Some fans of One Direction are finding community in online spaces dedicated to the boy band in order to process the death of former member Liam Payne
CW: This article contains sensitive content, including references to death, mental health and domestic abuse allegations.
On Oct. 16, Liam Payne, former One Direction superstar, died unexpectedly at the age of 31 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The news of this tragedy spread rapidly, aided by the internet and its billions of users.
Coping with loss of any nature is complex and can look completely different from person-to-person, and the internet platformed some of the many diverse understandings of Payne’s death.
It wasn’t long before social media platforms were filled with content related to Payne’s death. Grieving fans went to TikTok to express their devastation and posted videos soundtracked by One Direction songs, attracting thousands of comments. The official Instagram account for One Direction posted a statement signed by former bandmates Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Harry Styles, which received significant international attention, especially from fans seeking community in sadness and disbelief.
The announcement of Payne’s death sent shockwaves through the internet, awakening online fan spaces that had not seen this level of activity since One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, one year after member Zayn Malik announced his departure from the band.
TikTok posts and Instagram Reels were filled with video compilations titled “One Direction being unintentionally funny for 1 minute straight,” “Iconic Liam Payne moments” and others like these. All five of One Direction’s studio albums re-entered the Billboard 200 this October.
There’s no denying the impact One Direction had on both the music scene and pop culture in the early-mid 2010s. The boy band founded its start on “The X Factor,” a British reality TV competition, in 2010 and experienced a hugely successful international career that consisted of five studio albums and four world tours over the span of five years, showing the magnitude of their fame.
The rise of social media use in the 2010s contributed to fans’ virtually unfiltered access to the band’s members. Hundreds of hours of One Direction content exists on the internet. Video diaries, archived live streams, behind-the-scenes interviews, press conferences, private recording sessions and One Direction’s full-length movie titled “This is Us.” Unsurprisingly, this lack of privacy and ceaseless contact with the public was unsustainable.
In the eight years that have passed since the band announced it would be taking a break, each of the former members have embarked on vastly different solo careers. But seemingly no one has mentioned One Direction in an interview or on social media as much as Payne.
Many of Payne’s devoted fans, some of them decades-long Directioners, were committed to supporting his solo endeavors. Judging a person’s actions when a majority of their career was observed under the spotlight can be a complicated process, which fans and internet onlookers alike demonstrated after his death.
A number of controversies surrounded Payne’s image within the past couple of years, including domestic abuse allegations and some insensitive, dismissive remarks made online regarding mental health toward a former bandmate.
Internet users showed that understanding the complicated relationship between Payne and his past became even more occluded upon his death. How does one grieve for a beloved role model responsible for shaping the music and pop culture of the 2010s? Should Directioners remember Payne as they knew him to be or as they know him to be? Does giving fans the right to grieve perpetuate the dangers of parasocial relationships exacerbated by the lack of boundaries between fan and celebrity on the internet?
The internet had a wide array of responses to these difficult questions in the comment sections of different TikTok posts.
“Ugh my heart keeps breaking over and over imagining the demons he’d been fighting for years. Rest in peace sweet boy,” one TikTok user wrote.
“This is the weirdest form of grief I’ve ever felt,” another user said in a comment.
“No one understands but OG Directioners, this is agony,” a TikTok comment said, attaining over 14,200 likes.
“I’m mourning One Direction not Liam himself really,” one user said, offering a different perspective.
“An abuser is still an abuser regardless,” another TikTok commenter said, referencing the domestic abuse allegations against Payne.
These conflicting ideas show there is no correct way to process grief, especially for a celebrity. No matter how close Payne’s and One Direction’s music made fans feel to the artists, his death will be felt heaviest by those who knew him personally. For the public to consider, Payne left behind more than just his music, he left behind a complex reputation that was shaped by his choices both in and out of the limelight.
For tens of millions of followers, One Direction was the soundtrack of the 2010s. That inner Directioner might always live somewhere inside of them, which is why Payne’s death was difficult for many. As fans navigate grieving the loss of a transformative role model, they also may be grappling with the consequences of memorializing Payne as an idealized version of himself.
How does one cope with the overlap of these ideas?
Both online and real-life communities might have the answers. Grieving Directioners are finding comfort in sharing cherished memories with each other as they honor the joy a beloved band brought them.
The Blue Note, a dance and music hall located in downtown Columbia, hosted “A Night for Liam” on Friday, Nov. 8, inviting attendees to celebrate Payne’s legacy with “a night of [their] favorite 1D anthems.” It seems that finding community in reflecting on nostalgia can create an atmosphere for healing the One Direction fan at heart.
Edited by Alyssa Royston | aroyston@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Avery Copeland and Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com
Edited by Emilia Hansen | ehansen@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com