I'm Just Asking For The Hate To Stop - Tumblr Posts

i'm depressed and it's late and i'm thinking about liam again

tw // alcohol, trauma

I'm feeling a little emo about the fact that Liam was set up to be the frontman and carried the band through the x factor because he had the most experience and the strongest voice, and his stage confidence was needed to help the rest of the boys feel comfortable onstage.

Because of this, he was expected to be the babysitter for the rest of the boys, not allowed to be a teenager with the rest of them. And when things went awry, Liam was expected to tell his friends to pull it together and keep them in line. And he was held responsible for their shenanigans. 

And then sht happened, and he was alcoholic and depressed and taking medicine to help with that, except it only made him dizzy onstage and forget his lyrics, leading him to develop stage fright that he still lives with to this day.

And then he had left the band but things hadn't gotten better, he was still forced to stunt and given his own babygate, on top of still carrying the role of the 1d-narrative-pusher, and made to lie on behalf of his friends as well as himself.

He was given an image that doesn't fit him at all, of a sex-obsessed hypermasculine Straight Guy, and that image was pressed on him so hard that he wasn't allowed to release the music that he'd wanted to and instead had an album full of songs that he didn't even write. He was made to do a photoshoot that he was uncomfortable with, so he was given tequila to calm him down despite his struggles with alcohol. He was painted as a homophobe, despite being queer himself. 

He's also been more open about his personal struggles than anyone else in the band, and has talked candidly about the challenges he's faced and the things he's been put through by tptb and even the general public, and still NO ONE talks about it. Instead, he basically has no solo fanbase and is largely ignored by ot5s who only pay attention to him when he talks about One Direction or interacts with one of the other members. And even worse, he's the subject of constant ridicule and slander by people who are fans of his band and those associated with it.

And YET he's still so pure and kind. He gives his platform to women and people of color. He made online content for his fans to enjoy while stuck at home in the pandemic. He ran FOUR online shows for charity with reasonably priced tickets and merch that he specifically designed with the fans in mind. He goes out of his way to give love to his former bandmates, despite that energy not always being matched in return. He is still silly and good and loving, despite going through so much. We don't deserve him, and I will never take Liam slander ever.