Louis Tomlinson is ready to release the record he always "deserved to make," but first he joins us inside the Hard Rock Hotel New York for an Audacy Check In to talk about the lead single, "Lemonade," and more.
LISTEN NOW: Audacy Check In with Louis Tomlinson
How Did I Get Here? is due out everywhere on January 23, 2026, and Tomlinson is bursting with pride about the process and the way he pushed himself to create this time around. "I wanted to write and record somewhere tropical, somewhere visually very different from home and somewhere quite literally far away from home," Louis shares. "So we decided to do Costa Rica in a lovely little town called Santa Teresa, and it's absolutely beautiful."
"Songs like 'Lemonade,' I don't think would have happened in England. There was just something magical about the place that we were in, the tempo, the way of living, the freedom, all of that. So I think that it's a byproduct of the beautiful, beautiful environment that we're in."
It all starts with a sonically shimmering and swaggering lead single, "Lemonade," which announces a new beginning for Tomlinson and willingness to be big, fun, and fearless.
"It's something I've been trying to challenge myself to more, you know, it's kind of infinite, the deep dive of being creative," reveals Louis. "With this record, I wanted it to be really ambitious and I wanted to try and step it up a level, creatively. You've gotta kind of push yourself to do those things."
"I mean, you know, I'm saying push yourself creatively while being in paradise in Costa Rica. It wasn't all that bad, you know."
Before the new release arrives in 2026, fans around the globe are still celebrating the 15th anniversary of One Direction forming. Nearly a year after the passing of Liam Payne, the group has stayed mostly silent on the milestone, but Tomlinson did take some time to look back on 1D during his time at the Hard Rock Hotel.
When asked about the One Direction song that he didn't necessarily like when it was dropped, but now he looks back on with fond memories, Louis was quick to keep it real.
"I still don't like the lead single, 'What Makes You Beautiful,' honestly," he shares. "I think actually the first couple of records, the first couple of albums at the time, I wasn't in love with them but now when I listen back, there's definitely a lot of nostalgia there. But 'What Makes You Beautiful,' I don't think I'll ever get around to that, to be honest."
Louis also admits that "there's loads" of unreleased One Direction songs. "There's a couple that got leaked over the years," he says, although you likely will never hear the rest. "I'm kind of a little bit funny about that, especially when they leak and stuff, cause it's often a reason they've not made the record. That's often been like a creative choice. The songs were probably not good enough to make the record at the time, you know, probably still good songs, but there's probably close to like, I don't know, 50, 60 songs like that."
To hear more from Louis Tomlinson about his recording process, the joy of house plants, and Halloween plans, check out the full Audacy Check In above.