Louis Tomlinson has admitted that carving out a post-One Direction career has been “a f***ing fight for me”. The easygoing Doncaster lad (whose star turn as Danny Zuko in a sixth-form production of Grease prompted him to apply for The X Factor) got a little lost in his attempts to reinvent himself with an indie sound that he never totally inhabited. But his third solo album, How Did I Get Here?, finds the 34-year-old sounding more confident mixing those indie guitar influences into a sunnier, springier, synthier poptimism.
Recorded partly beneath the lush, swaying palms of Costa Rica – where locals greet each other with the upbeat “Pura Vida!” – it's a record that bops along breezily, hitching anthemic (if rather generic) Oasis-hued choruses to tropical pings and strums of electric guitar. The album bounces into action with lead single “Lemonade”, driven by a zesty little flick of a guitar riff and some zingy percussion – a hymn to the bittersweet sensation of being drunk in love.
