Liam Payne Reveals The Honest Advice He’d Give His Younger Self During One Direction Fame

Liam Payne had joined One Direction more than a decade ago with his fellow band members Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson on the X-Factor.

The singer recalled when the group first formed and shared the advice he would like to give himself when he was young. In an interview with Glamour U.K., he shared how he thinks having more fun and relaxing a bit was something he would tell himself.

He shared that he was a serious child and he was a man in a child’s body way long ago. The former One Direction band member said, “I think I was a very serious child, one of those man-childs, I was a man in a child’s body pretty early on. And I think I would have avoided that stage, to be honest with you. To enter One Direction was that difficult because it just meant that I got completely a different job to everybody else.”

Liam explained that he should have been around and thrown more plates out of the window. He was asked if this meant more rock and roll but the singer clarified that he means at the start and then later on a little less of rock and roll. The singer and his bandmates were just teenagers when they rose to fame. From then, they had to grow up in the public eye which was not that easy.

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“It was kind of out there for everyone to see; the awful haircuts and we’re talking terrible clothes, it was all out there.”

The artist explained that they all went through their awkward teen phase where one is just finding themselves. He shared that most of them got to get away with it. He explained, “And most of us, we get to get away with it. And they’re funny family photos for later on; here was your emo phase or whatever you went through! And for us, we never got away with being awkward or annoying at points. It was kind of out there for everyone to see; the awful haircuts and we’re talking terrible clothes, it was all out there.”

One Direction had released hits during their time together which included What Makes You Beautiful, Steal My Girl, and Story of My Life. But in 2015, Zayn announced that he is separating from the band. This led Liam, Nial, Harry, and Louis to move ahead with their band.

Liam talked about the lessons learned from the journey which he said was a great deal about measuring success. He shared that it evolved from being a “monetary thing” to being more about happiness and experiences and failures. The singer explained that it taught him that perseverance will always prevail. He said, “It’s taught me I think that perseverance will always prevail in that sense. Because it doesn’t always go exactly to plan. We were really lucky when we came up, we absolutely skyrocketed. And then, it’s been hard to follow that ever since.”

The musician further admitted that he tries hard not to play the comparison game. He shared that this also includes measuring a failure. The singer shared that for them sometimes getting 100,000,000 streams isn’t what they aimed for. But it is still 100,000,000 streams and one has to get hold of themselves.

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“Everything is about perspective at the end of the day, isn’t it?”

Liam said, “But you know, measuring a failure as well. What is a failure? And people will look at this and, for us sometimes getting 100,000,000 streams isn’t quite what we aim for, but it’s still 100,000,000 streams….you have to kind of get a hold of yourself. Everything is about perspective at the end of the day, isn’t it? That was something I struggled with for a long time, because of how well it went [for the band.]”

The singer is currently focusing on his career as a solo artist like the rest of his former bandmates. He has released various hits including Strip That Down, and Bedroom Floor. The musician is also a father to 4-year-old son Bear who he welcomed with his ex Cheryl Cole back in 2017. He is now engaged to Maya Henry.

Liam revealed that he still keeps in touch with a few of his bandmates. He shared that Louis has always been quite great to sit and talk to him about stuff. The musician explained that if he is feeling a certain way, they have been quite good to each other. He said that they help each other out in that aspect which he describes as “nice”.

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