In 2024, when the news of Liam Payne’s passing broke online, it took the entire music industry by shock. His former ‘One Direction’ bandmates were hit the hardest, along with his family members, including his son, Bear. Now, after Niall Horan also released a song dedicated to Payne, he is opening up about his time with the fellow singer and how their last ever encounter was like.
Niall Horan on his last encounter with Liam Payne
The fellow ‘One Direction’ singer, while in conversation with The Times, opened up about what it was like to find out about Payne’s passing and how everything has been. Not only that, but the singer also recalled meeting him for the last time before his untimely passing in 2024.At the time, Payne, who was 31 years old at the time of his demise, had travelled all the way to Argentina to catch his friend during one of his concerts there. Videos and photos of Payne grooving to Horan’s music were extensively shared at the time. While addressing the meeting, he had only met him weeks prior to the news, Horan recalled “I’m glad of that, it means my last memory of him was happy.”
Niall Horan says that he was in disbelief
At the time, he also weighed in on when he learned of his close friend’s passing. He shared that he did not believe it at first and was in complete denial. “It still feels surreal. On day one, I was, like, ‘Nah, it didn’t happen.’ Our friendship was a bond that was there forever, even if we hadn’t seen each other for a while, and it’s wild that one day, like the flick of a switch, he’s gone,” he continued.He also added that he keeps Liam alive in his memories by thinking of their shared times and memories. “When I think of Liam’s passing, there is sadness, but it also makes me laugh and smirk because of the memories we had,” Horan said. “I’ll go to places and think of something stupid in a hotel or something random that makes me laugh,” he shared during the interview.
Niall Horan released a tribute track to Liam Payne
As a part of his latest album, Horan also released a tribute track for his fellow bandmate, titled ‘End of an Era.’ Talking about how Payne would have loved the song, he shared that “I think it’s his type of song. He liked Coldplay. He loved songs like ‘You & I’ by One Direction, songs that went somewhere.”Louis Tomlinson also released a song titled ‘Dark to Light’ that he specially dedicated to the late singer. In an earlier interview on the ‘Zach Sang Show’, Tomlinson talked about the song and stated that “Those type of songs should be completely open to interpretation because I do think they have power to heal. So I wouldn’t want to over-explain anything like that. People will find what they need in that kind of feeling, you know.”Liam Payne passed away at the age of 31. He reportedly fell from a third-story hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2024.
