Liam Payne: ‘If you don’t have anyone to share success with it’s a bit pointless’
Mental health has been paramount for the One Direction superstar as he relishes the freedom that comes with being a solo artist
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Liam Payne is relieved to be free from the confines imposed by being a member of one of history’s biggest boy bands. While he has no regrets and is grateful for his years with One Direction, the 26-year-old is relishing the freedom that comes with being a solo artist.
“I’ve been able to dance around different genres and enjoy music for a moment rather than spending years and years having to deliver an album because the tour has already been sold or whatever,” Payne tells Insider.
“That was very much the way it was. Now, this is on me. If I want to tour, I will tour. If I don’t want to tour, I don’t have to. It is more about enjoying the moment of it and just enjoying music for what it is rather than try to pressure yourself into making some sort of important project or to prove a point or anything like that. In the end it has come out better that way because I wasn’t putting that pressure on myself.”
Payne is speaking to Insider over the phone as he lies on his bed at his mum’s house in London.
It is 5.40am in Australia and this scribe is sitting at his dining room table wearing pyjamas.
“I wish we had a side-by-side of the image of us speaking to each other,” Payne laughs. “It would be like some sort of weird phone call.”
One Direction called it quits three years ago. Since then, Payne has continued to focus on music, releasing a string of hits. His latest track is a collaboration with upcoming American artist A Boogie wit da Hoodie titled Stack It Up, his first new track since Polaroid was released last October.
“It is very different to anything that the other boys have done as well and I love that, it is great,” Payne says of his solo music. “I think it is really awesome that we are doing so many different things and people can really see different sides to us.
“This is the music I’m most comfortable with so I’m super happy for that to come out.”
Payne’s first solo single, Strip That Down, was released in 2017, not long after One Direction split. His solo success is undeniable with hit after hit including For You, Familiar and Get Low.
Figures show Payne to be the most successful solo artist of the One Direction troupe with 112 million streams in Australia alone and 2.7 billion globally.
Strip That Down, co-written with Ed Sheeran, registered sales of five times platinum.
“I’ve stayed doing singles for ages and we have had amazing success at doing that,” he says. “I didn’t pressure myself to do an album right away because it is just not that kind of world anymore.
“For me I need a songbook to be able to go on tour and those are the advantages of having an album or if people want to go for a Grammy or something like that. I’m not really one of those storybook artists.
“I just like making jams. So for me it was about finding the right set of jams to go on something that is like a really nice playlist of my … almost like it was my best of sort of thing. It was more important for me to make some standout songs than it was to make a body of work if that makes sense.”
Payne is in no rush to release an album.
“I have made an album that has been together for quite some time where we slowly just started adding more tracks to it as time has been going by and chopping and changing a few things,” he says.
“I listened to the whole project through for the first time the other day for myself and I’m really happy with it. It is exactly the way I’d want my first album to sound and all the references of different artists that I like Usher and Justin Timberlake, those sorts of artists I’ve listened to over the years and I like that I’ve managed to bring that into the project.”
Payne has again teamed up with hit maker Sheeran on Stack It Up, a song he says is about working hard for what you have.
“I have been super blessed being able to work with Ed again,” he says. “He just randomly sends stuff over when he has got something that he thinks is suited to me and this was one of the ones. The main thing about this song for me was getting the message right … to make sure the song wasn’t just based solely around the idea of money and having money in an account somewhere or whatever.
“So for me it just happened to be the point of making money for someone. I’ve definitely felt the feeling before that I’ve been really successful and whatever else and all that kind of crap but at the same time if you don’t have anyone to share it with it’s a bit pointless.”
Insider is speaking to Payne on R U OK? day (September 10) and asks how he looked after his mental health in a world where his every move is monitored by fans and media.
“Exercise is a massive one for me,” he says. “I’m also super fortunate to have amazing people around me.
“I’ve had my meltdowns and different things have happened to me where I definitely wasn’t OK. One of the most important things is just going to see somebody, somebody who is a professional person whose job it is to look at whether or not you are OK. We do this exercise on our bodies and we are bothered about our stomachs or whatever but nobody actually goes into the brain. First and foremost for me, it was figuring out, can I trust my own judgment?
“And that is a beautiful gift to give yourself because as soon as you can you can, you can make the right decisions.”
Payne has been a regular visitor to Australia over the years, last performing here at the 2018 Everest race day.
On one memorable trip when One Direction was at its peak, his red Calvin Klein undies were pinched by a diehard fan who climbed two storeys on to the balcony of the band’s Whale Beach hotel. The incident won’t deter him from visiting again though as he hopes to tour here soon, and maybe take a holiday.
“Australia is one of my favourite places in the world to go to,” he says. “It is a shame it is so bloody far away. I’ve had so many good times there with so many different people, so yeah I definitely would love to come back very soon and do some shows down there or even come over for a holiday maybe.”
* Stack It Up is out now