Saturday, October 1, 2016

One Direction: Sunset Clauses, Image Rights, Non-competes, and Behind the Scenes Compromises





It all started last Sunday with three blank squares, posted on Harry Styles’ Instagram. Empty spaces waiting to be filled in.   Within 24 hours, the mystery had been solved. Harry would be appearing on a trio of covers for the arts and culture magazine, Another Man.  Alone, and beautifully vulnerable.  A Boy-Man in mid-flight.











Speculation began immediately about what the issue would disclose.  The more hopeful theories focused on the positive.  He was taking a personal journey that would bring him one step closer to freedom. What a great opportunity to uncover the real Harry Styles.  And, who doesn’t love the prospect of lots of new Hazza photos?

On the other end of the spectrum, there was the glass half-empty crowd understandably biting their nails and wondering if this was just another chance for Simon Cowell to push his year-long bitter agenda - a platform to present the disloyal meme and to slyly slip in insinuating “breakup” remarks regarding 1D's future.  In the end, the publication seemed to be genuinely more personal, with a slight pinch of Simon Cowell sourness still slipping through.  The publication’s tag line appeared to capture the subtext of the project at the onset: “The pop phenomenon celebrates his newfound independence in Another Man, which offers an unprecedented insight into his extraordinary world.”

Not surprisingly though, the quote that surfaced above all the others was the one in response to the feared predictable question. Did Harry think 1D would ever get back together: "I don't know. When we started people always asked 'where do you think you’ll be in five years?'….It's a difficult question to answer. I would never say we'll never do anything again but it's good for us to be exploring different things….Maybe at some point.”

With people still discussing the repercussions of the quote and, of course, squeeing at the gorgeous high glossy pics, a well-timed, come-to-the-rescue event changed not only the mood, but the spirits of the One Direction fandom. Niall Horan!:





One Direction's Niall Horan releases
first solo single with support of bandmates 






Looking back, it is interesting that the rumor about Harry's upcoming magazine spread may have come at the beginning of the week, but that the actual publication date was set for September29th.

And, guess what day Niall just happened to choose to release his first solo record?  That’s right. On September 29th. At first, the downbeat element speculated that maybe Niall was trying to steal Harry's thunder. But, the plain fact is that Niall actually took the harsh focus away from the suggestive magazine quotes about 1D's future and placed the center of attention squarely on his own recorded thoughts. And don’t forget that magazine articles are prepared months in advance. In this case back in early May before Harry started shooting Dunkirk in France.  

No doubt, five months earlier there were more restrictions on what 1D could say and do.  This is especially important when we look at what else happened exactly one year earlier (September 29, 2015) when Niall tweeted that the group had delivered their last album to Syco, “Made in the A.M.”:  Album is mastered and ready to go .... can't wait for you to hear it.”   

Fast forward, one year later and perhaps we might begin to understand while Niall, Liam, Louis, and Harry had more freedom to communicate about their friendship and their future in affirmative terms. After all, contracts and clauses in contracts often expire in 6 and 12 month intervals. Never mind the fact that once you are sucked into the 1D vortex, coincidences just simply don't exist. 

Back to Niall's own voice:


"[…] it’s inevitable, let’s be honest." Niall said about 1D coming back together after the hiatus.

Adding that ‘Harry may have been misquoted or something when he said that he wasn’t sure if 1D was coming back.


And then came the unexpected reassurance after 9 months of swerve that the boys are in touch with each other all of the time. They are all supportive of each others' projects. Oh, yeah... and they love one another.

Then an interviewer threw out the hashtag, #ThisIsNotTheEndOfOneDirection, [and] Niall unabashedly added “100 percent.”

One of my favorite quotes of all (and there have been many over the last few days) was Niall slipping in the important reminder about their professionalism and their solidarity:

                        
              “Yeah, [the boys] are good at keeping secrets.”  




Adding just for good measure:  “I still talk to them all the time. We still talk to each other. Seen Louis the other day.”




Simon may still be playing those mind games, but those predicted contractual obligations about image rights, sunset clauses and non-competes are obviously coming to an end.  September 29, 2016 will go down as the date these boys showed the world that they are as tight as ever. They are coordinating their moves, each making sacrifices, keeping secrets and playing 3D chess. Ann-Marie Thomson and Cowell may pride themselves in their ability to wield power over others, amorally applying group psychology and exploiting perceived weaknesses, but in the face of a united front of well adjusted young men with strong and powerful support groups, it’s hard to divide and conquer. Niall using some of his record promo time to reassure others that the group is coming back is telling. As were those synchronized tweets that demonstrated, once and for all, that OT4 lives and will continue to fight together to win their freedom. And to protect one another.  After all, that is was love is about, isn’t it? Suck it Simon!









@LiamPayne thank you Payno. Love you buddie. Call you when I'm off the phone from interviews .






Love ya Tommo. thank you buddie . See you really soon.
1:17 PM - 29 Sep 2016






@Harry_Styles thank you Harry buddie . . Love ya
2:39 PM - 29 Sep 2016





#Manip #AlthoughIfTheyWereTrulyFree #ThisWouldBeARealThing






Song: Mind Games by John Lennon

3 comments:

prairiegirl said...

I thought it was very obvious that the guys made sure to let everyone know that they've been in touch with each other. Louis tweeting about being at Niall's birthday party and Niall telling Lima Bean that he would give him a shout very soon. I got their messages loud and clear and loved it.

Congrats to all of these guys with their solo ventures and most of all, I look forward to the time when Louis can be free of all his shackles.

Enjoyed your post, M&M and I LOVE that Boom! gif.

Methodical Muser said...



Happy Five Year Anniversary!
#1 MOST RETWEETED Text Tweet


Louis Tomlinson Verified account
‏@Louis_Tomlinson

Always in my heart @Harry_Styles . Yours sincerely, Louis

Retweets 2,252,632 Likes 885,216 [and counting]

5:04 PM - 2 Oct 2011



The significance of this tweet is not only because it is one of the most explicit, primary expressions of Larry Stylinson, but the timing of the post came right when Eleanor, Louis' beard, came on board. The boys were about to breakthrough into the America market, and Sony/Syco, Modest! were determined to closet Louis and Harry by taking away their voices. Louis made sure to openly share his love for Harry one last time on a massively public scale. The way people have continued to embrace this tweet, five years later, is both poignant and inspiring.

prairiegirl said...

Coming to you liiiiive from Brookside in Kansas City of the Show Me State of Missouri. The ol' hood. Of course, Brookside wasn't home, but actually it was Waldo. It's not the same anymore. Crime has gotten worse in Waldo, and what a shock to come back to a lot heavier traffic as opposed to where Moo, Mardi and Alvin live.

RL this month has been and will kind of continue to wreck havoc with online activity. There's just been a lot going on - kudos to M & M for putting together the fine, hard work effort on Harry's post. Excellent.

Jared & Jensen were seen all over Austin City Limits this past weekend, looking incredible and like they were having a great time. And (gasp!) beard free. There were insinuations made that Genevieve was supposed to be there, but nothing at all convincing that I saw.

Hope everyone had a great weekend - I'm turning in. Watching two little
Shiatsu's, Danny and Mercy. They're both very good and poor little Danny has an allergy issue in one of his eyes and is taking some medicine for it. So we're going to turn it in early.

:-)