li-z-and-zayonce:
So, now that Liam’s cover photoshoot and interview with Attitude magazine has been released and the spin has begun, I would like to speculate on it.
Liam’s Attitude Interview; or, Bullshit 3.0
I have discussed my initial thoughts on Liam in Attitude [X X X X], so check those out if you are interested. Basically, the main talking points of the interview were:
Liam loves his wonderbread “girlfriend” Sophia Smith. No one who reads Attitude gives a shit about her but let’s talk about her anyway.
Liam was in a “bad place” a few years ago and drinking too much, but he overcame it.
Liam wants to produce, do solo music and be in “every part of the industry.” 1D is not breaking up, but the boys will pursue solo projects.
Liam is not homophobic. We are going to pretend Duck Dynasty-gate and Girl Almighty-gate were not stunts because Liam has gay friends.
Zayn “left” the band. Zayn and Liam have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Let’s not talk about it even though it’s still a major story.
Louis’ baby is real and his and not fake, despite the fact even the general public disbelieves it. Stop staying it’s a stunt! It hurts Liam’s feelings.
Harry and Louis are not in a relationship and Liam is here to tell you so. Stop talking about it.
Fandomly activities like fan art, fanfiction and “shipping” are “weird,” especially when they involve same-sex couples. Let’s pretend that Liam has never defended fandom activities before.
So, we all knew that Liam’s interview ended up being a giant billboard for 1DHQ’s tired-ass narratives. It was also rather uncharacteristic of Attitude. Weird things about the spread:
Why did Attitude feel the need to mention that Liam’s “PR and manager” showed up? It is standard protocol for a celebrity’s handlers to show up with them or before them to an interview.
Why was the photoshoot so tame? Attitude is known for their male pin-up photoshoots, and Liam is their ideal subject: manly and hunky, voted #3 hottest by their readers, and crowned their Sexiest Man of 2015. Many male celebrities do Attitude’s photoshoots precisely to establish their hunk credibility, and some photoshoots/interviews become iconic in celebrities careers. Look up Henry Rollins’ Attitude spread and you will see what I mean. Liam’s spread was like Teen Vogue in comparison.
Why was the interview also so tame and so not Attitude? Again, Attitude is known for their candid, off-the-cuff interviews and prides themselves on this. Yet Liam’s interview was full of 1DHQ’s talking points, most of which Attitude’s readers don’t even give a shit about: Liam’s fake girlfriend, Louis’ fake baby, fandomly practices, etc.
Why did Attitude give so much space (two covers, twelve pages, and a “world exclusive” interview) for what was ultimately an uncharacteristically demure photoshoot and bland, extremely scripted interview? Attitude very much played on rumors about Liam’s sexuality in their own marketing (“what an honest guy,” “out soon,” “out Friday”) and even followed a Ziam fan account on Twitter and only that account, so they are 100% aware of Liam’s sexuality rumors—only to end up, ironically (and disturbingly) helping 1DHQ closet Liam in a gay men’s magazine. IMHO, it is odd that Attitude hyped such a big spread if they knew it was going to be so conservative and even go against their ethos.
Why was Liam’s sexuality left oddly unstated? Yes, there was tons of bizarrely excessive and unnecessary beard promo (and again, Attitude’s demographic, gay men, would not care about it). But asking about one’s sexuality is a staple question in Attitude, and Liam was somewhat conspicuously not asked this question—there was no explicit statement anywhere from Liam or Attitude that he is straight—and he went on beard promo instead, which means shit down the line anyway. Foregrounding a straight male celebrity’s straightness in Attitude is actually quite important because it crucially allows them to play the “I’m straight but I’m an LGBT ally, and I have the balls to show my ass in Attitude” card—cynical, but true. Yet, Liam only indirectly established his “straightness”…with hamfisted promo that smelled suspiciously like an exit narrative for Sophia, since Sophiam will end.
