Louis Tomlinson didn't feel like he "had a solid place" in One Direction.
Louis Tomlinson
The 27-year-old singer admits that on occasions he questioned what he was contributing" to the boy band - which at first consisted of him, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik - and although he tried to "be the most prolific writer" in the group he always felt as though he was "treading water".
In an interview with The I Paper, he said: "I always pushed for the band to write as much as we could. Probably two years in, I felt like I was treading water a bit. I didn't really feel like I had a solid place - what was I contributing? There were some sad times like that, so I said to myself, 'I wanna pick myself up and be the most prolific writer in the band.'"
The 'Back to You' hitmaker co-wrote over 30 One Direction songs including 'Steal My Girl' and 'Perfect' before the band went on hiatus in 2016.
Louis - like all the other members - has embarked on a solo career and he insists that his participation in the group's songwriting was a "real big step" for his self-esteem.
He explained: "At awards shows, or even in our performances, I could take real credit outside of whatever my contribution was to any particular song. Just having an involvement in the songwriting was a real big step in terms of me building my confidence."
The 'Miss You' singer acted as a judge on 'The X Factor' in 2018 and was the only member of the band to stick with Simon Cowell's record label Syco after they disbanded.
Liam said: "Without being too soppy, loyalty is really important to me. And the reality is, I wouldn't be sat here if it wasn't for Simon.
"Staying with him was kind of the obvious decision for me. He did all right with One Direction, didn't he?"
Tagged in Niall Horan Zayn Malik Louis Tomlinson