Louis Tomlinson: X Factor needs a longer rest

Louis Tomlinson does not want to see an 'X Factor' reboot.

The ex-One Direction star - who shot to international fame on the ITV singing competition alongside his bandmates Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Liam Payne in 2010 - thinks the Simon Cowell-created programme should stay away for a bit longer even though he is still a "massive fan" of the format.

The 30-year-old singer told the Metro newspaper's Guilty Pleasures column: “Let me be completely honest about this – and, maybe, I shouldn’t – in my opinion, it needs a bit of a longer rest. I’m a massive fan. You see so many shows come back that we grew up with, and there is a real excitement."

Louis explained his belief that the contest - which also launched the showbiz careers of Rylan Clark, Diana Vickers, Janet Devlin, Leona Lewis, Little Mix, Olly Murs, Lucy Spraggan, and many others during its run between 2004 and 2018 - hasn’t been off air for “long enough” but admitted that he might not know everything about the telly industry.

He said: “I just don’t think it has been away long enough. But who am I to say that?!”

Simon - who also has created the 'Got Talent' franchise which is in hundreds of countries all over the world - revealed that people are telling him how much they are “wanting” it to be revived.

The 62-year-old music mogul said: “The funny thing is that when young people approach me on the street, all they want to know is when X Factor is coming back. They all watch it on YouTube. When we stopped the show, I genuinely thought there was no need for it — that everyone would be signed from YouTube. But there are so many people wanting to be signed that we could use that extra platform.”

Louis - who is currently in a chart battle for No. 1 with music legend Bruce Springsteen for his second solo LP ‘Faith in the Future’ - shared about the emotional “weight” that provided inspiration for his first record ‘Walls’.

In 2020, He said: “There was a weight to it, emotionally, which was right for me at the time. But it’s not how I carry myself as a person.

“I was excited to go into this record and make exactly what I want, without worrying about what I “should” be doing… being brave enough to go, “Well, this is exactly who I am, take it or leave it.”