In my view, all these bizarre incidents point to some form of behind the scenes shadiness [X X]. Was Attitude paid off to publish such uncharacteristic material that, frankly, hurt their integrity? Was there a backstage battle between 1DHQ and Liam, or 1DHQ and new team and Attitude, over what the photoshoot and interview should look like? Was Attitude promised a better story down the line in exchange for pushing such weak tea this time? We may never know, but I do think it is worth mentioning that Liam’s photoshoot and interview were strangely very tame by Attitude’s standards and for the hype they were given.
That being said, I think that the entire Attitude affair was probably brokered by both 1DHQ and the incoming team. Why? Because 1) the UK vs. UK press coverage of the spread was dramatically different; 2) Liam’s Attitude spread is part of a larger publicity arc; and 3) old and new teams seem to be fighting for control over it in the form of dueling press narratives.
The Aftermath: UK vs. US Press Coverage
The ensuing press on Liam’s Attitude photoshoot and spread was extremely different between the UK press which is mostly associated with 1DHQ, and the US press which is associated with the new team.
1DHQ: Publications like The Mirror and Yahoo! Celebrity UK emphasized:
Babygate.
Liam has a wonderful beard “girlfriend” named Sophia Smith.
Liam did homophobic things. Dredged up and emphasized DD-gate/GA-gate over the idea of Liam not being homophobic.
Liam angered 1D fans who believe in Larry by denying their relationship.
Liam angered fans for his anti-fandomly comments, as well as LGBTQIA+ fans for his rainbow flag comment.
Few mentions of Liam’s solo ambitions, few mentions of Zayn, absolutely no mentions of Ziam.
The New Team: Publications like Billboard, Access Hollywood, Entertainment Weekly, E! Online, MTV as well as semi-outliers like The Advocate (an American gay men’s magazine) and Sky News (UK but high-tier) emphasized:
Liam might have “participated” in DD-gate/GA-gate (if these are mentioned), but he accepts gay people and is not homophobic.
Liam was in a “dark place” a few years ago and drinking too much and stressed out, but has overcome it.
Liam wants to do solo projects, including songwriting, production and his own solo music. A lot of Liam/Pharrell linkages.
Few mentions of the Larry denials, very few mentions of the anti-fandomly and rainbow flag comments, absolutely no Sophiam.
IMHO, like so many other narratives in the last six months, since at least March 25 if not a bit earlier (e.g. We Love Pop, the Elounor breakup), the outgoing and incoming management teams are fighting a war of dueling press narratives over Liam’s Attitude spread. 1DHQ’s secondhand coverage largely attempts to drag Liam by emphasizing the fallout in the fandom (but not in the general public) due to the shipping/rainbow flag comments; spins his comments about homophobia to emphasize the homophobia itself rather than Liam’s remarks against homophobia; and in general continues to push the same narratives we are used to: Zayn “left” 1D and it was not shady or a stunt, Babygate is real and not a stunt, Sophiam is real, Larry is not real, Ziam is not real, believe our fake-ass narratives, etc.
The new team’s spin is drastically different, and not only mitigates or outright avoids the beard promo, the anti-fandom comments, the Larry denials, etc. but also emphasizes Liam’s solo ambitions and, interestingly enough, the “Liam was in a dark place” narrative. So there seems to be a push from them to leverage Liam’s Attitude spread to cultivate Liam’s individual profile and deny the 1D breakup chatter. The “dark place” narrative will perhaps be developed further on as part of a general redemption arc. The main takeaway is that the new team’s investment in Liam in Attitude is meant to control 1DHQ’s spin and do damage control as well as redirect the story in Liam’s favor.
I agree with those [X X] who think that the horrendous Attitude interview will ultimately not hurt Liam too badly. The vast majority of the fallout occurred within the fandom among those who were upset about the Larry denials, the anti-fandomly comments and the rainbow flag comment. (Interestingly enough, 1DHQ themselves seemed to dispatch Julian Bunetta to do hamfisted damage control [X X] by having him chat with the fans; and Zayn’s/“Zayn’s” fan service on Twitter and Insta also indirectly distracted from the fallout from Liam’s Attitude spread. I mean, 1DHQ could spare themselves and all of us the trouble and just not fabricate offensive bullshit in the first place, but OK…) The general public who reads the interview will not care about those topics as much simply because they are not fans. Furthermore, most of the general public will not read the actual interview so they will only be aware of it from secondhand press. Liam might take a hit with UK readers who will be exposed to the worst of the secondhand press, but in the US the story did not circulate very far and where it did, it was mostly in Liam’s favor. Those who are exposed to those narratives will mostly only be aware that Liam was in Attitude, that he has solo ambitious, that he was once in a “dark place” but no longer, and that 1D is not breaking up.
