The reunion people have been waiting to happen for a decade may no longer be possible. At least, not in the way fans had originally imagined it.
On October 16, former One Direction star Liam Payne’s death at age 31 shocked the world. Having fallen from a hotel balcony in Argentina, autopsies show him having been under the influence of drugs at the time of his death. To twist the knife even deeper, Payne was in Argentina visiting former One Direction bandmate Niall Horan’s concert on October 2.
One Direction’s legacy and Liam Payne’s role in the influential band remains in the hearts of former and current fans worldwide today. For those who grew up during the band’s peak fame from 2012-2014, it is even easier to remember what a great impact the band had on the pop industry at large. Although he may not have been the face of the treasured band (this role belonged to bandmates like Harry Styles or possibly Zayn Malik) Liam Payne was without a doubt the heart. Credited for co-writing over half of One Direction’s songs, Payne had one of the strongest vocal ranges at the time of the band’s origin on reality competition show X-Factor.
Despite being younger than half of the band, Liam Payne was like an older brother to his bandmates. Zayn Malik stated, “even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible” when referring to Liam in an Instagram post dedicated to him the day after his heartbreaking passing. Malik caused tension in the group several months before the rest of the band’s indefinite hiatus by leaving the band in 2015 due to stress and wanting to start a solo career. Nonetheless, any bad blood that may have followed has surely gone away since, as the bandmates now gratefully all seem to be on relatively good terms with one another. Similarly to Malik, fellow One Direction members Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson took to Instagram for similar tributes to the loss of a forever-cherished bandmate and dear friend.
As mentioned, fans had always kept the possibility of a One Direction reunion in their minds and hearts. This hope was based on the fact that the band’s split was never determined to be final by any of the former members. In fact, the November 2015 responses from the band to hiatus rumors claimed that they were just going on a break to pursue individual projects. The lack of closure makes the pain of Liam’s death all the sharper, because now how could a reunion ever happen now without him? It could never be the same, and many fans have expressed how wrong a reunion would now feel.
Even though Liam’s solo career didn’t show much success on the charts, that doesn’t change the undeniable talent Payne has and the impact he has had as a singer, songwriter, father, and true friend. He will always be remembered, missed, and looked up to. Even now, it is still difficult to believe he is gone. As One Direction once sang, “Does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes?”
