The first time Liam Payne performed alone, he sang History. It's not one of One Direction's most famous songs, but it's the most frank among those that talk about bonding with the audience. And so in June 2018 the audience at the Beacon in New York heard Liam sing these words, while a montage of old One Direction videos played on the screen: “We did a lot of things together, we could have been the greatest team in the world” . For some reason, this is the first song I listened to after hearing about Liam's death. It's easy to find videos of him singing History in solo concerts and invites the audience to celebrate the history of the group with him. And every time he let the fans sing the final line: “We can live forever.”
It's a pure Liam style gesture: singing History it was his way of keeping faith with everything he, the band and their fans have built together. It paid homage to their shared history, but also to the future they all hoped lay ahead. In his songs, in his voice, in his exuberant way of being on stage there was a sincere warmth, which is why so many people felt a deep personal connection with him and continued to follow him.
And that's why the world is now mourning Liam Payne, following the heartbreaking news of his death following a fall from the third floor of a hotel room in Buenos Aires. He was only 31 years old. The circumstances of his death are still unclear. He was certainly the member of 1D who faced the most problems after the group's dissolution. But there was something about him that still gave hope that he would make it. He still had a lot to give, a lot to do.
One Direction was a close-knit (if, at times, messed up and dysfunctional) family made up of five people with very different characters and appearances. Put together they made up a perfect mix by pure chance. Liam always seemed like the younger brother, with the vulnerable air and enthusiasm of an agitated puppy. He seemed devoid of malice, the most naive. And it came out when he sang, you could tell from his voice that he was hurt and defenseless. In the 2013 hit of which he co-authored Story of My Life he sings the most painful lines: “In the morning she told me that inside her she no longer feels the same things about us / I believe that when I die these words will be written on my tombstone”. As happens in many 1D songs, the boys all tell a story together, passing the microphone around. In the video there is a childhood photo of Liam with his family. Then, as an adult, he looks at himself in the mirror singing that “even if I'm broken, my heart is free”. It's a moment that perfectly explains why people loved him.
One Direction was never simply a boy band. They represented a completely new paradigm of pop group and Liam was a key part of it. Instead of doing ballet, they gave themselves the space to explore their own voices. Niall Horan was passionate about Irish folk, Louis Tomlinson had the swagger worthy of a Brit pop star, as if he had just stepped off the Oasis tour bus, Zayn Malik dropped everything to cultivate his hip hop and R&B style. As for Harry Styles, he decided to shed his skin to transform himself now into Stevie Nicks, now into Bowie or the Stones, into Elton and Joni, before taking flight towards his stratospheric solo dimension.
Liam seemed like the little one of the group, yet he became an excellent songwriter, able to move from beautiful, bold pieces to other heartbreaking ones. When 1D hastily recorded three of the greatest pop albums ever (Midnight Memories in 2013, Four in 2014 and Made in the AM in 2015), they often sang songs by Liam, who has become an important creative element as co-author of gems of the caliber of Diana, Little Black Dress, Fool's Gold, Steal My Girl, Clouds And History.
One Direction was born on TV, in the English edition of X Factor with Simon Cowell. As everyone knows, successful groups almost never emerge from television talent shows. Solo artists yes, as in the cases of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood or Adam Lambert, but it rarely happens to a group. And in fact no one expected the bang of 1D, who didn't even win X Factor (On the show Liam performed solo lounge standards such as Fly Me to the Moon And Cry Me A River). Even those who loved their debut hit What Makes You Beautiful (everyone liked him) he believed that these guys would at most have fun for a year being a boy band. And instead they managed to create a unique bond with the fans. Liam has always communicated a contagious enthusiasm live, almost like a cheerleader, always aimed at the audience. «You are the biggest fans in the world because you all fell in love with a song called No Controlhe shouted at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium during 1D's legendary 2015 tour, one of the best live shows I've ever seen. “You made it yours.”
Liam wasn't exactly One Direction's biggest fan (that was Niall) and admitted he often had trouble getting along with others. But he was very tied to the identity of the group and was the one, among all of them, who had the most difficulty in moving on. 1D went on something of a hiatus starting in 2015, a farce that dragged on for four years, until Harry finally told Rolling Stone that the group was finished.
Liam, unlike the other four, seemed confused about what he was going to do next. «What now?», he asked himself in the infamous interview given to Logan Paul in 2022. «I still don't know who I am. Every day I imitate someone different.” He was the last to launch a solo career and he started off on the wrong foot with Strip That Downthe ill-fated 2017 debut single featuring Quavo. He tried to dismiss his experience with the group by rapping: “I was in 1D / Now I'm free / People want one thing from me / But that's not me.” He sang about drinking and partying with groupies, two months after becoming a father, while Quavo added that “she'll strip for a fool.” There are many words to describe Liam, but dorky isn't one of them.
He made a mistake on his debut album LP1 and it was as if he had given up trying to do it from the beginning. And the following album, promised several times, was never released, even though he released the single in March 2024 Teardrops written with JC Chasez of 'NSync. As is known, he had drug problems. In 2022 he lost many fans after a disastrous (drunk) interview with Logan Paul, during which he said that Simon Cowell had built the entire group around him. “He started with my face and then worked on the rest. I've never told this story before.” He also boasted of being 1D's most successful soloist, stating that Strip That Down «he sold more than any other former member of the group» (at the time, at number one in the United States, there was As It Was of Harry: she stayed there for 15 weeks).
He wisely realized he needed to detox, but his problems didn't end there. He once revealed that he was terrified that his son Bear, born in 2017, would become a pop star. “He likes music and that scares me a little,” she told Hits Radio Breakfast Show. «What I do is a terrifying job… to know all its implications you have to experience it firsthand. And if you recognize them and you are a parent, it scares you.”
When he held his first solo concerts as a headliner in 2018, he was clearly touched by people's love. “I'm very excited,” he said in New York. «I missed this sound, from the days when I sang with my friends». He mainly proposed covers, including recent hits by Ed Sheeran, Pink, Zedd and Charlie Puth. But the most exciting moment was History: the room exploded, while he declaimed that “this is not the end!”. That's when he showed his vulnerability: he didn't try to hide how much he needed the applause. But it was also a moment of great generosity in recognizing that the fans were there because of what had been there before, the same reason why he was on that stage.
The history of One Direction is still getting richer, as their music becomes more and more important and loved even almost ten years after their breakup. There should have been many more chapters in Liam's story. But the emotion he expressed in History it sums up everything that people loved about him. Moments like this will remain forever, like words engraved in stone. This is the Liam Payne the world will remember and the Liam Payne we all mourn.
From Rolling Stone US.