Pop
Niall Horan says writing Liam Payne tribute End of an Era helped him process grief
Niall Horan says turning End of an Era into a tribute to Liam Payne was “therapeutic”, revealing he rewrote the song in ten minutes after his bandmate’s death.
Niall Horan has said that writing his Liam Payne tribute track End of an Era helped him finally confront emotions he’d been avoiding since the former One Direction star’s death.
Payne, 31, died after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina in October 2024. Horan explained that the song, featured on his latest album Dinner Party, originally had nothing to do with his bandmate - but revisiting it after the tragedy made the title take on new meaning.
Speaking to Canadian TV show etalk, Horan said: “It was therapeutic because I didn’t write about it for the whole time I made the album - probably just trying to push it to the side.”
He added that once he sat down to rewrite the track, the words came quickly: “It took me ten minutes to write the lyrics… I knew what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.”
Horan said he didn’t want the tribute to feel overwhelmingly heavy, stressing that the song needed to reflect both sadness and the joy of their shared history.
He explained: “It’s a sad song and it’s nostalgic, and it’s got a bit of both in it.
“If it’s too much of a downer it wouldn’t make sense. It’s very sad but I also have very happy memories, and I wanted those two emotions in there - it had to feel uplifting as well.”
