Written by Alana Harris
Edited by Adrian Wilson
Liam Payne, 31 year old former One Direction star died on October 16th.
If you don't know One Direction… have you been living under a rock? Even though they’re a British-Irish Boy Band, fans of any genre around the world have most likely heard the name. One of the famous five, Liam Payne, died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was so recent but these things spread like wildfire, it seems to be unclear if it was purposeful or not but the struggling star died after a 3-story drop from his hotel balcony, as well as reported drugs in his system. Very quickly, around the world, people were mourning his death.
One Direction was founded in 2010 after being discovered by Simon Cowell, on the X Factor after 16 year old Liam and the four others’ auditioned. Simon offered them a recording contract, kick-starting their career. Their popularity skyrocketed worldwide very quickly, In 2011 they released their first album ‘Up All Night’ By 2012 their hit song ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ was named Best British Single at The Brit Awards ( British Grammy awards).
Their fame was worldwide most popular with teen girls in the 2010’s (As a girl who grew up during that time I would know) but as a boy band their drama was inevitable. Their popularity and careers skyrocketed, pushing the young adults into the magnifying glass of the spotlight.
As a boy band they had their unavoidable drama. In 2015 one of the members, Zayne Malik, left for a ‘normal life’ They continued on as just the four of them until their “indefinite hiatus” in 2016
The negative repercussions of a life in the public eye, especially starting at a young age, are no surprise. Hitting the spotlight at as young as 16, we’ve seen so many celebrities go down a similar, tragic path then trying to cope with substances. He was struggling on and off most of his career. In 2019 he went to rehab and got sober for a year, in an interview he said;
“Doing a show to however many thousands of people, then being stuck by yourself in a country where you can’t go out anywhere – what else are you going to do? The minibar is always there,”
Throughout his struggles he went on to continued his career, especially in songwriting (being one of the main songwriters for 1D) He also released a song in 2017, AND had a son with X factor judge Cheryl Cole (in 2018 they separated) In 2019 he followed up and released LP1, his solo album, he worked in modeling for Hugo Boss and had kept going after the bands break up. A lot happened in his life already but he kept on doing what he loved, music.
Quickly after he died he was said to have his first single since 2019 “Do No Wrong” be released ‘posthumously’ or after the creator's death on November 1st, 2024, just 16 days after his death. Since then his producer Sam Pounds announced that it has been postponed and the decision of releasing it is up to the family.
"Even though we all love the song it’s not the time yet. We are all still morning the passing of Liam and I want the family to morn in peace and in prayer. We will all wait. With love Sam Pounds."
In Argentina he fell to his death, 3 stories from a hotel room balcony. Different sources say different things, some think that it was suicide some think it was an accident. It was reported that drugs were found in his system very quickly after death. Many think it was an accident due to him actively trying to continue his career but it is too soon to tell. All we know is that people across the world are mourning for Liam Payne.
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