This is an excerpt from our March 2026 cover feature. You can pre-order the full issue, with the expanded Louis Tomlinson interview and full guest edited section right now. Head here to grab your copy. There's a Costa Rican phrase, "pura vida", that translates to pure life. It's more than just a throwaway saying, however. It's a way of life. A conscious choice to be optimistic and laidback and put joy at the forefront of the life you live. If life isn't about chasing happiness, what exactly is the point? The reverberations of that mantric notion are felt throughout Louis Tomlinson's third album, 'How Did I Get Here?'. Whilst its title might conjure up vaguely existential, nostalgic sentiments, the record feels much lighter than that, thanks in part to the relaxed, carefree atmosphere Louis was craving this time around. Coming over three years after his sophomore offering, 'Faith in the Future', it was a record that he immediately knew would need the benefit of time and space to figure itself out.

"I took quite a while to make 'Walls', the first record," Louis explains over the phone, just a week before 'How Did I Get Here?' is unleashed on the world. "I was really still working out who I was as an artist, and trying to work out who I liked working with. Because of that, I rolled pretty much from 'Walls' straight into 'Faith in the Future' in terms of writing. I didn't really give myself a rest like that, and I think creatively I needed one. "I built up a lot of confidence on the tours that I did, and I wanted to feel that before I really started this record. You learn a lot on tour, both musically and on a confidence level. I felt ready to make this record, but I didn't want too much time constraint. That was not what this record was about. I wanted to try and do it in the most relaxed way possible."

In need of a looser environment, it made sense to chase that feeling to Santa Teresa, a luscious Costa Rican surf town where the pace of life is slower, and free-spiritedness is the name of the game. Having previously written predominantly in the UK, the sun-soaked location was a much-needed change of scenery that befitted his freshly confident, at-ease outlook and, in many ways, heightened it. "When I'd been speculating after 'Faith in the Future', and thinking that I wanted some real time to make this record. I'd heard that some people go to pretty beautiful locations to write and record; I definitely liked the sound of that," Louis says. "When I was a young lad, I didn't buy into that hippy stuff. I really wouldn't have thought it'd make any difference on the song, but it absolutely does. "It's exciting to be in a place like that, especially when it looks so beautiful, and you're surrounded by nature and all of that stuff. Even the most cynical mind would be challenged in a space like that. That's really good for creating. I wanted to create this relaxed feeling, and in a place like that, there's so much tranquillity; it's really lovely. Those kinds of moments and those kinds of feelings shine through in the record, and that was really important to me. "In the back of my mind, there was still part of me thinking, 'Is it going to make much of a difference being in Costa Rica or being in a beautiful location?' And it absolutely does. The album at times has that kind of island feel, and that feeling of tranquillity, and I love that."

Embodying that headspace meant that rather than pursuing an album that would please others, Louis was solely focused on doing what felt right to him. There's a line on 'On Fire', the second track on the album, where Louis sings: "No compromises, the only thing that matters is if I really like it". It's that sensibility that echoes throughout 'How Did I Get Here?' - it's about making an album that feels good, every step of the way, with no pandering or relenting. "My ear always goes to that line; it always makes me smile. I like that," Louis reflects. "I think it also gives a sense of where I'm at in my confidence, in my decision making and stuff like that. What I've realised from what I've done historically is that the more I do what I want, the more that resonates with the fans. I'm a pretty black-and-white, honest guy, so those kinds of things feel true to who I am. It was about really leaning into making the record that I always wanted to make. I look back on 'Faith in the Future', and I'm so, so proud of it, of course, but I was still putting limitations on myself at that point in my career, in my head. I was ready to make this record this time around." It seems he was not only ready to make this record, but also ready to make a record that feels distinctly different to its predecessors. It's more brash, more experimental, leaping into territory that would undoubtedly have been out of his comfort zone before. If 'Walls' and 'Faith in the Future' were the sound of a man finding his way, burrowing in and baring all to try and make sense of himself, 'How Did I Get Here?' sounds like surety. He's done the work along this journey, and now he's prepared to have some fun and see what else he can pull from up his sleeve. Read the full interview in the March 2026 issue of Dork. Louis Tomlinson's album 'How Did I Get Here' is out from 23rd January.