Niall Horan has spoken out about the death of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne in a new interview with Times UKPointing out that he spent some time with Payne in Argentina a few weeks before his death.
Payne died on October 16, 2024, after falling from the third floor of a hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was 31 years old.
“I’m happy about that, and that means that my last memories of him were happy,” Horan said in the interview. “It still feels surreal. On the first day I said to myself: ‘No, it’s not happening.'” Our friendship was a bond that would be there forever even if we didn’t see each other for a while, and it was strange that one day, like the flip of a switch, it was gone.
Horan explained that although Payne’s death brings “sadness,” he is trying to relive the many wonderful memories they had together.
“When I think about Liam’s death, I feel sad, but he makes me laugh and smile too because of the memories we had,” Horan said. “I’ll go places and think of something stupid in a hotel or something random that makes me laugh. We always had fun in Australia because we were able to get out and go to the beach. Liam wasn’t too bad at surfing. I can barely swim.”
The artist is preparing to release his fourth album Dinner partywhich includes a dedicated track in Payne’s honor.
Titled “End of an Era,” Horan was asked what he thought the “Strip That Down” singer would think of a song. He replied: “I think that’s his type of song. He loved Coldplay, he loved songs like One Direction’s ‘You & I’, the songs that were big hits.”
British boy band One Direction is reunited in Factor X In 2010. Consisting of Payne, Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, the group quickly rose to global stardom, remaining so until March 2015, when Malik announced that he was leaving the band. They remained a quartet until the beginning of 2016.
Payne’s former One Direction bandmate, Styles, recently spoke out about Payne’s loss, telling Zane Lowe that after his death, he vowed to live life to the fullest to honor him.
