Liam Payne’s Best Moments in One Direction

In the 2013 classic “Story of My Life,” a hit he co-wrote, Payne sings the most bruised lines alone: “She told me in the morning she don’t feel the same about us in her bones/It seems to me that when I die these words will be written on my stone.” As in so many 1D songs, the boys tell the story together, tossing the mic back and forth. In the video, there’s a childhood photo of Payne posing with his family, then morphing into the adult Payne, gazing into the mirror as he sings the key line, “Although I am broken, my heart is untamed still.” It’s a moment that encapsulates everything people loved and connected to about him. —R.S.

Payne was known for taking his role in the band extremely seriously, even though he was still just a kid when One Direction was getting started. In One Direction’s This Is Us documentary, he admitted that his no-nonsense approach to the group meant he butted heads a lot with Louis in particular, who was often full of mischief. The other guys took to calling him “Daddy Direction,” a name that stuck. “He’s the daddy you trust to book your holiday,” Louis quips in a clip from the film. Later, Zayn jokes that Payne was eventually corrupted and became just as goofy as the rest of his bandmates.—J.L.

Payne, born Aug. 29, 1993, happened to share a birthday with none other than the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. During One Direction’s first stadium tour — 2014’s “Where We Are” — Payne marked the serendipitous coincidence at their Aug. 29 gig at Chicago’s Soldier Field, when he broke out into a cover of Jackson’s 1987 Bad hit, “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and absolutely nailed the high notes. Payne had definitely been prepping for this moment as well: A few weeks prior in Philadelphia, as Louis Tomlinson was introducing the band, 1D’s keyboardist and musical director Jon Shone started playing the lead riff of “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and Payne — already donning an MJ-esque fedora — didn’t miss a beat as he jumped into the cover. “Liam, was that rehearsed?” Tomlinson asked after. “It was,” Payne quipped. “Jon comes up to my room late at night and we dance and stuff, you know. It’s not a big deal.” —J.B.

One Direction’s cover of the Wheatus classic “Teenage Dirtbag” became a concert staple during their 2012 Take Me Home Tour, and the moment was immortalized for everyone to see in This Is Us. (One clip from the film that shows the band performing the song has a whopping 26 million views.) Unexpectedly, the song ended up fitting perfectly into the 1D repertoire — and one of the best parts has to be when Payne leverages his falsetto power to hit the high-pitched “girl” lines. —J.L.

Just after the group had been put together on X Factor, a newly formed One Direction performed in the famed Judges’ House round, eager to advance to the show’s live competition. The guys were nervous — Louis had gotten stung by a sea urchin earlier that day and almost missed the performance — but they eventually got it together enough to sing a rendition of Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn” for Simon and British-American singer Sinitta. Though it’s often remembered as one of Harry’s early vocal showcases, Payne set the mood and helped the band find their footing by kicking off the first verse. —J.L.

Right before One Direction went on hiatus in 2016, the boys packed into James Corden’s Range Rover for an iconic “Carpool Karaoke” session on December 15. When The Late Late Show host tried to steal the show by hitting the high note at the end of the chorus in “Best Song Ever,” Payne held his own against Corden, matching him note for note and trilling off while Styles and Tomlinson were stupefied by Corden. “I just feel like we’ve really hit upon something unbelievable,” the host tells them after pleading, “I don’t know about you, but I think you should rethink this hiatus.” —M.G.

During One Direction’s run, Payne quickly established himself as one of the group’s most prolific songwriting contributors, especially once they started working with producers/writers Julian Bunetta and John Ryan. Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2020, Ryan and Bunetta recalled working on a beat at a hotel room in Manchester one night. Payne was there too, and after getting up to use the bathroom, he returned singing a melody with some mumbled words but one distinct phrase: “Better than words…” A few hours later Payne came up with an idea for the tune, “What if the rest of the song was just lyrics from other songs?”

“Songs in general, you’re just sort of waiting for an idea to bonk you on the head,” Ryan said. “And if you’re sort of winking at it, laughing at it — we were probably joking, ‘What if [the next line was] “More than a feeling”? Well, that would actually be tight!’” —J.B.

Payne was front and center as when One Direction took the stage for BBC’s Live Lounge and covered the star-studded “FourFiveSeconds.” The singer’s soulful vocals were the perfect fit for 2015 single from music legends and icons Paul McCartney, Rihanna, and Kanye. The rendition only gets better, with Payne’s delicate harmonies rounding out Styles’ powerhouse chorus. “It’s been a big song this year, so we wanted to do our little version of it,” Horan said of the band’s decision to reimagine the hit. —M.G.

James Corden always excelled at getting One Direction to do the goofiest things, whether it was roping them into a risky game of tattoo roulette, or getting absolutely obliterated in a game of dodgeball. The latter segment from 2015 remains a hilarious highlight as 1D suit up as “Corden’s Angels” and face off against the “Ball Busters.” In an early interview, Payne deadpans, “We’ve got a great coach, a great team captain in James… I’m extremely honored to be here today and grateful to be a part of the team.” It’s a proclamation, however, Payne would inevitably come to regret later after a game one loss prompted a scathing rebuke from coach Corden in the locker room. In an effort to sharpen their reflexes, Corden tries out a series knock-knock jokes — “Who’s there?” “A ball in your face!” — leaving the goofiest iteration for Payne. “Knock-knock?” “Who’s there?” “Are you interested in joining the Mormon church — a ball is in your face, concentrate, Liam!” —J.B.

