Louis Tomlinson didn’t want One Direction to take a break.
The ‘Little Things’ hitmakers have been on indefinite hiatus since January 2016 and the 25-year-old singer admitted he didn’t enjoy having the discussions about their future with bandmates Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Niall Horan.
He said: "It wasn’t necessarily a nice conversation. I could see where it was going."
The timing of the band going on hiatus was particularly hard for Louis because he’d finally found his feet as a performer.
He said: "In the last year of One Direction I was probably the most confident I ever was. And then it was: ‘OK, hiatus!’ "
The ‘Just Hold On’ singer believes people regarded him as "forgettable, to a certain degree" when he was with the ‘History’ group, especially when compared with his bandmates.
He told the Observer magazine: "The others have always been… Like Niall, for example. He’s the most lovely guy in the world. Happy-go-lucky Irish, no sense of arrogance. And he’s fearless. There are times I’ve thought: ‘I’d have a bit of that.’
"Zayn [Malik, ex-member], back in the day. He could relate to me on a nerves level. In the first year we were both the least confident. But Zayn has a fantastic voice and for him it was always about owning that.
"Liam always had a good stage presence, same as Harry, they’ve both got that ownership. Harry comes across very cool. Liam’s all about getting the crowd going, doing a bit of dancing… And then there’s me."
Initially Louis intended to write for other artists, work on his record label and wait "two years, five years, whatever it be" until the group got back together, so going solo late last year took even him by surprise.
He admitted: "If you’d asked me a year or 18 months ago: ‘Are you going to do anything as a solo artist?’ I’d have said absolutely not."