Entertainment

Liam Payne Gets Honest About Harry Styles' Music

by Mathew Jedeikin
Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

It seems like once being in a band together does not mean as much as you might think. One Direction member Liam Payne is not a big fan of Harry Styles' solo music. Payne recently spoke to Music Choice and shared his thoughts about his former bandmate's recordings outside of One Direction, and though he had nice things to say about Niall Horan, when discussing Styles' new music, Payne got a little shady. Not only did he share his "honest" opinion about Styles’ Sign of the Times, but he suggested that Styles might reciprocate his dislike.

"I heard the rest of the boys' debut songs," Payne told Music Choice. "Obviously Niall had 'Slow Hands' out and he had 'This Town', which is great, and Niall’s gone down the singer-songwriter route, which is really cool."

But when it came to Styles' music, Payne didn't have as nice of things to say. The singer said,

"Harry’s song I heard, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s not my sort of music. It’s not something I’d listen to, but I think he did a great job of doing what he wanted to do. That’s the way I’d put it best, I think."

Sounds a little rude, right? Especially considering how similar his critique was to the statement fellow former One Direction member Zayn Malik made about the band shortly after leaving it. "That’s not music I would listen to,” Malik said back in 2015 about his decision. "I want to make music that I think is cool sh*t."

Payne continued to discuss Styles, and said,

“And I think the funny thing is, he would say the same thing about me because he doesn’t really listen to hip-hop music where it's like my song's more 'Rack City' and his song is more of a different era to something I’d listen to, I guess."

First of all, yes — you read that correctly — Payne totally compared himself to Tyga. Like, what? And second, is it just me or does "of a different era" sound like a read? I feel like in the interest of keeping things civil Payne should try to be more encouraging of the work his former bandmates are doing — at least in public. Just look how the ladies of Destiny's Child are always showing up to support each other. I think Payne could learn a thing or two from Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle. Just sayin'.