Niall Horan has revealed that he rewrote the lyrics to his new song “End of an Era” following the death of his former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne.
The Irish singer, 32, said the song was originally intended to be a nostalgic reflection on the passing of time.
However, he returned to the lyrics along with songwriters John Ryan and Julian Bunetta after they learned that Payne had died after falling from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina in October 2024. Payne was 31.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Horan says: “We wrote ‘End of an Era’ about four times, because originally the song to me meant, ‘All right, we’re moving on.’ Looking forward to the future, looking back on the past with nostalgia, being happy with what you had, excited for what’s going to happen.”
He continued: “We’d written that song a long time ago. And then it was like, ‘No, we need to return to this,’ after Liam passed. John and Julian lived next door to Liam for a long time, and we all grew up together. For the three of us, it was actually quite a crazy experience to have to write a song like that, because you don’t ever expect to.”
Horan added that he wrote the lyrics with Ryan, recalling: “I remember myself and John stepping outside at the studio and writing these lyrics for 20 minutes. We started again and still had the chorus. Just a very weird experience for us all, but something that we all felt like we had to do for ourselves, for anyone who’s lost anyone, for the fans, for anyone that knew Liam. It felt like the right thing to do and something that we wanted to do — just terrible that we had to.”
He added that the song is intended as a celebration of Payne’s life, because “all of my memories are happy.”
Horan said: “We were talking about it when we were writing it. All of our memories are traveling the world, messing around, having fun, and being teenagers. I don’t have negative memories. It felt liberating to write about.
“I think that comes across in the song. The first verse is quite sad, but then it’s like, ‘Remember all the good times we had.’ It’s got a bit of both in it. I love how it starts off as one type of song and then it turns into a different type of song. It also reminds me of some of the 1D stuff.”
The song will be the twelfth and final track on Horan’s new album Dinner Party, which is set to be released June 5. This marks his third solo album since One Direction broke up in 2016.
One Direction became a global phenomenon after the boy band formed on The X Factor in 2010, before going on an indefinite hiatus in 2016
Read MoreLouis Tomlinson unfollows Zayn Malik after rumored altercation: report
Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson in alleged bust-up on Netflix set
LeAnn Rimes reschedules concerts due to severe illness: ‘I am truly heartbroken’