Former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson performed his first solo single on The X Factor to pay tribute to his mother, who lost her battle with leukaemia on Wednesday.
Tomlinson took the stage along with DJ Steve Aoki to perform Just hold on.
Tomlinson, whose mother, Johannah, died last week, kissed his fingers and looked up to the sky at the end of his performance. Although he didn’t mention anything about his mother’s passing, the audience saw it as a tribute to the late woman.
“Oh until it’s all been said, it’s not over until your dying breath,” Tomlinson sang. So what do you want them to say when you’re gone? That you gave up or that you kept going on? What do you do when a chapter ends? Do you close the book and never read it again?” Where do you go when your story’s done,” he added.
A few hours after the show, he tweeted: “That was harder than I ever imagined. I want to thank everyone around me and all of the amazing fans out there that made that so special! Feeling so much love around me and my family. Mum would have been so [expletive] proud (sorry for swearing mum) love you!”
He also thanked Aoki. The DJ then responded: “You were the rock my brother. You are my inspiration. You have the biggest [expletive] heart and I’m so proud of you. Blew us all away for her.”