The Big Picture of Liam in Attitude
Finally, other than the old vs. new team turf wars over how to spin Liam’s Attitude photoshoot and interview, it is worth noting that the actual magazine was preceded by a push for Liam’s hotness and his appeal to gay men, and will be proceeded by him attending the Attitude Awards:
The Prelude: Well before Liam was announced to be in Attitude, he was actually voted #3 hottest male celebrity and hottest man in music by their readers. Moreover, US publications associated with the new team like Billboard quickly covered Liam’s high ranking in the polls, so they had a stake in portraying Liam as queer-friendly (and maybe a bit queer himself) and showing that the gays love Liam and that Liam loves them back; whereas UK publications swerved at first and only covered it much later. Since I am firmly convinced that GA-gate was a stunt, even more so in hindsight because it dredged up the “Liam is homophobic” narrative just in time for him to debunk it in Attitude, where it was conveniently prominent. GA-gate, I think, was probably coordinated between both 1DHQ and new team; I would wager that it was largely or entirely 1DHQ’s idea but new team handled the fallout.
This pattern of new team taking initiative and 1DHQ hopping on belatedly was switched for the magazine spread itself, since The Sun broke that Liam landed the cover of Attitude and the issue was mostly handled by the 1DHQ-friendly UK press; whereas the fallout (mostly in the fandom, not the GP) after the issue’s release has been dominated by new team-friendly US publications.
Like I once said earlier, I do think that Liam’s Attitude spread was brokered by both 1DHQ and new team in cooperation, since it was conspicuous that Liam landed so much space for his (and 1D’s) first solo photoshoot and interview in the top gay men’s magazine: again, two covers, twelve pages, a photoshoot and a “world exclusive” interview for the magazine’s Sexiest Man of 2015 is just a lot. It was also odd that the new team was happy to let everyone know about Liam’s #3 hottest win, but not 1DHQ; yet 1DHQ hyped the actual interview and photoshoot whereas the new team largely avoided it and handled the aftermath instead. In that case, I suspect that 1DHQ somehow won out over new team in controlling the interview and photoshoot itself, though new team once again battled with 1DHQ to control its aftermath and make lemonade out of lemons. Attitude is also simply not the typical 1DHQ M.O., since they have aggressively closeted Liam (and Harry, Louis and Zayn) for years.
The media battles over how the issue would be portrayed and the drastically different spins across the pond all indicate that beyond damage control, Liam in Attitude serves a larger purpose for both teams: for 1DHQ, securing their narratives and low-key dragging Liam while also accomplishing some Sophia and no homo promo; for the new team, building Liam’s individual celebrity in the larger context of 1D’s and 5/5’s “rebrand.” (Note that whereas Zayn got the first solo magazine cover with his Interview selfie, Liam got the first solo cover photoshoot and interview.)
The Attitude Awards: Liam said in his interview that he would attend the Attitude Awards on October 14. It will be very interesting to see how that plays out, since it will be Liam’s first “solo” public appearance. Since he will be honored as Attitude’s Sexiest Man of 2015, he will be one of the stars of the show and he will be photographed extensively. Essentially, it is comparable to Zayn at the Asian Awards.
Many factors will determine how the long arc of Liam’s relationship with Attitude will pan out: the big question being, will 1DHQ’s or new team’s vision for how the event should go win out? Will Liam be forced to bring Sophia, and if so, how much will we see her? Will Liam deliver a speech, and if so, what will he say? Will Liam’s actions at the awards be leveraged so 1DHQ can propagate their narrative and continue their dragfest against Liam, or will they be leveraged in service of what seems to be the new team’s interest in cultivating Liam in his own right and in the context of 5/5’s “rebranding?” What will the press coverage be like: will it be low-key or a PR bonanza?