Liam Payne’s voice opens the debut One Direction single, his face the primary to obtain a close-up in its music video. After 5 teenage boys are proven horsing round on a Malibu seashore for a number of seconds, the shot dissolves into Liam’s excellent coif, his unbuttoned shirt, his disarming smile. He turns to the facet in the course of the opening line — partially to re-establish his smolder, but in addition to forged apart any doubts. “You’re insecure,” Liam sings, waves crashing behind the 17-year-old singer, his eyes readjusting to satisfy the world. “Don’t know what for.”

“What Makes You Beautiful” helped One Direction, a boy band from the U.Ok. that fashioned on The X Factor, begin off a smash upon its 2011 launch, as an excellent pop debut with pinpoint melodies, power-pop manufacturing and fast flashes of persona from its 5 members. Yet whereas Harry Styles caught the touchdown on the stripped-down bridge, Zayn Malik oozed emotion within the second verse, and Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson showcased their respective charms in slow-motion music video photographs, Liam’s opening verse adopted an ultra-confident stance that was essential to the track’s tone.

His voice was sturdy, and deep past his years — “Being the way that you are is enou-u-ugh,” he sang with utmost certainty, as the ultimate syllable quietly echoes upward to arrange his 1D bandmates with larger registers. The opening verse shouldn’t be the flashiest a part of the track, however its refined supply helped unlock what was to comply with. It’s what made Liam indispensable; it’s what he would do in One Direction for years to come back.

Payne died on Wednesday (Oct. 16) on the age of 31, a tragic loss for anybody who felt related to the rocket ship of One Direction’s international stardom and invested in Liam as an integral a part of that whirlwind of success. Over the course of the group’s 5 studio albums, One Direction’s sound congealed to create a few of the most satisfying common music of the 2010s — from the plucky pop of debut album Up All Night to the arena-rock riffs of Midnight Memories to the sun-kissed sing-alongs of Made within the A.M. — as their worldwide reputation exploded. And inside that sonic evolution, Liam turned himself into the group’s jack of all trades, a gracious utility participant who may sing excessive when wanted, complement his bandmates, and uncork a lead vocal filled with verve and energy.

There are loads of situations of Liam commanding the highlight in a One Direction hit, from “Best Song Ever” to “Steal My Girl” to “History,” and because the group graduated to the most important venues on the planet, he demonstrated a capability to carry out to monumental crowds whereas sustaining an assuredness and affability that made each stadium present appear downright intimate. The tradition that 1D created over their run prioritized inclusion, and by no means talked right down to their youthful followers; Liam was a key a part of reimagining the longstanding boy band mannequin as a extra international, social media-savvy and finally extra accessible pop phenomenon.

And because the group’s members began gearing up for solo careers past One Direction, Liam turned a extra prolific co-writer, and contributed to a few of the group’s strongest late-period materials. After co-writing songs like “Story of My Life,” “Diana,” “Little Black Dress” and “Right Now” on 2013’s Midnight Memories, Liam helped mould One Direction’s most full album, 2014’s Four, with credit on top-notch songs like “Fireproof,” “Clouds,” “Fool’s Gold” and “No Control,” amongst others. After co-writing six songs on 2015’s Made within the A.M., Liam had established himself as a inventive presence within the studio — which might assist information him as he ventured into post-1D work within the late 2010s, on his personal for the primary time since coming into The X Factor after which being grouped with 4 different teen boys.

“To be honest with you, I wasn’t going to do a solo venture,” Liam advised Billboard in 2017, forward of the discharge of his debut solo single, the rhythmic pop track “Strip That Down” with Quavo. “I was just going to go into songwriting and carry on and do that. But then I was like, ‘You’ve been trying to do this since you were 14 years old. You would be ridiculously stupid to turn down the option to have a deal.’” And Liam delivered on that deal: “Strip That Down” reached the highest 10 of the Hot 100 and have become a prime 40 radio staple for months on finish.

Liam saved collaborating with different pop personalities (Zedd, J Balvin, Rita Ora) whereas exploring hip-hop, R&B and dance music; his 2019 debut, LP1, was presupposed to obtain a follow-up within the close to future, following the discharge of the one “Teardrops” earlier this yr. As we bear in mind Liam following his tragic demise, we should additionally mirror on a musical journey that was lower far too quick, with questions on what he would have continued pursuing as a solo artist, in addition to any additional collaboration along with his One Direction mates, now left unanswered.

Yet in the identical means these opening six phrases of “What Makes You Beautiful” nonetheless echo in our brains greater than a decade after they rolled off of Liam’s tongue, One Direction’s affect on fashionable common music can’t be forgotten — and Liam’s function in creating that seismic shift was indispensable. In methods giant and small, he helped chart the course of a quintet that took over the world, a workforce participant who was instrumental to the group’s basis. One Direction’s music was all the time going to dwell on and attain future generations, however upon this unhappy event, Liam’s place inside that music needs to be celebrated.