Backstreet Boys‘ AJ McLean has revealed that he’s heard Liam Payne‘s unreleased music, calling it “a great body of work” – see what else McLean had to say below.
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Next week (July 9), Netflix will release the first block of episodes for the music competition Building The Band. The competition series filmed over the summer in 2024 and features Liam Payne, The Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child as judges, while AJ McLean hosts.
The series was in post-production when Liam Payne tragically died in October after a fatal fall from a third-floor balcony at the CasaSur Palermo Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Argentine prosecutor’s office later revealed that the 31-year-old’s cause of death was due to multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding.
Speaking to Today about Building The Band, McLean shared that he had already known the former One Direction star ahead of filming for the series but only got close during its production as they were spending time “with each other 12 to 14 hour days for about five weeks”.
“He lit up any room that he walked into, whether it was the makeup room, dressing room, on set. Wherever he was, he lit up that space with his energy, with his open heart, open mind,” McLean said of his late co-star. “He was just so well spoken, very supportive, rigorously honest, in a compassionate way. He always spoke from the heart.”
Later on in the chat, McLean revealed that Liam Payne had played some of his unreleased music for him prior to his death: “I thought it was a great body of work. And I hope that the world and that the fans get to hear it somewhere down the road. It’s beautiful, beautiful music.”
Just days before Liam Payne’s death, it was reported that his anticipated sophomore solo album had been delayed. His last release was the March 2024 single ‘Teardrops’.
As for Building The Band, Netflix shared in a press release that his family “reviewed the series” and supported it being released as planned – it was reported in January that it would still be going ahead. The first four episodes of the show will be released on Netflix on July 9, with episodes five to seven and eight to 10 coming out on July 16 and 23 respectively.
