Harry Styles speaks out on Liam Payne’s death: ‘I really struggled’

Harry Styles has reflected for the first time on the death of Liam Payne, sharing how it is especially ‘difficult to lose a friend who is so like you’.

The One Direction star died aged 31 in October 2024 after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

At the time, his former bandmates released a joint statement on the loss before penning individual farewells to their ‘brother’.

Since then, Louis Tomlinson has gone into further detail about the emotional impact, revealing it was Niall Horan who informed him of the death.

Harry has now shared that he still ‘struggles’ to talk about Payne, who he first met on X Factor when the singers were just 16 years old.

‘Full transparency, it’s like something that I, even the idea of talking about it, I struggle with that a little bit even,’ he confessed on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show podcast.

Harry explained how he wasn’t able to ‘acknowledge how strange it is to have people kind of own part of your grief in a way’.

While he had lost a friend, the world had lost a star and fans very publicly grieved Payne alongside those who knew him in real life.

There was also intense pressure on the former group to speak out and to share insight into their own emotions as they paid tribute to him.

Harry continued: ‘I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away. And then suddenly being aware 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?’

Reflecting on Payne’s death for the first time in an interview, he told Zane: ‘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.

‘It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great.’

The shock death left Harry wondering what he wanted to ‘do with his life’ and whether he was living how he really wanted to.

His discussion about Payne came after Zane asked about artistry and music, ahead of new album, Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally.

The Aperture singer shared that he loves when he can hear an artist ‘discover themselves’ and are being ‘vulnerable’.

‘Choosing the song that is meant just for me to work through something, I think it becomes something important when you choose to let people look at that,’ Harry mused.

‘I think the thing that makes someone like an artist is letting [fans] watch you be an ordinary person,’ he continued. ‘It’s not about being, “I am this mystic thing”.

‘I think the difference is we’re all ordinary people and there’s some people who let other people watch you be an ordinary person. And I think that is kind of the key in a lot of ways for me, anyway.’

Zane replied that he thought of Payne as Harry spoke and others who ‘ struggled to get out of extraordinary situations’.

The As It Was singer called Payne a ‘super special person’, adding the loss was ‘really sad’.

‘I think the greatest way you can honour your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest,’ he added.

This came in the form of travel for Harry, with the star embarking on a year of travel and side quests around Europe.

He told Zane how he just said yes to a lot (and no to some things) and made a group of new friends with the whole experience giving him a fresh outlook on life.

‘It just has changed the way that I’m experiencing life,’ Harry said. ‘This album is such a wonderful byproduct of that because I was recording while all this was happening, and I was exploring all that.

‘I think also just being in a place in my life where I’m like, if I put this album out and everyone decided they hated it. Would I be sensitive about it? Yes, I would. Would it make me doubt who I know myself to be as a person? No, it wouldn’t.’

Harry Styles’ new album Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally is out on March 6. His full interview on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show is out now.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: I was at the Brit Awards 2026 – here’s everything you didn’t see

MORE: Noel Gallagher stony-faced alongside Harry Styles and Robbie Williams on sombre Brits red carpet

MORE: What time are the Brits 2026, who is performing, and where to watch?