Liam Payne’s second solo album remains in limbo.
The former One Direction singer – who tragically passed away last year aged 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina – didn’t get the chance to release the record prior to his passing and a decision on whether to bring out the album posthumously has been put on hold as the star’s family continues to grieve.
A source told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: “Liam was really proud of that second album, but the label was concerned he wasn’t in the right headspace to release it. Ultimately, this led to them going their separate ways.
“The whole record is really emotional and feels almost autobiographical. It’s the most personal body of work Liam ever wrote and recorded.
“People who have heard it say that, lyrically, it is on par with some of Lewis Capaldi’s work, but that sonically it’s upbeat.
“Liam wanted that record to be released. He wanted to share it with his fans who had always supported and backed him.”
The album – a follow-up to his 2019 solo debut LP1 – includes the poignantly titled track Safe In Heaven and the song Rainbows, in which Liam sings about “searching for a way back to myself”.
It features the lyrics: “I got all these rainbows over my head, but somehow all these rainbows over my head, but sometimes I see the sun creeping out the mess.
“At times I tend to blur lines, seemed like a good idea when I did at the time. I blacked out but coming back around.”
Meanwhile, Liam’s One Direction bandmate Louis Tomlinson says the star’s tragic death last year has “completely put a pin in” the prospect of the Best Song Ever group getting back together.
He told Steven Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO podcast: “Never say never, right, but I’m just not sure it would be right to him [Liam].
“Say for the sake of argument, 25 years’ time, it’s like a f****** Oasis thing, they offer us an arm and a leg, and they’re like, ‘Come back and do this many shows’, I don’t know.
“It’s just completely put a pin in all of that.
“And the irony is, there was no one campaigning for One Direction to get back more than Liam. I would say I came in a close second.”