One Direction was famously assembled by British producer Simon Cowell after he saw Payne and four other talented young men – Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan – audition for the UK version of “The X-Factor.” Individually, they weren’t good enough, Cowell thought. Together, it turned out, they were a sensation.
Called 1D by their fans, they became a global phenomenon as the first group to have its first four albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Their massive fanbase, nicknamed Directioners, propelled the pop group to more than 50 million records sold before the members parted ways to pursue solo careers. They were known for songs like “What Makes You Beautiful,” “Best Song Ever” and “Story of My Life.”
Payne has spoken previously about the mental weight of fame. “I don’t think I struggle in the sense of what you would naturally think of when I’m walking down the street with every person stopping me,” he told Esquire Middle East in 2019. “I mean, it happens sometimes but it’s mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It’s the getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed.”
Malik was the first to depart the band in 2015. The others followed suit. Payne released his first solo album in 2019 titled “LP1.” Last year, he announced plans for a new album and tour that were later postponed after Payne suffered a kidney infection.
He had been open about past struggles with substance abuse and talked about being six months sober in a video shared on YouTube in summer 2023. “It’s good to be in this position,” he said at the time. “I definitely don’t need those things anymore. The party’s over.” He also thanked his former partner Cheryl Cole, with whom he had a 7-year-old son named Bear, for giving him the “freedom” and support to get well at the time.
Last spring, Payne released the song “Teardrops.” “I always think in pictures as much as I think in sounds when I’m making music,” Payne said in a video of him recording the song. “The feelings that these chords and different things give me, everyone of these songs is a story from my life.”
