Harry Styles has said the death of his former One Direction bandmate made him rethink his career in the music industry.
The singer, 32, admitted the shock of Liam Payne’s death aged 31, after he fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina, was “a really important moment for me in terms of taking a look at my life”.
Styles, who is preparing to release his fourth studio album – titled Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally – on Friday, also said that his friend’s death was something he struggled to discuss.
Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, he said: “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 honour your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest.”
The British singer and actor added: “I think what has been interesting is kind of allowing myself to even have that thought process.
“I think for a long time even having that conversation with myself, I thought like, ‘Oh, you’re so ungrateful, like how can you ever think about deciding not to do it?’, and stuff like that.”
However, he admitted that “even the idea of talking about” Payne’s death made him “struggle”.
Styles explained: “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 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 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.
“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. It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great.”
The pair were catapulted to fame as part of One Direction – often shortened to 1D – on the television show The X Factor in 2010 and went on to have a string of hits worldwide and five chart-topping albums before splitting up in 2016.
For a time, they were the world’s biggest pop band, and after they split, they all went on to have solo careers to varying degrees of success.
Payne was 17 when the band came second on The X Factor, having been put together by the music impresario Simon Cowell.
The other members – Niall Horan, Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik – were also all teenagers at the time.
It emerged after his death that Payne had allegedly blamed being in One Direction for his mental state just minutes before he died. One witness to his behaviour prior to the fall claimed to MailOnline that the singer told them: “I used to be in a boy band – that’s why I’m so f----- up.”
Styles has said that his new album was inspired by moments when his favourite artists had to “discover themselves” and where they were vulnerable.
He said that his time out between his new album and previous record Harry’s House from 2022 allowed him to reflect on his career as he turned 30.
The singer added: “I’ve always had the conversation with myself about if I ever checked in with myself and was like, ‘I don’t love it, it’s not fun anymore’, then I kind of just made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t do it.
“I don’t think it’s fair in a lot of ways. I don’t think it’s fair to me, I really don’t think it’s fair to the fans for me to not do it, [not] really be there anymore, but doing it because it’s just what I’ve always done.”
The full interview can be heard on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show.