Tributes flow for One Direction’s Liam Payne after hotel balcony fall
The pop singer, who died on Wednesday at 31, wasn’t the boy band’s leader. But even as he struggled with mental health, he acted as a kind of glue.
The first time Liam Payne auditioned for The X Factor, in 2008, he was just 14 years old. For the British talent show’s judges, he performed Fly Me to the Moon, snapping along to keep the beat while singing a cappella.
He showed promise and advanced to the next stage of the competition, but Simon Cowell, the music executive, judge and pop impresario, ultimately told him to come back in two years, when he might be more prepared for the spotlight.
When Payne did return to The X Factor, in 2010, the young English singer’s performance of Michael Bublé’s version of “Cry Me a River” left Cowell and the panel stunned.
Cowell teamed Payne up with four other contestants to form One Direction, a boy band that would become one of the most successful music groups of the early 2010s.
Payne, who died unexpectedly on Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, was known primarily as a member of a pop colossus that helped revive the boy-band genre, selling more than 50 million copies worldwide between 2010 and 2016, according to Billboard.
For fans, however, the 31-year-old singer was something more: a vocal whiz with a knack for songwriting, who even as a teenager brought a grown-up sensibility that helped elevate the group to global superstardom. (Authorities are probing the circumstances of his death.)
“We’re completely devastated by the news of Liam’s passing,” the former members of One Direction wrote in a joint statement on Instagram on Thursday.
“In time, and when everyone is able to, there will be more to say. But for now, we will take some time to grieve and process the loss of our brother, who we loved dearly.
“The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever. For now, our thoughts are with his family, his friends, and the fans who loved him alongside us. We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam.”
Payne never cut a figure as the leader of the British band that included Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik (who left in 2015) and Niall Horan.
Nor did Payne enjoy, after the group’s 2016 breakup, a commercially robust solo career. What defined Payne’s contributions is that he represented, musically and emotionally, a kind of anchor for the fast-rising group.
“He really did serve as something of a glue for them,” says Steven J. Horowitz, a senior music writer at Variety magazine who interviewed Payne for a 2012 Billboard cover story, when the singer was 19.
“He had a stronger grip on the realities of what they were going through as a band, and how to navigate that,” Horowitz says. “I think the other guys looked to him as that compass, in a way.”
As a singer, Payne was known for his falsetto, and his ability to hit high notes that helped deliver the emotional charge of the group’s songs, including What Makes You Beautiful and Best Song Ever.
He also contributed to songwriting, his musical inclinations drawing on electronic dance-music, hip-hop and R&B. Such elements made One Direction both appealing to teenage girls, who made up the bulk of its fan base, and slightly rougher in sound than other similar groups. Payne told Entertainment Weekly in 2015 that he was particularly proud of his writing contributions to the One Direction song What a Feeling, from their final studio album, 2015’s Made in the A.M.
“Massively underappreciated artist,” Nathan Hubbard, a co-host of the Ringer podcast, “Every Single Album,” wrote in a social-media post on Wednesday.
Perhaps more than anything, Payne added a weightier flair to the goofy and boisterous image of One Direction.
He was “kind of an aloof, older brother” and lent an air of gravitas to the group, says Nate Sloan, co-host of the music podcast “Switched on Pop.”
Sloan says in a deleted scene from the 2013 One Direction documentary, This Is Us, you can see the group’s members describing their individual personalities; Liam gets tagged as the “dad” of the group.
“He was less silly and fun-loving than the other members,” Sloan says.
“But he brought a sense of seriousness and discipline that was probably necessary for their success.”
After the band’s breakup, Payne spoke openly about the toll his rapid rise to fame had taken on his mental health and his struggles with alcohol and drug use. On a 2021 episode of the Diary of a CEO podcast, Payne discussed experiencing suicidal ideation and isolation during his time in the band.
“I was worried how far my rock bottom was going to be. Where’s rock bottom for me?” he said in the interview. “And you would never have seen it. I’m very good at hiding it. No one would ever have seen it.”
In many ways, Payne wasn’t exactly cut out for being a solo pop star. His post-One Direction career was relatively modest, compared with some of his bandmates like Styles. Over the years, Payne would collaborate with artists and take up production duties. But privately, he was dealing with substance issues that led him to enter rehab.
In July 2023, Payne posted a video talking about becoming sober. He released his last single, Teardrops, in March.
“Attempts to cast him as a sexy R&B star in his solo career just didn’t match up with his personal inclination,” Sloan says. There was “a lot of sadness and discomfort in his own skin that was not mitigated by the success of One Direction – but only exacerbated.”
Before his death, Payne reportedly visited with his former One Direction colleague Niall Horan. After the news broke, Harry Styles’s mother posted a picture of a broken heart on Instagram, saying “just a boy.”
On Thursday, Payne’s family gave a statement to BBC News: “We are heartbroken. Liam will forever live in our hearts.” Louis Tomlinson shared a tribute on Thursday to his former bandmate and “brother.” “Liam was in my opinion the most vital part of One Direction,” he wrote. “His experience from a young age, his perfect pitch, his stage presence, his gift for writing. The list goes on. Thank you for shaping us Liam.”
Zayn Malik posted a photo with the caption “Love You Bro.” Ultimately, Payne’s role in One Direction – one of the bestselling boy bands of all time – will be his legacy.
“What people are going to remember about his music career will be tied to One Direction,” Horowitz says. “Because he was such a strong force in it.”
Dow Jones Newswires
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