Liam Payne has spoken out about his time in One Direction. View the interview below.
Speaking to Logan Paul on his Impaulsive podcast, Payne discussed his time in the five-member group and at one point shared that he was the most successful soloist of the band after the group disbanded in 2015.
“We did the first song…a billion streams,” Payne said on the podcast. “I think it outsold everybody within the band and I was the last to go, and I never expected that.” Though he mentioned he’d outsold his former bandmates many online noted that, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan have all had No. 1 songs on the Billboard 200. Payne’s album ‘LP1’ peaked at No. 111 on the Billboard 200.
Payne also discussed arguments and issues within the group when they were still together. He told Paul that one former bandmate “threw me up a wall” adding that he told this unnamed person “If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.”
The singer also discussed allegations that Malik had attacked Gigi Hadid’s mum, saying that there are “many reasons why I dislike Zayne,” before adding that there are “many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.”
He continued: “If I had had to go through what he went through, his growth and whatever else… My parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times. Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.”
Earlier today (June 2) Payne took to Twitter, to apologise for his comments on the podcast.
“Guys – I wouldn’t normally comment on this stuff when it’s your family it’s hard to let it slide,” he wrote. “They mentioned a specific incident involving Zayn which I responded to but listening back maybe I didn’t articulate myself as well as I could have.”
Guys – I wouldn’t normally comment on this stuff but when its your family it’s hard to let it slide.
They mentioned a specific incident involving Zayn which I responded to – but listening back maybe I didn’t articulate myself as well as I could have.
— Liam (@LiamPayne) June 2, 2022
He continued: “I was saying that there will always be things we disagree on but that I will always, always be on his side. That’s family. Zayn is my brother and I will stand by him forever.”
Meanwhile, Payne’s former bandmate Styles recently made chart history with his album ‘Harry’s House’. In addition to recording 2022’s fastest selling album in the UK, Styles achieved the rare feat of simultaneously holding the number one album and number one track (‘Harry’s House’ lead single ‘As It Was’) in a number of countries.
‘As It Was’ has been the US number one single for four weeks, with three additional songs also in the top 10, and every song on the album in the top 30. The only other act with four concurrent top 10 singles in the US is The Beatles, who achieved this in 1964.