Louis Tomlinson addressed his fans directly via a video message last night (July 17) after yesterday's X Factor press conference which confirmed the rumours about him being a judge on the show this year.

Tomlinson appeared as a guest judge at judges' houses in 2015 and also returned to the show to perform his debut single "Hold On" for the first time with DJ and producer Steve Aoki in 2016, days after his mother's death.

However, with filming commencing for The X Factor in the next few weeks and the final live show taking place this December, some fans are naturally concerned about whether the new role will affect the release of his debut solo album.

Tomlinson has always kept his fanbase informed and been honest about his hopes and aspirations at every stage of the process of his career. In February, he tweeted that he was hoping his album would be released before the summer. He also let his fans know about 'important meetings'. The "Miss You" singer also expressed that he was definitely wishing to 'get out on tour this year'. 

Keeping the channel of communication open before the press conference, Tomlinson alerted his fans that he would be uploading a video message yesterday, tweeting: "music is always my priority obviously!".

During last night's video message, Tomlinson said:

"I just wanted to check in with everyone and thank everyone for the support so far. It's been nice reading your comments. I want everyone to not worry too much about the album. I mean, 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, me doing the show.

"I just thought, you know, that I come from the show, it made a lot of sense to go on. I've always been really interested in mentoring, that's why, you know, I've done things in the past with my imprint label. So, it's something that's been on my mind for a number of years now.

"As soon as I got the assurance that it wasn't going to affect any of my music. Actually, it was going to help it, then I could start seriously thinking about it.

"I only really made the decision and had that conversation with my new management quite recently, so I just wanted to bring you all up to speed."

The other judges confirmed to join Louis Tomlinson on the panel are Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda Field.