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Liam Payne seemed unsure of who he was – but the brutality of fame denied him the chance to find out

One Direction were the canaries in the coalmine of social media stardom – and Payne’s tragic death should give us pause over the welfare of today’s pop stars

Though a commercial hit, it was throwaway, trend-chasing filler, without the resonance of Payne’s best work with 1D – the life-affirming exuberance of Steal My Girl, for example, or the almost elegant restraint of Night Changes and Fireproof. But having experienced that level of fame and adoration, it takes a strong sense of self to recognise when the rewards are not worth the costs, and young people who come of age in the public eye don’t get much chance to develop it. It’s hard to escape the sense that when Payne’s stock fell with the release of his disastrous, lone solo album, 2019’s LP1, he was cut loose and left to flail – by his fans, as much as the music business.

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