Harry Styles says he struggles to speak about former bandmate Liam Payne’s death

By Casey Cooper-Fiske, Press Association Senior Entertainment Reporter

Former One Direction star Harry Styles has said he struggles to speak about the death of bandmate Liam Payne.

It comes as the 32-year-old prepares to release his fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally, on Friday, which he said was inspired by moments when his favourite artists had to “discover themselves” and where they were “vulnerable”.

Asked about Payne’s death by Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Styles said: “Full transparency, it’s like something that I, 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. It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great.

“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. Like super special person and really sad.”

Payne died at the age of 31 in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina, and the boyband’s surviving members, Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik, reunited at his funeral alongside former manager Simon Cowell in November that year.

Styles said that his time out between Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally, and previous record Harry’s House (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.

“And 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.”

The full interview can be heard on Apple Music’s The Zane Lowe Show.