Niall Horan’s new album Dinner Party is coming out in June, and one of the songs, “End of an Era,” was inspired by the death of his bandmate Liam Payne, who died at 31 following a fall from his hotel balcony in Argentina on Oct. 16, 2024.
Speaking to GQ, Niall recalls that he and Liam met up in Buenos Aires earlier that October when he was on a South American tour. “It was great,” recalls Niall. “[Liam] seemed in good form and we had a good laugh, good reminisce.” Liam stayed in Buenos Aires while Niall resumed his tour, which ended Oct. 9. Niall got the news of Liam’s passing just days after he got home.
“I just remember getting a message. And I was just like, What?… I just didn’t think it was real,” Niall tells GQ. “Someone so young, you’re not expecting to hear that they’ve passed, especially someone that you’ve just seen. I just went back from shock to sadness to anger.”
Niall tells GQ some of his fondest Liam memories, including when they shared a room during the bootcamp part of The X Factor.
“I just got to know him a little bit and then we ended up doing what we did together,” he recalls. “Memories that only he and I can share ’cause you have a team and you have people around all the time, but we always said that only us have that experience, no one else has that.”
According to GQ, on “End of an Era,” Niall sings, “We had it/ Pure magic/ Remember what it was like/ Time passes/ So fast and/ I couldn’t tell you goodbye.”
Dinner Party is due out on June 5.
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