South Yorkshire's One Direction star Louis is back with a bid to be remembered

Louis shot images for his new album in his hometown. Photo: Sony

The 25-year-old One Direction star has just released Back to You, the follow-up to his number-two hit Just Hold On, his debut solo single last year.

Back to You features American singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha and is supported by a video filmed in and around Louis’ hometown of Doncaster.

“I really enjoyed showing her around Doncaster,” he told BBC Radio 1 breakfast show presenter Nick Grimshaw. “It was Donnie on a good day,”

Until Bebe felt hungry.

“At lunchtime some people from her team come in my dressing room and they go ‘so Bebe’s going to get some sushi’,” he said.

“Honestly, you’re going to have to go 50 miles out of Doncaster before you find something that they call sushi.”

Louis said Back To You has been ready for a while and he is excited to finally release it.

“I always play my new music to friends and family first, because I think it’s important that you get a real honest perspective,” he told the radio show. “I’ve been getting good feedback from the label and management, stuff like that, but obviously I want to hear what the fans think of it.”

In a recent interview with The Observer, Louis called himself “the kid wearing espadrilles, stood in’t back” as he talked about his role in the world’s biggest boyband, One Direction, which formed on hit TV talent show The X Factor seven years ago and is now “on hiatus”.

However, he said that since then, he has received lots of support about his value to the band, including from bandmate Niall Horan, who told an Australian radio station Louis is “an unbelievable guy” and a “great singer”.

He is hoping to further cement that reputation with his new record.

“I didn’t sing a single solo on The X Factor,” he told the Observer, recalling the time back in 2010, when One Direction were first put together as a band on the ITV reality show.

“A lot of people can take the mick out of that,” he said, “but when you actually think about how that feels, standing on stage every single week, thinking ‘what have I really done to contribute here, sing a lower harmony that you can’t really hear in the mix...”

But during his time with One Direction – including world tours and five albums – he found his feet.

“In the last year of One Direction I was probably the most confident I ever was,” he said. “And then it was ‘okay hiatus’.”

And he is hoping this new-found confidence will boost his burgeoning solo career.