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+Laura / 17.

all i want you to be is mine

♣ no payne, no gain ♣

So have you heard that Liam Payne will be a cover star of Attitude Magazine?

cannes-anon:

Good. Sit down. 

Because the GA-gate is the pre-cursor of this. 

Yeah, I know what our badfic writer Wooton wrote:  However, Liam had signed up to do Attitude’s cover even before the incident.

And there could be truth to that. My take is, Liam is really set to be the cover of Attitude Magazine. But you need a good story to precede it. 

I have had some discussion with Chris and Monica if GA-gate was masterminded by old team and new team would handle the fallout. Especially since new team was able to spin GA-gate in Liam’s favor in top tier media. However, in hindsight, I think the GA-gate incident could also be a product of new team’s brain - and not just the aftermath. 

In any case, Liam’s new team need a story that can be used as a background to set people talking on why it has to be Liam. Duck Dynasty has been dragged to the hell and back, and to be honest, DD has lost its relevancy. By associating Liam with a questionable comment (no for real: that’s how the new team spinned the GA thing. Liam just made a quip that got misinterpreted) recently that are still fresh in people’s mind, it brings a little personal controversy to the impending cover story. 

But that’s not the point of this post. 

The point of this post is Liam’s narrative is definitely bookending the stunt. And there’s no better candidate for it than him. Because the stunt, aside from earning M!M quick dollars before 1D leave the nest, is meant to rebrand 1D as an adult band. And I stand by my post when I said Zayn and Harry’s solo rumors are just red herrings. It’s Liam who’s doing the rebrand PROPERLY. 

See, you don’t have to disassociate yourself completely to rebrand. The point of the rebrand is to keep your core audience (the belittled women fans, who are spite because of misogyny ) while expanding your reach. The Attitude Magazine is definitely expanding their audience to the adult territory. 

So why Liam? Because Liam is the perfect candidate to show that 1D has matured. I would guess that his Attitude cover will touch upon his previous gaffes (which, IMO, are M!M tactics to closet him) in his social media. The magazine will be an avenue for him to admit that yes, he made mistakes BUT he’s willing to learn and is still learning. Which is what mature adult is supposed to do. All those tweaks in Liam’s image for the past months will come full circle with the Attitude cover. It will go a long way to shed not only Liam’s dumb jock image but also prove that One Direction are very aware of topical issues. 

At least, that’s what I hope. 

So bookending the stunt narrative means to actually open that coveted adult audience for 1D. And if 1D wants to go the distance, it’s obvious to me, that the new team (and the rest of the boys) has taken a gamble on Liam and it’s paying off. 

Just to end this: I sincerely hope that the Attitude cover is the start of Liam’s glass closet. Knowing how brave he is, I don’t think it’s farfetch to think Liam would rather come out. BUT there are still rules and structures in place in showbusiness, and one of those is closeting queer celebrities. Unfortunately, he has to abide by it. But if his new team is as smart as I think they are, they can use this opportunity to start associating Liam with high profile LGBTQIA personalities and events to ease him in.