#THE FINEST PARALLEL PARKER EVER TO LIVE honestly wtf and when did he learn that he's always just pulling in wherever

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Thurs 29 Aug

HAPPY 26th BIRTHDAY LIAM!!!

It's Mr Liam Payne's birthday and let's just have a moment to appreciate him before we move shall we? What a delightful man he is, a gift to us every day! For his birthday, we were given the treat of unseen footage, 30 minutes of charming unedited Liam promoting his very first solo single! Lovely. It's really delightful, though hearing him say, "we’ve just finished making the album" in July of 2017 is a sobering reminder that we have yet to get that LP. We also got to see him be showered with well wishes publicly by friends and the entire industry, and a bittersweet but lovely update from him: "I was well and truly spoilt today... what an incredible birthday... it’s been a tough few months but it’s amazing to see the people who pull you through to the other side and make you realise how amazing your life actually is." May this coming year be easier and bring lots of exciting things your way Liam!

But the news of the day was dominated by the predictable but still dramatic highs and lows of a Louis promo cycle. Kill My Mind will be out Sept 5! We got the official announcements with cover art, release date, pre-save URL, handwritten note to the mailing list, and a Louis announcement video (he's wearing a KMM color scheme matching shirt, amazing, fabulous, the attention to detail is, as always, incredible.) All platforms have been changed to KMM graphics, with Louis' twitter using a fan made header ("I saw it yesterday and thought it was cool!") that was adjusted to show her credit on it better, so sweet! Louis took to twitter to let fans know that he was listening to concerns ("I hear your frustration about opportunities for fans outside of the UK. It’s something I’m reminding management and the label of over and over again. You have my word that from here on in it will feel more inclusive!") and looking for ways to engage with fans ("I’m always trying to think of new ways to involve you all") which in retrospect looked to have possibly been related to things that happened later. It doesn't quite address the primary concerns of the day, but some feel that the line about him reminding the labels implies that he may not be making some of the less popular decisions himself. Jordan Green tells us KMM is his favorite Louis track to date and "a banger," Paul Higgins says he's so proud and can't wait to hear the track, and too many media outlets to report piled on in excitement; our boy is a big deal ya know!

And then the results of the video attendance contest (and yes, it is to be in the music video for KMM) were announced. That part was fine, and congratulations to the winning fans, but it's the other people who were invited who are ruffling feathers (by which I mean more like sending half the fandom into an incoherent rage). While 50 spots may indeed have been given out at random, the usual label crew were also issued invites, and were bragging about it long before the contest even closed. The preferential treatment rankles but the real issue is that it's these people specifically, who behave horribly to fans they interact with, many of whom have said awful things about Louis in the past publicly, and who when not invited places by the label use shady and unethical means to track the boys' locations during their private time so they can 'happen upon' them for encounters and pics. It can be upsetting to see these behaviors rewarded; if it helps, you can be comforted, or stressed, or whatever, by the knowledge that Louis knows very well what we thought of it all- a good hour or so after twitter exploded into a giant garbage fire of accusations and acrimony over this, he was still online, indicated by reply to a Dave Allen tweet.

Rolling Stone has added more Harry content: today a companion article to the cover story came out, also by Rob Sheffield, and a playlist. The article had the music quotes that were in the other piece plus more that weren't ("I think of all the great songwriters I love- but they all had their pop songs.....You have to conquer the fear of pop" stands out) and info about some of the bands featured on the very long and thorough playlist. Also on the playlist, some 1D! Olivia is on there as you would expect: Lilo written and strongly-associated-with-Louis faves No Control and Little Black Dress were a happy surprise though. Rob Sheffield tells us on twitter that Harry is a "superb courteous driver" and "literally the best parallel parker I've ever seen," all right calm the fuck down buddy or I'm gonna think you're protesting a little too much, and Hall and Oates reacted to the news that Harry had wanted them to play his 21st birthday but didn't try to hire them because he thought it would cost too much (??) by tweeting that they'd love to play his 30th. RS has also posted a tl:dr of the cover article which is possibly useful. Bet you wish I'd do those bitch me too! But it's hard!

Meanwhile, Niall posted a selfie and a video from the Omega Masters and liked Louis' KMM post.