2024-10-17 10:50:00
There are times in castings when the judges seem to have discovered a rare diamond in the rough that could be perfectly polished and shaped. When Liam Payne walked onto the X Factor stage in 2010, aged 16 with a Justin Bieber surfer hairstyle, a judge pointed him out and the look on casting veteran Simon Cowell’s face changed. The audience is already screaming because Liam’s hairstyle and smile are exactly what young fans want to see in 2010. And Cowell knows Liam, who had already made his way into a talent show when he was 14. “I’m glad you’re back.” Then Liam sings and everyone in the room stands up, including the jury. “It was amazing.”
Eventually, the promising Liam Payne was placed in the band One Direction along with four other teenagers, who barely managed to reach third place on the X-Factor show. That could have been the end, after all a little fame in a talent show makes no sense. But One Direction would become one of the most successful boy bands in history, the public casting didn’t hurt them, on the contrary: it meant that fans could follow the path to the top, as well as the failures – which was all the more fascinating .
The five young people had so much potential, so much star appeal and so much personality that it was immediately clear how difficult this group project would be. During an appearance on the show, the boys sing Coldplay, many notes are not right, the singers secretly smile at each other and miss cues. They are teenagers who have practiced, but they are not perfect.
The first four albums all went to number one
In the video for their first single “What Makes You Beautiful” from 2011, the five boys run along the beach, sing to the camera with sincere looks that are still authentic in teenagers, and of course the girls join in at the end. It’s harmless, authentic, wonderfully youthful. The video has been streamed 1.5 billion times on YouTube. One Direction’s first four albums all debuted at number one on the US Billboard charts. The five singers became stars.
Liam Payne, even though he was only 16, was the sensible one. He seemed poised in interviews and on stage, almost frighteningly mature for his age. He soon established himself as a songwriter, co-wrote many songs on One Direction’s albums and even produced them. But he didn’t want “Mr. Boring,” as he told the Guardian. He also wanted to have fun.
One Direction in 2015 without Zayn Malik: Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Harry Styles (left to right)APThe more famous and successful One Direction became, the more exhausting touring became for Payne. The absolute adrenaline rushes, followed by profound boredom, were akin to drug addiction, Payne told the Guardian. Payne turned to alcohol. He took epilepsy medication for a while “to stay stable,” but there were times, even on stage, “when I couldn’t say my name.”
Liam Payne has struggled with alcohol
As happens with boy bands, at some point one of the guys got tired: Zayn Malik used the momentum he had, continued on his own and even dated the real Hadid sister. And after a brief meeting with the four of them, the rest of One Direction also took an “indefinite hiatus” in 2016.
Harry Styles has single-handedly become one of the biggest male pop stars. And Liam Payne? As he later admitted, he was still struggling with alcohol. He later remained sober for a year and had a son with X-Factor judge Cheryl Cole. His 2017 single “Strip That Down” was a hit, and his 2019 album “LP1” had some success but received negative reviews. Payne has repeatedly spoken openly about his mental health issues and his battle with alcohol. In 2023, he said in a video that he had decided to stay sober. He spent 100 days in rehab in Louisiana.
Before his death, Liam Payne attended a concert by his former bandmate and friend Niall Horan in Argentina in early October. He posted photos of his trip on social media, taken with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy. On the morning of his death, he posted videos of their late breakfast together on Snapchat. As the Daily Mail reports, Payne was said to have been spotted in the hotel lobby that day with “erratic behavior” and, among other things, destroyed his laptop “before it had to be taken to his room.”
Payne later fell from the third floor of his hotel and died from his serious injuries. He was 31 years old.
#didnt #Boring