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The proof Liam Payne really was ‘the most vital part’ of One Direction
One Direction singer Liam Payne died on Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 31-year-old dad-of-one was in the South American country after seeing his former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan in concert just days earlier.
Tributes have poured in from across the world of music and showbiz, as the likes of Zayn Malik and Ed Sheeran have both expressed their grief over Payne’s loss.
In among the messages, his former bandmate and songwriting partner Louis Tomlinson has called the Strip That Down hitmaker ‘the most vital part’ of One Direction.
He continued: ‘Liam was in my opinion the most vital part of One Direction. His experience from a young age, his perfect pitch, his stage presence, his gift for writing. The list goes on.’
Here are seven times that Payne shone through One Direction’s career.
What Makes You Beautiful (2011)
Thirteen years ago – after finishing third on the 2010 series of The X Factor – One Direction launched their pop career with debut single What Makes You Beautiful.
The song went straight to number one in 2011 and immediately became a staple of early 2010s playlists. The accompanying music video also summed up that era’s fashion better than any other.
But of the five boys in One Direction, it was Liam Payne who first introduced them to the world, singing their debut song’s opening lines: ‘You’re insecure, don’t know what for / You’re turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or.’
From there, the only direction for the young lads was up, scoring another three UK number ones as they became one of the biggest boybands in the world.
At the time of writing, What Makes You Beautiful has spent more than a year in total on the UK charts, with a massive 78 weeks inside the official top 100.
With over 1.5billion views on YouTube and 1.3bn Spotify streams, the song is still One Direction’s defining hit for an entire generation of kids who grew up with their music.
Gotta Be You (2011)
With their debut single proving to be a huge success on both sides of the Atlantic, sceptics still wondered whether One Direction would just be a one-hit-wonder.
Gotta Be You was the song that put down the marker. The song that confirmed One Direction were here to stay, reaching number three in the UK charts – only being held off top spot by Rihanna and Calvin Harris’ We Found Love.
And who did songwriters August Rigo and Steve Mac turn to for the first verse again? You guessed it: Liam Payne.
A softer, much slower song than What Makes You Beautiful, Gotta Be You sees the boys begging that special girl for one more chance, admitting that there’s no one else quite like her.
Payne, along with Harry, Niall, Zayn, and Louis, returned to The X Factor stage a year after reaching the final to perform the song before a live studio audience.
Taken (2011)
After the buzz of What Makes You Beautiful and Gotta Be You, it was time for the boys of One Direction to record an album – Up All Night was released in November 2011.
Coming off their success on The X Factor, the group’s music was largely overseen by a team of writers and producers assembled by their manager, Simon Cowell.
However, midway through their debut album – on track number eight, titled Taken – something happened for the first time that would feature more and more across their five albums together.
Taken marks the first time, chronologically at least, that the five boys wrote a song together. And just like on What Makes You Beautiful, it was Payne’s job to bring the song in with the first verse.
In his statement Louis called Payne ‘an incredible songwriter’, adding that he had a ‘great sense of melody’ and celebrating the ‘chemistry’ they had while writing for One Direction.
Diana (2013)
As the boys in One Direction grew up, songwriting duties were given to them more and more, with Payne and Louis Tomlinson striking up a great partnership.
And the first example of this partnership came on track three the band’s 2013 third studio album Midnight Memories – the song in question is Diana.
While the five lads all wrote songs together on Up All Night and second album Take Me Home, it took until album three for Payne and Louis to write a song without Zayn, Harry, and Niall.
Speaking about the song at the time, Louis said: ‘We [were] working with a few different names for the chorus, and the top name originally was Joanna.’
However, the pair hit a snag while writing the lyrics: ‘Joanna is actually quite close to my mum’s name,’ Louis added. ‘So it felt a little weird – we changed it to Diana.’
Diana was also co-written by Julien Bunetta, Jamie Scott, and John Ryan, who helped Payne and Louis with their first steps into regular pop songwriting.
Steal My Girl (2014)
On Midnight Memories, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson began to form a songwriting partnership of their own, with Zayn, Harry, and Niall continuing to focus on singing duties.
And it was in 2014 that something special happened: it was time for One Direction to write a lead single and opening track for their fourth studio album, titled Four.
The song in question was Steal My Girl, which reached number three in the UK and made its way up the US charts as well, and got one of One Direction’s best-remembered music videos (starring Danny DeVito).
In the credits for Steal My Girl, however, Payne and Louis were credited as lead songwriters for the first time, ahead of the group’s regular collaborators.
Steal My Girl eventually sold over one million units and is currently certified 2x Platinum in the UK as of 2024, making it one of the band’s most successful songs.
Illusion (2014)
Payne began writing One Direction songs as part of the whole group on Up All Night, before quickly establishing a good chemistry with Louis Tomlinson.
But it wasn’t long before Payne was putting songs forward to the band that he’d written without them, working with their frequent collaborators and away from the other four.
The song was written about Payne’s relationship with his high-school girlfriend Sophia Smith, with the singer admitting at the time: ‘There’s a song on the album that’s completely about Sophia – it’s called Illusion.’
While Payne didn’t write the lyrics for the song (penned by Julian Bunetta), he is the only One Direction member credited with forming the song’s overall structure and melodic content.
Illusion, which was included on the expanded Ultimate Edition of Four in 2014, also features Payne on lead vocals during the verses.
History (2015)
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And 2015 studio album, Made In the A.M., proved to be One Direction’s very last, with the group announcing their split in 2016.
Zayn had already left the group eight months before its release, with Payne now accompanied by Harry, Niall, and Louis, who carried on for another year without the Pillowtalk singer.
And how appropriate it was that History, the final track on the album, should finish One Direction’s career the way it was started by What Makes You Beautiful: by having Liam Payne sing alone.
Just as he introduced the world to One Direction, Payne also said goodbye on behalf of the group, singing ‘Baby, don’t you know? We can live forever’ to close the song, the album, and the boyband’s day in the sun.
Appropriately, the song was co-written by Payne and Louis, along with some help from Julian Bunetta and John Ryan, who had been part of the One Direction family since the very start.
The song was also released as the band’s last ever official single, with the music video showing highlights from their time on The X Factor as teenagers.
In his Instagram statement on Thursday, Louis lamented that he’ll never get to work with his old friend ever again, saying: ‘I wish I got chance to say goodbye and tell you one more time how much I loved you.’
He also mentioned that the pair had been planning to head back into the studio together at some point: ‘We often spoke of getting back in the studio together to try and recreate the writing chemistry we had built up in the
METRO