Fans Debate Liam Payne's Claim That One Direction Was Created Because Of Him
One Direction fans refute the claim.
Featureflash Photo Agency | Shutterstock In an interview on Logan Paul's 'Impaulsive' podcast this week, singer Liam Payne made some comments about his former band, One Direction, that has fans debating on if they are true or not.
Payne opened up about many things, including sharing the true origin story of One Direction, which dated back to his rejection on 'X-Factor' two years before the group was formed, on a later season of the show, by Simon Cowell.
He described the feeling of dejection after being eliminated from the top 24 in 2008, and how he and his mother had dinner with Cowell afterward, where the judge told Payne that he had true talent but needed to return to school and mature before getting his real shot at fame.
Two years later, Payne was rejected from the show as a solo artist but was combined with other ex-soloists to form One Direction.
Liam Payne claimed One Direction was built around him.
"We got kicked off, all of us, and then me and Niall [Horan] were about to get the train in Houston and this woman came running behind us and was like, ‘Yo, please come back, the judges want to speak to you,” Payne detailed.
“And they’d already done this to me once, so I was like, ‘What the… are you gonna mess with my emotions some more? I’m already crazy enough thank you very much.'"
Payne continued, saying that the show's producers picked out members of the band "and from what I’ve heard is that part of the reason One Direction was made was because of Simon’s promise to me that in 2 years I’ll make this work for you,” he shared.
“So he kind of started with my face and worked around the rest… I was the honorary member of One Direction and he told me that story himself at his house.”
Upon hearing Payne's testimony, many fans expressed their thoughts on his comments, writing them under a Reddit post titled "Area man Liam Payne implies One Direction was built around him. Thoughts?"
"Well they definitely thought he would be the breakout star of the group (that’s why his vocals dominate the 'Up All Night' album). But that shifted pretty quickly as the fans made clear how much they loved other members," one user wrote.
Another user added: "I did work in a store for tween girls when 1D was huge. We sold some of their merch - t-shirts, journals, miscellaneous [merchandise] with their faces plastered on them - and the Liam-themed merch for sure always sold the least."
A third user wrote: "Honestly I never got into them myself, but a bunch of my friends [were] into 1D, and Liam was not the one any of them were into. I honestly keep forgetting his name and face, and thought he was the Kevin Jonas of the group"
Payne also described rifts that happened while the band was still together, detailing one incident where he and an unnamed member were in an argument backstage before that band member "threw [Liam] up a wall."
“‘If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again,'" Payne said of his response to the incident.
The former boyband member also spoke of his apparent dislike for Zayn Malik, telling Logan Paul that there were "many reasons" he disliked Mailk, but also “many reasons” why he’ll “always, always” be on his side.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.