The 26-year-old singer rose to fame in 2010 after competing on the show and becoming part of One Direction.
Louis Tomlinson is headed back to his roots.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the 26-year-old singer would be a judge on season 15 of The X Factor. The exciting news was shared by the British singing competition show's Twitter page, revealing that Tomlinson would join Ayda Williams, Robbie Williams and Simon Cowell on the judges' panel.
“After much speculation, we are SO EXCITED to reveal our X Factor 2018 JUDGES!!!! Welcome to the panel @Louis_Tomlinson, @robbiewilliams, Ayda Williams and the one and only, Mr @SimonCowell! #XFactor,” The X Factor's tweet read.
The announcement is fitting and has special meaning to Tomlinson, who back in 2010 auditioned for the show singing "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's. He, along with Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik, competed individually, but the five singers were selected to be members of a new boy band, One Direction -- and the rest is history!
Back in March, Tomlinson shared a cute throwback of himself auditioning. "8 years ago today. The skinny tie and shirt combo was a must back then ?," he captioned the shot.
Horan, meanwhile, congratulated his buddy and former bandmate on the exciting news, tweeting, "Absolutely delight for ya @Louis_Tomlinson. Going Back home to the @TheXFactor but as a judge this time."
Fans, however, seemed to be a little worried about Tomlinson's new gig, as they were hoping to get his debut solo album soon. Following the announcement, he took to Twitter to reassure his fans that they would be getting new music, but he didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to mentor other singers.
"I want to thank everyone for their support so far," Tomlinson expressed in a video. "I just want everyone to not worry too much about the album. As I said today in the press conference, the album is still definitely my priority. It doesn’t change any release time or anything like that."
"I just thought, coming from the show, it made a lot of sense to go on and I've always been really interested in mentoring," he continued. "It's something that has been on my mind for a number of years."
Tomlinson and Payne are the only former members of One Direction to have yet to release a solo album since the band split in 2016. Following their separation, the singers have been supportive of one another; Tomlinson even praised Malik's "Pillowtalk."
Watch below to hear what he said.
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