’t believe in the split. Their responses were pretty unconventional but predictable. The singers therefore began their individual careers shortly afterwards. 1D fans turned out into new fans as they now support one singer or several but not all while some support each singer individually. But their audience has changed and their break-up had a large impact on the audience - some members have now a greater popularity as solo singers.

One Direction was one example but there are numerous famous music bands that split up years ago.

(https://www.stubhub.co.uk/magazine/worst-band-breakups)

The music band ABBA separated in 1982 but two members continued to produce music together whereas the two other members left the group to begin solo careers. The singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida) made a solo album, which had a great success with her lead single “I Know There's Something Going On”. Her fans came mainly from the group ABBA but there were also new fans as Frida wanted to distance herself from the typical ABBA pop sound.

I could also have talked about the Destiny's Child, Daft Punk, Genesis, but there is too much to say!

Thanks for reading!

Sources:

[louisshomesharry]

the way people on the internet are already saying they expect him to talk about the crazy larries in his life, that says a lot of the shit it's going to be, it's just the silencing of his biggest fandom it's so crazy I'm like??? it's horrible to think that we only serve when we give him money.

I'm really scared for him if he bring us up or says something about us without saying our name. I won't forgive him bc no matter what's the truth there's no reason for us to have been treated the way we've been for nearly a decade now. The bullying, the harassment, the death threats.... if he decides to give these people even more ammunition it won't go well. The people who hate us are not his fans they are harries or gp who think he's an homophobic asshole who has only larries as fans bc he can't sing.

Also the way the description is written is full on larrie clickbait. So what are his other fans supposed to think? larries ruined his life but he's encouraging them and their theories to keep getting their money... shouldn't he be adult and actually defend his child instead of giving larries material (fuck the money bc he has enough).

That's one of the reasons he lost so many fans. Bc people believed he was a dad and that larries ruin his life but that he decided to keep them around to have a career instead of being a good dad.

Who will be left to stan him if he gets rid of us? the solo louies? I don't think there's enough of them yet to fill in venues...