Harry Styles says Liam Payne’s death has made him live life to fullest

Harry Styles has revealed the death of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne prompted him to reevaluate his own life. 

In a new interview, the singer, 32, spoke out about Liam’s death for the first time and described the pressure he felt about expectations of how he should grieve after Liam died aged 31 in 2024. 

Liam tragically passed away after falling from a third-floor balcony at a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Harry appeared on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show to talk about his upcoming fourth studio album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally and admitted he still struggles to talk about Liam’s death. 

He said: ‘Even the idea of talking about it, I struggle with that a little bit even. 

‘I think there was a period when he passed away where I really struggled with kind of like acknowledging how strange it is to have people kind of like own part of your grief in a way. I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away.

‘And then suddenly being, you know, like aware of there’s maybe like a desire from other people of you to convey that in some way, or it means you’re not feeling what you’re feeling or something, you know?

‘It’s so difficult to lose a friend. It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways.’

Harry said he saw Liam as someone who had the ‘kindest heart who just wanted to be great’. 

He continued: ‘It was a really important moment for me in terms of taking a look at my life and being able to say to myself, “OK, what do I want to do with my life? 

‘How do I want to live my life?” And I think the greatest way you can honor your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest. Like super special person and really sad.

Harry was part of one of the most successful boybands in history alongside Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam.

The group announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016, with each member going on to launch a solo career.

Harry immediately found his feet after the collapse of One Direction, signing a huge record deal with Columbia – who represented One Direction – in 2016. 

His career went from strength to strength with multiple Grammy and Brit awards and his net worth soaring to £175million. 

Meanwhile, Liam achieved early commercial success with his debut single but he struggled to maintain the same momentum as his bandmates. 

He released only one full studio album before his death and was dropped by his record label Universal Music just days before his passing. 

Originally signed to Sony as part of One Direction, Liam penned a deal with Capitol Records, a label owned by Universal, in July 2016 when he launched his solo career at just 22 years old.

Harry said he wanted to take a nearly four-year hiatus to assess his life as a musician and whether it was still a passion or had just become a job.     

He said: ‘I was turning 30 and I wanted to take a break and assess, I think. 

‘I didn’t want to just roll straight into another process of making something and I thought it was time to just, honestly, like make sure I still loved it.

‘I was obviously really lucky to be able to stop for a second and kind of do that, but it’s a good thing to have moments where you’ve done something for a long time to kind of stop and check in with yourself about, “do I do this because this is what I’ve been doing for a long time, or do I do this because I really love it?”

‘I don’t think that’s about being ungrateful because it’s so obviously amazing.’ 

Elsewhere in the interview, Harry said he had to have a ‘real, honest conversation’ with himself as to where he saw himself in five years after watching three of his closest friends get married.

The singer revealed he wants to get married and start a family – as his relationship with actress Zoë Kravitz, 37, goes from strength to strength. 

Harry’s new outlook on life was influenced by watching his friends tie the knot. It inspired his song American Girls, which is off his upcoming fourth studio album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. 

He said: ‘I think the song to me is like, it’s actually quite a lonely song in a lot of ways. I watched my three closest friends get married. 

‘And actually seeing them trust in something and risk something to find something truly fulfilling, in a way that isn’t as like shiny and on paper as exciting as like, you know, watching them get married. I was like, I’m single, so I’m having all the fun.

‘And American Girls is actually about watching them get married and like, you know, there just is a magic when you find the right person that you want to be with. 

‘But I think watching them do that.

‘It’s like being truly vulnerable with someone, like sharing a life with someone like that. 

‘Having the time to stop and assess all of it and really look at my life from a bird’s eye view and go, “what do I actually want in my life?” Like, I have all these things around me all the time. It’s hard to pull those things in without making space for them.’