Niall Horan’s new album includes a song about the death of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.
The Irish singer, 32, said he wrote “End of an Era” about the moment he learned that Payne had died after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2024. Payne was 31.
“I just remember getting a message, and I was just like, What?” Horan recalled to GQ Hype in an interview published Thursday. “I just didn't think it was real.”
Payne’s sudden death came two weeks after he and Horan had spent time together, which Horan said contributed to his shock.
“Someone so young, you’re not expecting to hear that they’ve passed, especially someone that you’ve just seen,” Horan told the outlet. “I just went back from shock to sadness to anger.”
The “Slow Hands” singer said that in the aftermath of Payne’s death, he saw “lots of photos and videos and things of us growing up together” in social media tributes to Payne, which made him feel “nostalgic about it straight away, along with fear and sadness and all the stuff that comes with grief.”
After attending Liam’s funeral alongside his former bandmates — Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik — Horan said he “went into hiding a little bit” to process his grief, which is when he wrote the song.
According to GQ, “End of an Era” opens with Horan singing: “We had it / Pure magic / Remember what it was like / Time passes / So fast and / I couldn’t tell you goodbye.”
The song is the twelfth and final track of Horan’s new album Dinner Party, which is released on June 5. This marks his third solo album since One Direction broke up in 2016.
One Direction became a global phenomenon after the boy band formed on The X Factor in 2010, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016
Horan recalled his last conversation with Payne in a tribute shared to his former bandmate after his death.
“I’m absolutely devastated about the passing of my amazing friend, Liam,” Horan wrote at the time. “It just doesn’t feel real.“Liam had an energy for life and a passion for work that was infectious. He was the brightest in every room and made everyone feel happy and secure.” He added, “We got to live our wildest dreams together and I will cherish every moment we had forever.”
Horan reflected in his tribute about seeing Payne for the last time, writing, “I sadly didn’t know that after saying goodbye and hugging him that evening, I would be saying goodbye forever. It’s heartbreaking.”
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