𝑾𝑯𝑬𝑵 𝑰𝑻 𝑨𝑳𝑳 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑫 | 𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑛

•Chapter 75•

'Thank you so much for getting me to work.' James says.

'Of course.' I reply, acting like it's no big deal.

James smiles to me. 'So how are you?'

'I'm good. How are you James?' I say politely.

'I'm doing well myself, thank you.' he says, and I look around on the road.

'You and Niall split up a few months ago, how has that been? Are you still in contact with any of the boys of One Direction?'

'Um, not going to lie, the breakup has been very tough on me. I feel like I depended too heavily on him for my happiness, so in a sense, this breakup has also been good for me.' I begin. 'I haven't spoken to the boys a lot since August. I did go to their final performance on the x Factor, which brought so many tears to my eyes.'

'I reckon.' he responds. 'Let's listen to some music for now, shall we?' He pushes a few buttons and Roar starts to play.

James and I sing the entire song with big smiles on our faces.

'You started out on the x Factor as you mentioned beforehand. How has that affected your career? Has it helped you or held you back?' James asks, once we finish the song.

'It has helped me so much. I was lucky for the opportunities that it gave me, and I mean Simon. We had a connection the very first time we met.'

'I bet. He must have thought there is my next jackpot.' he laughs, and I burst out into laughter.

'That must be it.' I agree with him. 'From day one, he had such big expectations from me, and luckily I met them every single time. If Simon believes in you, he will fight for you to get the best gigs there are.'

'You also immediately had this connection with the boys of One Direction, right?'

I chuckle. 'I guess, yeah. I met them one by one, except for Louis and Liam, and we instantly became friends, which is crazy. I owe that amazing journey for a majority to the boys and Cher. We made so many incredible memories, and we went on to create even more and more after the show ended.'

'Were there any hard feelings after you won and the others didn't?'

'Definitely not. The boys and Cher were really happy for me, and honestly, they didn't need to win, did they? Look at how much they have accomplished in the last few years, that's incredible.' I say with a big smile on my face.

'Let's listen to another song of yours.' he says, and we both sing I'm a mess.

***

'Do you ever get praise for creating both One Direction and Little Mix?'

'Yes, constantly. It always makes me smile when Directioners and Mixers say that no true fan should ever hate on me, because without me they wouldn't exist.' I say happily. 'It always manages to cheer me up.'

'I'm sorry to bring this up again, but that interview you did months ago, that was like the day after you and Niall broke up. How did you manage to not burst out into tears?'

'Um, it was very difficult, and I almost did a few times. It made me not want to do interviews for a long time.' I reply.

'How do you feel about One Direction breaking up? All your hard work for nothing. Do you feel like they don't appreciate what you have done for them by splitting up?'

'Well, I think it's good for them to go their own way for a while to grow and see how big they have been. Everyone always says how much they owe to me, but they became the biggest boyband in the world because of themselves and their team, not me. They have always appreciated what I did, and I don't feel like they are ungrateful at all. It would be weird if would stay together as a band, simply to make me happy. They are free to do whatever they want. You know, interviews are a bit odd for me to do, because they always ask about the boys or Little Mix, and I love them and love talking about them, but I'm a separate artist as well.' I respond.

'Message received.' he says with a laugh. 'Alright, let's lighten the mood a bit with some music.' He plays IDGAF, which makes me laugh.

After singing the song, James turns to me. 'This is such an incredible song. Literally everyone is singing it everywhere. It's so cool, and you just feel badass singing it. What or who was your inspiration behind this hit?'

'Many think that it's about Niall, but it's not really. There are some small parts inspired by him, but to be honest with you James, Charlie was my biggest inspiration. Niall and I breaking up brought up those memories, and writing songs about heartbreak and breaking up in general has been so easy for me these last few months.'