The Winner Takes It All

With Louis Tomlinson nothing is accidental. He chooses his words carefully, although different fan groups interpret those words in different ways. He has always been layered, but this new Lemonade era takes that subtext and blasts it in tie-dye, even referencing himself as becoming more hippie-ish (which made me giggle and wonder what the hell he's up to).

We thought something was coming when he wore those blue sweats with the new haircut arriving in New York on September 2 (oh, that date is coming up again! See my Cosmic Leeds post) possibly referring to the 2017 airport arrest incident that fans believe was staged to make him look bad. He even had the original Air Jordan Wings logo on the sweatshirt which seems like another wink at his origins.

Then we have the imagery in the promo itself with the rusted Simca car, the old boat (ship?), sunflowers, the speaker stack, the robot thing (some said it was stomper but looked more like Wall-e, the robot that takes care of cleaning things up, which kind of seems like what he's doing). He's doing more than hinting at something, he's throwing everything at us that harks back to the beginning of his career, all the while driving forward.

The one considered the ‘lemon’ least likely to succeed (but the smartest of them all) is now making lemonade and recreating pop (pop/rock?) nostalgia. Looks to me like Louis is circling back to tell a new story, but what is he saying? What we’re seeing in the “Lemonade” music video and promo includes lots of industry (band/fans) symbolism, classic pop structure, bright hooks, and retro casual styling. It’s all there.

Nothing raises the eyebrow of a PR person like me faster than an album promotion that is the exact opposite of the one he did before. Even stranger when the prior tour was incredibly successful without all the industry promotion. Something changed, and that was written into his song Saturdays that he sang more and more emotionally toward the end of the Faith in the Future ​tour.

Whatever the end game, it's been planned for a while.

We've seen him reshape some beliefs in recent interviews and now we have the road trip coming up with Za​yn that may bring closure to the stories we've been told for years. It feels like Louis is re-entering a genre that was once weaponized against him in many ways and saying, “Watch me own what you tried to define me by.” It's a bittersweet reckoning and threaded through all of that is a deep awareness of the past and I hope, a reshaping of the future on his terms.

So, ABBA? All the looking back and revived pop vibe is exactly why the ABBA reference on LADbible’s Swipe Stuff caught my attention. Some of you immediately went to Harry’s Chiquitita. I get the reference. But my mind went to the multiple articles that came out in mid-2024 when Simon Cowell said he regretted not owning the One Direction name. If Louis wanted to wink at Harry, there were far more obvious references than ABBA. Fleetwood Mac, Shania Twain but instead he may have dropped a clue which lines up eerily with Cowell’s public One Direction-ABBA-Voyage ambitions. There were a number of articles, here are two:

Contact Music, July 13, 2024, Simon Cowell's ABBA Voyage Wish for One Direction.
Simon Cowell admitted he regrets allowing Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Liam Payne to own the rights to the name One Direction because if he were in charge, he would use it to set up a virtual residency for the band. 

NME: 12th July 2024, Simon Cowell wishes he could create ABBA Voyage-style One Direction show. "If it was me who owned the name, it wouldn’t be a problem."

What is ABBA Voyage?

It is a concert experience in London featuring digital avatars of the band members performing alongside a live 10-piece band. The avatars, or "ABBAtars," are computer-generated likenesses of the group from their 1979 heyday and displayed on a 65-million-pixel screen, enhanced by precise lighting that matches the onstage live band.

The virtual concerts started in May 2022, and, so far, are extended until May 2026. The result is a “magical, slightly surreal experience. You are watching 1979 ABBA perform with the energy and precision they were famous for, backed by quality live sound and a light show.”

A link to the You Tube video of ABBA Voyage is at the end of the post.

If it's virtual who gets the money?

>>> Here’s an interesting bit: ABBA’s record label did NOT own the group's name or likeness to create the Voyage concerts. The members of ABBA themselves are central to the company that produced the show. The architect of the experience is Pophouse Entertainment which was established in 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden by Björn Ulvaeus, a founding member of the group and Conni Jonsson, founder of EQT AB (an investment company). The CEO of Pophouse is Per Sundin, who was previously CEO of Universal Music in the Nordics, but is being replaced in January 2026 with Jessica Koravos. She joins from her role as president of Oak View Group International. Oak View Group International is owned by Oak View Group (OVG), which was co-founded by Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke. (Music Week, July 4th, 2025).

So, Louis. Is he hinting that One Direction might control their own revival — not Cowell or a label? That would be one hell of a power shift! I don't know, but with AI this changes the game even more, making it easier and faster for them to create a similar model to ABBA Voyage while retaining ownership of their legacy and solving the reunion problem.

Of course, the whole thing would still need production, massive promotion, and a venue so does that lean toward a collaboration or some sort of joint project with a label and management company? I'm guessing, yes.

Or is Louis hinting that Simon/Sony/other label might be thinking of doing this without owning the name if they called it something else? Could they even do that? Sounds like a legal minefield to me.

It worked for ABBA but would it work for One Direction? As of now, ABBA Voyage is the only large-scale, long-running test case for this model, and its data is overwhelmingly positive. The show has grossed over $450 million since opening in 2022, regularly playing to sold-out crowds in its custom London arena. While you'd expect a core audience of older, nostalgic fans, the show has proven popular with younger generations (Gen Z and Millennials) who never had the chance to see ABBA live. And that, very likely has to do with the style of music - pop/ pop rock.

If Louis is hinting at some type of virtual reunion by mentioning ABBA, it might be the reason for his shift back to pop in this album.

ABBA’s music has always existed as a cohesive, self-contained world, a sound so unified that it transcended its era. Unlike many bands whose identities fractured into solo pursuits, ABBA’s story remained collective. The ABBA Voyage project builds on that unity: it offers audiences a chance to step inside a perfectly preserved moment in time. Fans, both old and new, enter the experience with full awareness of the illusion, yet they embrace it because it feels honest to ABBA’s legacy. This is nostalgia engineered by its original creators, not a corporate replica. The members themselves designed the time machine, and that authorship transforms what could have been exploitation into an act of devotion.

One Direction is a Riskier Bet
If One Direction were to attempt something like ABBA Voyage, it would face a far more complicated equation. With Liam’s passing, the idea of a One Direction “revival” takes on an entirely different weight. A virtual version would no longer be a nostalgic time capsule; it would be a resurrection. The question shifts from could they do it? to should they?

Evidence suggests it could work financially, given the sheer size of the One Direction fanbase and the proven success of the ABBA Voyage model. However, artistically, and emotionally, it’s risky.

In my opinion, if it were to work all five members (with Liam's estate) must be co-creators, not just participants. The show would have to cleverly acknowledge their solo journeys, perhaps with a pre-show or post-show exhibit that celebrates their individual work, making the ‘Voyage’ itself a specific celebration of the band's era. They would need to market it as a groundbreaking piece of music theatre and technological innovation, not as a replacement for a reunion tour.

What do you think about this? Would it work? Do you want an AI One Direction “reunion”? Answer on the Instagram post @skyburton369

ABBA Voyage on You Tube