The X-Factor manufactured boy band One Direction, which Zayn Malik and Liam Pane were members of. Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan were also a part of the group
Zayn Malik’s relationship with Liam Payne was tumultuous over the years, but in the wake of Liam’s death, it seems that Zayn has put that all to the side.
The Pillowtalk singer opened up about his relationship with Liam in his post dedicated to his former boy bandmate, with the tribute being very telling and very honest. Zayn admitted that Liam was his “brother,” even though they were both “opinionated” and “butted heads” from time to time. Zayn seemed to subtly address the well-known feud between the two as their rifts have been well-reported on since they met when they were teens on the 2010 season of The X-Factor.
The X-Factor manufactured the hit boy band One Direction, which Zayn, and Liam were a part of alongside Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan.
A little over a week ago, the Steal My Girl singer took to Instagram to speak on Liam after the latter’s fatal fall off of his hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In the past, there was some tension within Liam and Zayn’s relationship ( Image: Getty Images)
Liam sadly died last month ( Image: WireImage)
“Even though you were younger than me you were always more sensible than me,” Zayn wrote. “You were headstrong, opinionated and gave no f – -ks about telling people they were wrong. Even though we butted heads because of this a few times, I always secretly respected you for it.”
Zayn confessed that Liam was one of the One Direction group members he was the closest to after he abruptly left in 2015, admitting that they remained in contact via phone. However, there still seemed to be some underlying tension despite their public comments about each other.
Liam heated things up in 2022 when he was a guest on Logan Paul’s podcast. During his appearance, Liam made some shady remarks about Zayn, claiming that he had different reasons to “dislike” him. Problems arising within One Direction began surfacing in March 2015, the year that Zayn announced he would be leaving 1D so he could be a “normal” 22-year-old. He wanted to be “able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.”
Zayn then turned around and inked a solo deal with RCA Records, and slyly shaded his ex-band on then-Twitter.
“I guess I never explained why I left, it was for this moment to be given the opportunity to show you who I really am! #realmusic #RCA !!,” he wrote. That same year, when speaking to GQ, Liam told the news outlet that Zayn didn’t even say good-bye before he departed One Direction. This further fueled the narrative that Zayn’s departure wasn’t done politely.
“I think with Zayn’s particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven’t really heard from him since he left,” Liam told GQ. “He didn’t even say goodbye, if I am being honest. It was a really sordid scenario, from our side certainly. A bit strange. It’s difficult.”
Zayn also told Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast that along with wanting to jumpstart his solo career, there were “underlying issues within our friendships too.” He added: “We’d got sick of each other if I’m being completely honest. We had been together nearly every day for five years.”
