In sixth grade, I heard my first One Direction song while playing Just Dance with my friends in my basement. At the time, I did not know that this hype, funny song was in fact “What Makes You Beautiful,” one of the most well-known songs of a British-Irish boy band formed from a televised singing competition. As a sixth grader, I never thought about the people behind the music, and I certainly never thought that they would ever stop making music.
The members of One Direction started making music together after each individually qualified for The X Factor, but they were put into a group together early on. Even though they did not win the show, they were offered a contract to join the recording studio of Simon Cowell, and their career took off. The members—Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Liam Payne—were all teenagers between the ages of 16-18, so their music combined with their looks caused an obsession-like popularity among their fans, known as “Directioners.”
When their first album came out in 2011, it shot to the top of the charts, and one of their most popular songs still to this day, “What Makes You Beautiful,” was named best single in the Brit Awards. After this, they began going on world tours, completing three tours before 2014. However, it was announced that Malik had left the group to pursue his solo career. Though the group continued to finish their fourth world tour, they soon disbanded, and One Direction entered their indefinite hiatus.
Soon after, each member launched their solo career, attempting to ride the popularity left over from their One Direction fame. Although Liam’s career is only considered the third most popular of the members, he still had a very impressive career. He had one song, “Strip That Down” featuring Quavo, reach number ten on the Billboard Top 100, he released 14 singles, and one album, LP1. He also only went on one tour in Latin America and did a few pop-up concerts around Europe and the United States.
However, Liam has always had health issues, and that often made him have to cancel shows to prioritize his health. After being born prematurely, he was born with only one kidney, he has had to grow up being more cautious than others with food and activities.
Although he has these health issues, he was still able to have his child: Bear Grey, who was born in 2017. Cheryl Cole, who was Liam’s girlfriend from 2016 to 2018, soon was expecting and Bear Grey entered the world nine months later. However, Liam and Cheryl soon broke it off in 2018, and Bear has stayed largely out of the spotlight since.
This year, on Oct 16, while Liam was in Palermo, Argentina to watch the concert of former One Direction member, Niall Horan, tragedy struck. Liam was caught on video falling off of his third-story balcony, where he fell to his death. It was later revealed that there were drugs in his apartment and traces of substances, such as the recreational drug “pink cocaine,” in his system. It was later revealed that he was not fully conscious while he fell, confirming the suspicions that he was on drugs before this event. This event shocked fans, not only because of the death but because, though he had been open about his struggles with addiction, he had been sober for the past year.
At this time, three people have been arrested and charged with connections to Liam’s death: a close acquaintance, for leaving him alone a short time before his death, a hotel employee, for two confirmed supplies of cocaine, and a known drug supplier.
As someone who was not a Directioner when they were traveling around on tour, I never knew I was missing out on an opportunity to see one of the most well-known boy bands of all time. And, although I did not listen to many of his solo career songs, I was still impacted by the extreme popularity of One Direction. Their songs were one of the ways I became friends with one of my best friends, and they have made for many fun drives, hangouts, and pre-soccer game hype-ups.
As the funeral approaches, and we can recognize the great impact that Liam Payne has left on the music community, we must continue to be respectful to the family, friends, and former bandmates as they grieve the loss of a close friend, sibling, parent, and overall amazing musician.
