One Direction was the internet’s first boy band, and Liam Payne was its founder

Liam Payne’s voice is the first you hear in the debut single from culture-changing boy band One Direction: ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ starts with a bouncy guitar riff, a cheeky and borderline unnecessary cowbell and then, Payne.

“You’re insecure, don’t know what for / You turn heads when you walk through the door,” he sings, in a few words that assure a cross-section of generations that he’s got your back, girl, and you should give yourself a little more appreciate.

Payne, who died Wednesday after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, at the age of 31, was also the final solo voice on the band’s latest single, “History,” which capped the monolithic series of one of the biggest boys was effectively opened and closed. bands of all time.

While the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear — Buenos Aires police said in a statement that Payne “jumped from the balcony of his room,” though they did not provide details on how they determined that or whether it was intentional — in life Payne was a crucial part of the internet’s first boy band, a band that carved an indelible place in the hearts of millennial and Gen Z fans.

FILE – This is a Friday, December 12, 2014 file photo of One Direction singer Liam Payne as he performs with the group on stage during the ’40 Principales Awards 2014′ ceremony at Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid, Spain. | Photo credit: ABRAHAM CARO MARIN

Before One Direction became One Direction, the members auditioned for Great Britain The X factor individual. The jury decided to place five promising, but not yet excellent, boys in a group. Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Payne finished joint third in the 2010 competition.

If Rolling stone editor Rob Sheffield points out that it was an ‘unprecedented’ way for a boy band to get started.

“They were kind of assigned to be together. And you don’t expect to live long in that situation. To be honest, you don’t even expect one good pop record to come out of that situation,” he says. And yet, not only did it work, but One Direction essentially created “a new template for pop stardom, basically.”

FILE – Louis Tomlinson, from left, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and Liam Payne arrive for the world premiere of ‘One Direction: This Is Us’ at Empire Leicester Square in London, August 20, 2013. | Photo credit: IAN WEST

The show allowed Day 1 fans to follow their career before their official launch in 2011 with “What Makes You Beautiful.” Emerging fans could use emerging social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr to find a community, draw attention to the group and, in the early days, talk directly to the members.

“I honestly made a Twitter so I could follow One Direction, and that’s how I made so many different friends,” said Gabrielle Kopera, 28, a fan from California who remembers the band hosting livestreams and chats. “Sometimes they would say something back and that was so nice. I feel like that interaction with fans doesn’t even happen anymore.

That sense of accessibility enhanced the group’s personality and its relationship with fans, says Maura Johnston, a freelance music writer and adjunct instructor at Boston College.

FILE – One Direction’s Liam Payne performs during the Honda Civic Tour at Qualcomm Stadium on Thursday, July 9, 2015 in San Diego, California | Photo credit: rich rage

“The fact that they were brought up on this British TV program and became a global phenomenon, I don’t think it would have happened so acutely, quickly and compellingly without social media, without Twitter or without people being able to mobilize. the whole world,” she says.

The Millennial and Gen Z crowd practically grew up with One Direction, but the band was truly ubiquitous. That, says Johnston, is at least partly due to the fact that we have found ourselves in a very different media environment than today.

“It was much more focused,” she says of early 2010. “The algorithmic sorting of things hadn’t really taken off yet. So there was a broader, massive approach. …They were one of the last gasps of that mass phenomenon, which everyone of any age, even if they weren’t fans, had to take note of.

But it takes more than ubiquity to cultivate a loyal fan base. And there were countless reasons why listeners were drawn to One Direction. “They were five very different musical personalities, along with five very different personalities,” says Sheffield.

They also broke the rules of traditional boy bands: “They wrote a lot of their songs together. They didn’t do any corny, choreographed steps on stage,” he said.

After news of Payne’s death, Kopera says she’s “received so many messages from people I haven’t talked to in years because I think everyone realized it feels like we just lost a family member.” That sentiment was reflected in the crowds of fans who gathered outside the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, feeding a budding makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and banknotes as police stood guard.

Fans mourn at a memorial honoring former One Direction singer Liam Payne after his death outside the Casa Sur Hotel on October 17, 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. | Photo credit: Marcos Brindicci

“I’ve always loved One Direction since I was little,” said Juana Relh, 18, outside Payne’s hotel. “To see that he died and that there will never be another reunion of the boys is unbelievable, it hurts me.” Payne was a “gloomy” older brother type in One Direction, says Johnston. He also co-wrote many songs, especially in their later career, such as the Fleetwood Mac channeling ‘What A Feeling’ and ‘Fireproof’.

“He was the founder of the band,” says Johnston.

In an Instagram tribute, Tomlinson called Payne “the most vital part of One Direction.”

“I always remember him being the responsible and sensible one of the group, and I feel like he wore his heart on his sleeve,” says Kopera.

Payne had recently spoken out about his struggles with alcoholism, posting a YouTube video in July 2023 saying he had been sober for six months after undergoing treatment. Buenos Aires police said they found clonazepam – a central nervous system depressant – and other over-the-counter medications in Payne’s hotel room, along with a whiskey bottle in the courtyard where he was found.

“When you look at what happened to Liam, it just makes you feel sadder, that it feels like he needed help,” Kopera said. “And it’s so scary to think how the entertainment industry can just eat artists.”

After One Direction split in 2016, Payne’s solo career – a single R&B pop album in 2019, ‘LP1’ and a few singles here and there – never took off like some of his bandmates. He was “the least successful,” says Sheffield. “It’s safe to say that under the terms he went for, he didn’t really find what he wanted to do.”

“It’s hard to go from boy bander to pop star,” says Johnston.

At Payne’s solo shows, Sheffield explains: ‘He showed a little montage of One Direction performing, which is something you don’t do when you start out as a solo artist. But fans took that in the spirit in which it was offered, which is a very generous statement that he’s saying, ‘Yes, you’re here because of this history that we share, and I’m here because of that same history.’

Despite Payne’s struggles and the tragedy of his death, Kopera is confident that “his legacy will always point back to One Direction.”

The same applies to fans.

“When I look back at One Direction, I think: that was my childhood. One Direction was the soundtrack to growing up, and I’m so grateful for it,” she says. “It was really just a group of normal guys.”