Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Louis Tomlinson: All Of Those Voices’ On Paramount+, Where The Ex-One Direction Singer Finds Himself As He Flies Solo

Louis Tomlinson: All of Those Voices appeared briefly in theaters in Ireland and the UK last summer, but its streaming home on Paramount+ will be the first chance for much of the worldwide fanbase for the English singer-songwriter and former One Direction member to see this doc, which features interviews with Tomlinson alongside footage shot on tours between 2020 and 2022. That’s right, from before and after COVID, since the singer’s first big solo jaunt post-1D was axed once pandemic lockdowns began. Tomlinson is currently on tour in Europe in support of his second solo effort, which was issued in November of last year.     

LOUIS TOMLINSON: ALL OF THOSE VOICES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

The Gist: In 2010, an 18-year-old Louis Tomlinson looked like mostly haircut as he auditioned for X Factor UK judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, and Nicole Scherzinger; by 2011, the Doncaster, South Yorkshire native was part of One Direction, the British boy band that had become a worldwide sensation. And looking back on it in All of Those Voices, Tomlinson has love for that experience. “It was so fucking fun,” he says in an interview. “We were really as tight as could be, as mates.” But when 2015 rolled around and it came time to shut 1D down, “right up until we went on the break, there was still really no closure on that idea.” Tomlinson was left to consider a solo career, almost for the first time. He did have two things to fall back on, in the considerable contributions he made to his former band as a songwriter, and the love of his mom Johannah, his grandparents, and his sisters. But then his mom passed away, followed closely by his sister Félicité, and Tomlinson had to make the next moves for his career in the midst of personal grief.

Tomlinson is an open and insightful interview in Voices, offering his perspective on the whirlwind that brought him to worldwide attention as well as how the writing of initial solo singles like the poppy “Kill My Mind” and the more Oasis-ish “Walls” helped him envision exactly what he wanted to do with his solo self. (He’s also constantly lighting and ripping heaters, which is weirdly endearing because nowadays if anyone smokes anything on camera, it’s not tobacco.) His sisters and grandparents offer their perspective, too, as do his mates, and the consensus is that despite Tomlinson’s trepidation over his professional trajectory, singing and performing was all he ever wanted to do. (Check the VHS footage of his lead role as Danny Zuko in a high school production of Grease.) By early 2020, his first solo tour was set to begin, with all of the music biz mechanics lined up to promote it. And then COVID hit and shut it all down.

Voices transitions then to scenes that populate so many recent music docs – his creative process during lockdown as he writes songs for a second solo album, quieter moments back in Doncaster with his Gram and Gran, or time spent in Los Angeles with his young son Freddie. But Faith in the Future would’ve marked his growth even if the pandemic had never been a thing. “I can hear and see and feel myself in this record much more than I can on my first,” he says of the material, and it often channels the rock sound and rousing melodies of stuff like Robbie Williams and James. And as the doc drives to its finish, Tomlinson and his band play bigger and bigger arenas around the world, greet the fans with genuine gratitude, and generally drink in the feeling of being on stage and on top of the world. It’s a wild ride, and Louis Tomlinson is glad for it.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? If you’d like a refresh on just how fresh-faced of a phenomenon One Direction really was back when they blew up, the 2013 doc/concert film One Direction: This Is Us these days streams on numerous platforms. And Tomlinson’s old bandmate Niall Horan made an interesting, lighthearted documentary in 2022 called Homecoming: The Road to Mullingar with Louis Capaldi, which featured the two musicians in conversation as they traveled around Horan’s Irish homeland. (Capaldi himself proved to be a garrulous and engaging subject in his own documentary, which dropped on Netflix earlier this year.) 

Performance Worth Watching: Let’s hear it for the boys. From Tomlinson’s bff and production assistant Oliver Wright, who pops up periodically in interviews, to the members of his touring band – a friendly rogue’s gallery of British blokes all roughly the same age – the offstage moments caught in Voices often crackle with a certain bro-y, here for the party vibe. As a European tour leg begins, Tomlinson and his mates lament their hangovers. But they also double-fist pints of lager as they float in a geothermal pool outside Reykjavik, Iceland.  

Memorable Dialogue: From its title on down, Tomlinson often dwells in All of Those Voices on the connection he feels with his fans and live audiences. “The energy is undeniable in the room, you know. If they were hating it, I’d certainly feel it. If they weren’t liking it that much, I’d certainly feel it. And there’s just this level of passion – and, d’you know, even when I go wrong, and I look into eyes at one of the girls at front, and she’s trying to show me that she doesn’t really notice that I’ve gone wrong. But you just feel that support, whatever it is.”  

Sex and Skin: Nothing here.

Our Take: This is not a documentary that’s searching for something, attempting to find a deeper meaning within the music of its subject, or even comparing and contrasting his work with that of his peers or current and former collaborators. Instead, what All of Those Voices feels like is a wider introduction to what Louis Tomlinson has been up to since the dissolution of his old band. It goes from summarizing his early appearances on X Factor and rise with One Direction to a period of hand wringing regarding his emerging solo career – “Maybe I can’t make the music I wanna make, because it’s gonna be hard to be seen as credible” – and onward to his initial blush as the featured attraction, which is almost immediately undercut by the onset of COVID-19. (Tomlinson performed just two dates on that first solo world tour before the whole thing got canned and postponed.) Then, once the live shows are back in action, it rambles excitedly through euphoric tour highlights from South America, Spain, and back home in England before ending with Tomlinson in a reflective mood. “I do just feel like, blessed. I do feel like I deserve this, and that’s probably the first time I’ve said that out loud.” With the COVID cancellations and a diffuse media environment where it’s hard to grab people’s attention, All of These Voices might be the first time many of its viewers are seeing and hearing what’s become of Tomlinson since those heady days of 1D’s pop dominance.   

Unless they were superfans already, of course. Voices includes lots of person-on-the-street interview quotes from the “‘Louis” who camp out to see Tomlinson live, people who make encouraging signs and prime their tear ducts for his concerts’ biggest singalong moments. For those viewers, the doc’s brief vignettes featuring their guy interacting with his grandparents and extended family, or playing on a beach with his young son Freddie, will be the most vital.  

Our Call: STREAM IT if you’re already a head for Louis Tomlinson. For you, it offers a view over the singer-songwriter’s shoulder as he takes his act solo, flies a kite with his son, and reflects on what it means to carry the load as the main guy in the spotlight. But while it’s a journey for the rest of us, too, All of Those Voices doesn’t resonate as much beyond the usual narrative of an artist finding his place in the next chapter of his career.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.