If you’ve ever come across a Larrie, there is a high likelihood that you’ve heard the phrase “home motif.” From song lyrics to tattoos to actual houses, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson have been taunting us with the idea of “home.” We talk, scream, and cry about it frequently, but why exactly? It is important to note that this term has been following us around, as a fandom, for a decade now. Unpacking it may take a while, but you’re in the right place. To begin, let’s take it back about a decade:
In 2011, Harry tweeted lyrics to the song “Home” by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros which refers to home being a person rather than a structure. A few short months later Harry and Louis saw Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at Leeds festival.
In July of 2011, Harry and Louis moved into Princess Park Manor together, making it their first official joint home. In September of the same year, Louis tweeted about the song “Come Home” by OneRepublic and “Look After You” by The Fray which once again refers to a person as being someone’s home. Then in December of 2012, Harry got his iconic ship tattoo, and not even 24 hours after Louis went to the same tattoo parlor and got his compass tattoo with the arrow pointing “home.” Compasses obviously direct ships to where they need to go but, as if that wasn’t enough, Harry’s new ship tattoo covered his old tattoo reading “homemade.”
One of the biggest pieces of home propaganda was a tweet that Harry made on September 29, 2013, that read “we don’t need no piece of paper from the city hall” which are lyrics to Joni Mitchell’s song “My Old Man” that uses the word home but more importantly, led fans to believe that either they had gotten married or would get married without needing any legal documents to “prove” it. Following this, RBB’s official account changes its location to “home… soon to return ” after Harry made it to the UK but was awaiting Louis’ arrival.
In November 2015, One Direction’s “Made in the A.M.” album was released which featured their song “If I Could Fly.” In the chorus of that song Harry sings “I’d be coming right back home to you” and the whole premise of the song is that a person is so fed up with the life they are living and they trust only one person to see who they truly are. They love this person so much that although their life “seems” perfect, they’d be willing to give it all up just to be living a life they desire together. Only one month later, Louis leaked the song he wrote, titled “Home,” and some lyrics in the chorus, to let us know that it was him who leaked it. This song parallels iicf in many ways, but namely when the chorus says “you’ll never feel like you’re alone, I’ll make this feel like home.” In doing this, Louis is telling Harry that regardless of the fact that they are stuck in a very unfortunate situation he will not let Harry down and intends to continue being a source of unconditional love and support.
Fast forward to 2016, Louis is seen wearing a shirt that reads “home made” casually reminding us that they are not done with the home motif. In 2017, Harry released the song “Sweet Creature” in which he states “you bring me home” continuing on with this series of lyrics to each other by confirming to us that Louis kept his promise and does, in fact, bring him comfort in the same way that “home” should. In the same song, he mentions “two hearts in one home” insinuating that no matter where they are, their hearts are at home, together.
After “Sweet Creature,” he released “Canyon Moon” which states “two weeks and I’ll be home” letting us know that the longest they’d ever choose to be apart for is two weeks, and at the end of the same song he repeats that he’s going home (to Louis). On the same album is “Sunflower vol. 6” which is literally just about being with the person you love in the comfort of your own home.
Possibly the loudest “home” lyric, though, is featured in Louis’ song “always you” where he sings “walked through my door but it felt nothing like home, cause you’re not home” telling us that no matter where he is at, he isn’t home unless he’s with Harry. On the same album, Louis released “Habit” which makes a direct reference to them living in princess park together, confirming to fans that his memories of their first home are still very important to him.
In 2021, on Jan 31 (the day before Harry’s birthday), Louis changes his Spotify album covers to pictures of Harry’s tattoos and also tells a fan that his favorite song is “Maybe Tomorrow” by Stereophonics which is all about finding your way back home. At the end of Harry’s tour in 2021, he told the crowd to “send him home” during “Canyon Moon,” which told everyone that after his final show, he couldn’t wait to get back home to Louis and he wanted the fans to know.
Content warning: 2022 Louis song leaks
Most recently, in August of 2022 Louis’ song “All Along” was leaked. There is a fan theory that this song eventually grew to be “Always You” from Walls. Louis, once again, brings up the idea of home with the lyrics “now I’m home… and I can’t wait til you’re awake so I can call and tell you it was you all along.” Telling us that through their time apart he realized that Harry always has been, and always will be, his home.