During an interview, Payne was asked what era he would want to leave in, and his answer became an instant meme. “Dinosaurs, mate,” he answered quickly. The quick quip tickled his One Direction bandmates, who started laughing and teasing Payne on the spot, but it also spawned off jokes and even T-shirts among hardcore One Direction fans. Payne’s love of dinosaurs was an endearing quality that came up several times with the band. —J.L.

It doesn’t seem like a particularly easy task to convince four teenage boys famous for their heartthrob status to appear in one of their music videos looking, well, ridiculous. But for their 2013 hit “Best Song Ever,” One Direction members took the challenge to new heights, all dressing up to poke fun at clueless music executives and management teams. While Zayn Malik as a sultry secretary cleared the prize for most unrecognizable, it was Payne as a bleached-blonde peppy dance director that did the most with the least. Immediately, he launched into the role of a deranged choreographer with instructions for each member: “Zayn, pirouette, and Louis, do the splits.” But the final comment was the best: “Liam, you stay exactly where you are because you are perfect.”  —C.J.

During the On the Road Again Tour in 2015, Payne and Louis Tomlinson regularly interrupted their heartstrung ballads and splashy pop singles with water fights. As Tomlinson prepared to sing his “Little Things” verse at a Toronto show, Payne poured a full sized water bottle down Tomlinson’s pant leg. Fans squealed when Tomlinson emptied a bottle over Payne’s head at a Milwaukee show and laughed as Payne returned the favor pouring a bucket over Tomlinson’s in the lead up to “Drag Me Down.” The water wars became a staple along their tour, as Payne and Tomlinson took turns soaking each other in between, during, and after songs. Oh, how I miss Payne’s boyish antics. —K.R.

Of all the phobias known to man, it was rumored that Payne had a phobia of spoons. The Adventurous Adventures of One Direction 2, an animated short created by Mark Parson, pokes fun at Payne’s fear of the oval-shaped utensil. The 30-minute clip begins with the band at a breakfast table chowing down on taco-shaped cereal. When Harry Styles offers Payne a bite, he darts under the table. What follows is a “Be Our Guest”-inspired montage where dancing spoons haunted him as he slept. In interviews, Payne has denied having a spoon phobia, telling a UK radio station in 2015,  “I’ll hold one. But I don’t like eating with them, if they’re not my spoons.” His distaste for the eating utensil stemmed from having to wash the school cutlery as a punishment for bad behavior. “I had to wash all these nasty spoons and then it’s just stuck with me after,” Payne continued. “I don’t know what people are doing with their spoons, I don’t want to know!” —K.R.

Beyond Payne’s singing and songwriting abilities, the One Direction band member was a certified goofball. As he closed out the European leg of the On the Road Again Tour, Payne slipped into a banana-shaped costume and bedazzled glasses as he thanked the fans for their support. Despite calling the costume “outrageous” and “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever worn,” Payne kept the costume on as he led the quartet into “Little White Lies,” off of Midnight Memories. —K.R.

One Direction were always brilliant at madcap slapstick comedy, in the mode of the Beatles in A Hard Day’s Night or Help! One of their funniest romps: their 2013 charity video for Comic Relief, doing Blondie’s “One Way or Another” (with a bit of the Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks”). Payne steals the show, juggling two opposite roles that suit him perfectly: the grouchy grandpa and the cherubic doe-eyed innocent. (He’s veering between Paul’s grandfather in A Hard Day’s Night and Davy Jones in The Monkees.) He gives serious Liam Power Frown when he finds Zayn snoozing in his hotel bed, or when Niall won’t stop singing in the shower, shaking his head in disgust. But he’s also a blithe kid as he rides the airport escalator in the grips of four female flight attendants with evil grins. He looks a trifle nervous. —R.S.

Like so many One Direction classics, “History” was a Payne song, from Made in the A.M. It was their final single — a U.K. hit that didn’t even make the Top 40 in the U.S., with joyful handclaps and guitar. It felt like a self-conscious farewell, with Payne singing the key lines, “All of the rumors and all of the fights / We always find a way to make it out alive.” But he stunned fans by busting out “History” in his 2018 solo shows, singing it with a video montage of One Direction. (With his early-days fluffy hair, Liam looks disarmingly like Rick Danko from The Band.)

His performances are intensely emotional, especially at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend festival in Swansea, Wales. “Who wants to sing ‘History’ with me?,” he asks. He sings all his mates’ parts, even Harry’s falsetto at the end. He’s still a kid — just 24 — but the yearning in his voice is undeniable. He needs the crowd to assure him they’re still holding on to that history, along with him—and they do, loudly. What a testament: Payne looking his fans in the eyes and promising, “We can live forever.” —R.S.

“Night Changes” is one of the most beautiful songs Payne had a hand in writing as well as singing. It’s a showcase for his romantic side, rooting for a fearless girl who sneaks out in her best red dress, looking for adventure in the night. “Driving too fast, the moon is breaking through her hair,” Payne sings. “She’s heading for something she won’t forget.” Like most One Direction songs, it’s pure girl worship — you can hear it in his falsetto sighs after the chorus. —R.S.