-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email Every member of One Direction had a role. Harry Styles was the cheeky one. Zayn Malik , the mysterious one.
Niall Horan was the nice, Irish lad. Louis Tomlinson was the class clown. Leaving Liam Payne as the sensible, responsible one.
Payne, the resident leader of the quintet, is the first of the millennial-aged group to die, in a sudden tragic incident in Argentina. The 31-year-old pop star died on Wednesday, Oct. 16 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.
When the harrowing news broke Wednesday evening, shockwaves reverberated through the music industry and the One Direction fandom. Reports from Argentinian police said that Payne "had jumped from the balcony of his room," with no clarifying insights about the incident, The Associated Press reported . As millions of Directioners across the world mourn Payne, his troubled persona has been peeled back, indicating that the former embattled child pop star’s international success and acclaim had weighty ramifications not only for his mental health but also his privacy — or lack thereof — even in death.
Related Liam Payne, former One Direction member, dead at 31 The birth of the British-Irish boyband bulldozed 2010s music with infectious pop melodies and vocal-driven performances, bringing back an international frenzy around boybands that hadn't made the American crossover since Beatlemania . The band was also named Billboard's 22nd Greatest Pop Stars of the 21st Century fo.