#while also complaining that Louis' team don't do enough to push him to specific markers of commercial success

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solo Louis fans are so miserable. They are currently whining that Louis is not doing enough with two weeks to go before release date. They are blaming some evil ban that blacklists Louis and they are blaming Harry (who holds supposedly a terrible grudge) and Louis' "incompetent useless" management and label. The announcement of the signings didn't stop the complaints as they would rather he appear on SNL or in GQ or something. Don't they know how fortunate they are to get personal interaction from Louis? That his idea of promotion might be meeting his fans? He might prefer to be talking to fans rather than doing media or television performances or photoshoots. They are also complaining that his promotion will be heavily UK/US based whichokay, that is fair, but that seems to be the way for most of the English speaking music world. We in other countries are used to it and he didn't come to my country recently but he was in Europe. They say that he is not being considered for festivals when he seems like he'll be doing his own tour most of the summer when festivals are anyway and he played several festivals last year and most festivals have not announced their lineups for next year so how do they know? They talk about others driving fans away but the non stop comparisons to other musicians and the focus on what he's NOT doing are way more negative and off putting. As a wise person often says, there are many ways to have a career in the music industry and not all success looks the same. Maybe this is Louis choosing what success looks like to him. I wish they'd stop comparing him to other people all the time whether that's Harry or Niall, or Lewis Capaldi or 5SOS. No one is above criticism and speculation is a part of fandom but as that wise person says, he is the best decision maker in his life and if this is how he wants to proceed, then good for him. I'm hoping for a little more happiness as we are getting a whole album full of new Louis music and he's touring next year but not holding my breath that these fans will ever be satisfied. Sorry to unload on you but do you know of any positive Louis blogs?

I really don't find the 'fans who believe X are Y' ideas particularly illuminating. There are plenty of miserable fans out there who believe Louis is with Harry. Miserable fans are miserable - and I feel like the complaints have got weirder the more he is getting recognised commercial success (the 'why isn't Louis treated like Springsteen line is next level).

What infuriates me when fans supposedly evaluate promo - is that they're not evaluating promo - they're talking about promo makes them feel and then pretending that's an assessment of how effective it is. Fans want promo that doesn't cause them distress and seems prestigious - and almost all supposed evaluation of promo is about those two elements.

So much of promo isn't visible, because it's about relationships, or tedious things like figuring out how many different vinyls to preorder, (or even just doing interviews in advance).

Anyway my advice is ignore the whining and enjoy that Louis has released a great album and the strategies they've used seem to be working, while being sad about the smashed up arm and hope he recovers soon.