Louis Tomlinson has reassured fans that his shiny new position as judge on the X Factor panel won’t have an impact on the release date of his debut album.

It was confirmed yesterday that the former One Direction singer would be joining Robbie Williams, his wife Ayda Field, and Simon Cowell on the panel of the 2018 series, and it didn’t take long for people to voice their concerns about the move.

While plenty of fans were thrilled that Louis has the chance to return to the ITV show, others were worried that he’d be so invested in the series that his upcoming album might be put on the backburner for the time being.

Clearing up the concerns in a video message, he said: “I want everyone to not worry too much about the album. As I said in the press conference, the album is still definitely my priority. It doesn't change any release time or anything like that me doing the show.

“Having come from the show it made sense for me to go on. I've always been interested in mentoring. It's been on my mind for a couple of years now. As soon as I got the assurance that it wasn't going to affect any of my music and actually it was going to help it then I could seriously start thinking about it.”

Hinting that a mini One Direction reunion could be on the cards in the future, he joked in a press conference that the rest of the band “might be fighting for that seat at Judges’ Houses.”