In his final performance in 2022, singer and One Direction member Liam Payne played a stripped-back set at a private venue in London. During the show, Payne — who died on Wednesday after falling from a third-floor balcony while in Buenos Aires, Argentina — went through a few of his solo hits before covering an acoustic version of Justin Bieber‘s “Love Yourself.”
Payne showed off his vocal technique alongside his guitar player as he sang the hit from Bieber’s 2015 album Purpose. The song, which was written by Ed Sheeran and reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, also holds special significance since Payne had previously spoken about the friendly competition between Bieber and One Direction. On Nov. 13, 2015, both acts released major projects on the same date: Purpose came out, as did One Direction’s Made In the A.M., leading fans to feud over which album would land at Number One in the charts. Bieber added fuel to the fire by uploading a video on Snapchat making a scared face and joking, “That face you make when you come out with an album on the same day as Justin Bieber.”
Payne revealed years later that he and Bieber ended up talking and squashing any beef. “Me and Justin had a really long chat once in his trailer,” Payne told Mirror Online in 2019. “I went in to say to him: ‘It’s all good. You don’t need to do whatever.’ And then we had a really long chat, and he’s a really nice kid.”
Later, in 2022, he cleared up tension while speaking to Logan Paul, sharing how much he related to Bieber. He said that during their chat in the trailer, he told Bieber that he always felt for him because the pop star had to contend with fame on his own, while Payne had his bandmates to turn to for support. The cover of “Love Yourself” seemed to be another sign of the respect Payne had for Bieber and his music.
Payne released his solo debut album, LP1, in 2019 and hit the road around that time. However, he played less frequently around 2021, and the private acoustic set in 2022 is listed as his final show on Set List FM. Throughout his career as a solo act, Payne also worked with artists like Quavo, J Balvin, French Montana, and more.
