The RED Era - 2
LILY: My self-titled debut album got me a small fan base. It was kind of crazy, really. Some people would ask me to autograph something every once in a while. It was surreal.
I played my first show a week after the boys played for Kelly Yoon. They were all there.
JAMES: Things had been… less than ideal with Lily.
It was… it was truly wonderful to see her career take off. Truly. I listened to her album the second it came out and loved every minute of it. I was so proud of her.
But.. Everything was different. She immediately started writing “Fearless” and practicing for a few small shows. And with us practicing too, sometimes it felt like I barely saw her.
LILY: I don’t mean this to sound bratty or entitled in any way. At all. But after the album was out and it started gaining traction, my life suddenly felt very different. I finally felt like I knew who I was, and no matter how hard I tried, James just didn’t seem to fit into it like he used to. I mean, at this point, we’d been together two, almost three years.
Very quickly, I was a different person. It sounds stupid, but I was.
JAMES: I don’t like to admit it, but I was very jealous of Lily. It felt like she didn’t even try and she had everything. I knew it wasn’t fair of me to feel that way, and I still feel bad saying it now, but I did.
SIRIUS: Her show was great. There were a lot of people who swarmed her after, wanting to talk or get something signed.
PETER: If I’m being completely honest, and I’m not saying this to villainize Lils or put all the blame on her, but it almost seemed like she didn’t make time for James. It wasn’t that she didn’t have time, cause she did. I mean, we were busy as shit too and he always found a way to do anything with her, even if it was just watching reruns at her flat. But she didn’t make him a priority.
And how could she? She was an artist trying to make it big. Personally, I think she was on the right track.
She had a goal.
LILY: About a month after my album came out, I broke up with him. He didn’t fit into my life at the time… at least not as a boyfriend. I loved him, yes. But I knew the love I had for him wasn’t the love. I loved him like a best friend. And I didn’t want him to be stringed along. He needed someone else, but most of all, he needed his music.
I don’t regret any of it. He was the perfect first boyfriend. First love. First time. I’m happy all of my firsts were with him.
But I think deep down, both of us knew it was never going to last.
POPPY: “Lily Evans” was a success, and after she ended things with James, she started writing at full goddamn speed. She cranked out five songs in a week, and it took maybe a month or two to finish the entire thing.
LILY: Debut was good. I love it. But I needed to show people what else I could do. Debut showed them a little bit of what I could do. I needed more.
I won’t lie though, a good amount of tracks are about James. Hey Stephen, Breathe, Forever and Always, Today Was A Fairytale, We Were Happy.
I know I ended things, but I still missed him. I missed when things were simple. I missed being in love and being with him because at one point, I genuinely thought we might get married or something.