Liam Payne was found dead on Oct. 16 after a fall from his hotel balcony during a getaway in Buenos Aires, leaving fans stunned. Recently, his dedicated fan base has banded together to commemorate Payne and his successful career.
Payne rose to fame at 16 years old in 2010 after returning to the hit UK vocal competition “The X Factor.” Payne first appeared in the 2008 season but was sent home by creator Simon Cowell to give him time to grow as a person and singer. During his return, Payne joined the boyband One Direction, which soon topped the charts worldwide and became a household name.
During his time with One Direction, Payne and his fellow members – Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – released five albums and went on four world tours. The One Direction craze made them one of the biggest boybands in history, comparable to The Beatles. Unfortunately, the boyband went on an indefinite hiatus in Jan. 2016 after Malik announced his departure from the band on March 25, 2015. Following the breakup, Payne and the rest of One Direction moved on to their solo careers.
Payne continued his successful music career by releasing his debut single “Strip That Down (feat. Quavo),” amounting to over 1 billion streams for his first song as a solo artist. For many years after, Payne continuously released successful music that kept his name in the media and his fan base powerful.
Unfortunately, throughout his music career, Payne experienced a lot of mental health challenges due to his quick rise in fame, the laborious work he put in while in the band and the fall-off from the hiatus. He struggled with addiction throughout his time in One Direction which followed him into his solo career. Payne was on and off with his sobriety and sadly, it seemingly caught up to him in recent months.
Following the singer’s death, newly released information shows the list of substances Payne had in his system before his passing. The partial autopsy revealed drugs such as pink cocaine, cocaine, crack and benzodiazepine in Payne’s system at the time of his death, according to ABC News. Pink cocaine, also known as Tusi, is a party drug made up of a mixture of various substances. These substances include 2C-B, ecstasy and ketamine.
Although Payne had substances in his system, the autopsy report shows the cause of death to be from his fall from the third-story balcony of his hotel. NBC News reported
the fall from the balcony resulted in 25 injuries authorities have said were “incompatible with life.” NBC News continued and said the Argentina National Prosecutor’s Office stated the cause of death to be due to “polytraumatism, internal and external hemorrhage.”
Payne was in Argentina with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy to support former bandmate Niall Horan on his tour “The Show: Live on Tour.” Payne and Horan had a long-awaited reunion following the concert, snapping a picture to commemorate the moment. Horan recalled in his Instagram post to Payne he never could have imagined that would be his final goodbye to the old friend.
“I feel so fortunate that I got to see him recently. I sadly didn’t know that after saying goodbye and hugging him that evening, I would be saying goodbye forever,” Horan wrote in his Instagram post. Just 14 days after Payne and Horan’s reunion, Payne was reported dead, shattering the hearts of family, friends and fans across the globe.
The remainder of Payne’s former bandmates – Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson – took to Instagram as well to share their grief in these devastating times. Tomlinson, who was always the closest to Payne, wrote, “I wish I got [the] chance to say goodbye and tell you one more time how much I loved you. Payno, my boy, one of my best friends, my brother, I love you mate. Sleep well X.” Tomlinson also wrote in defense of Payne, “And for the record, Liam was in my opinion the most vital part of One Direction.” This shocked fans as it followed the immense amount of backlash Payne received in the last few years.
Lately, fans have held Payne accountable for egotistical actions they have deemed self-absorbed. This led to an uproar of hate toward the singer online, which many have now blamed for his passing. One notable moment was in the video collaboration between Payne and Logan Paul, released on May 31, 2022, on YouTube. Within this video, Payne said, “Part of the reason One Direction was made was because of Simon’s promise to me that, ‘In two years, I’ll make this work for you’,” Payne continued, “So he kind of started with my face and worked around…” Millions of fans were rubbed the wrong way when they heard this, with many feeling it discredited the rest of the One Direction members.
Footage released by The X Factor UK on YouTube showed the original member of One Direction was Horan, not Payne, and that the band was created by judge Nicole Scherzinger. Millions of fans defended Payne, however, saying he may have been convinced of this by Cowell himself.
To add to the hate Payne was getting, ex-fiance Maya Henry posted a video to her TikTok page on Oct. 6 accusing Payne of harassment and calling out unacceptable behavior just 10 days before his passing. Henry stated in her TikTok video that Payne said he would “prey on One Direction fans because they will always be loyal to him, and they won’t tell on him.” Henry continued to claim Payne could “get away with anything” due to his fame. She posted multiple other videos attacking Payne and accusing him of abuse in the days leading up to his death and has since gone silent.
Fans are left torn on how to mourn the loss of a member of the biggest boy band of this generation due to the accusations that have come to light, yet millions of people are grieving over the sudden and unexpected loss of the once beloved singer and heartthrob.
Ashley Greco can be reached at [email protected].
