Liam Payne

‘Fell’ from a balcony aged 31 after being in the news this week for some domestic trouble .

Poor sod

News reports understandably keeping things vague until after an autopsy has been completed.

 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1wnxp970pdo

Shocking news. In the nicest way I can mean this, I hope it was a fall (as opposed to taking his own life).

It seems like he probably had a rough couple of years after becoming a bit of a figure of ridicule after a few awkard podcast appearances where he came off as arrogant, as well as the reaction to those videos at the concert last week.

I did think that the level of memes and cringe videos that were coming out were basically bullying en masse, and then he was accused of incessantly harrassing an Instagram model which was going to result in legal action. 

Can't imagine what his children must be going through. Horrific. 

He seems to have been quite a troubled man. Talent and success don’t buy happiness, unfortunately. Tragic however it happened.

RIP :(

I think it should play out as a cautionary tale to parents who want their kids to become rich and famous. A real shame. RIP. 

Apparently had mental health issues and substance abuse issues, along with being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. Poor guy.

jonnyburgo said:

I think it should play out as a cautionary tale to parents who want their kids to become rich and famous. A real shame. RIP. 

Agreed. Also - there should be more focus on educating potential future "stars" of show business in relation to money, how to handle fame, surround yourself with trusted people and/or professionals to create a network of support for mental health side of it. 
Something similar exists in American sports where in the past there's been plenty of young athletes, who quickly acquired fame and millions and either ended up tragically or broke within years of ending their professional careers. 

RIP young man, I seriously hope it was just a tragic accident. 

A tragic loss of a young life, whatever the reason for his death. He's from my neck of the woods, so along with his mental health struggles and adhd complications (and being afflicted by supporting the same football team) I feel some specific sympathies with the poor guy. Even though I wouldn't typically feel very aligned to a pop/boy band singer but with well known figures it's sometimes easy to collectively forget they are human beings first and foremost, fame, talent, success, money, are all just constructs and fleeting ones at that - remove these decorations and a fellow human being remains, and keeping that side of you going takes more work and maintenance that a lot of people realise until it's too late. I've seen the mocking memes and "jokes" on social media and have seen the various news reports, that sort of thing is often the sign of a potential upcoming problem (see also Caroline Flack) and just adds to whatever emotional stress he was already under. As Telemaster said, kind of felt like bullying via social media in a way, it's not ok. 

Rest in peace chap. 

One day in the future what's left of humanity will step back aghast at just how much damage 'Social Media' has inflicted on so many aspects of life . It really is the Black death of modern society .

Switch625 said:

Apparently had mental health issues and substance abuse issues, along with being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. Poor guy.

The book Bodies by Ian Winwood is a good read regarding the music industry, mental health and addiction.  The industry is certainly becoming more aware, but way behind where it should be.

When young celebrities die tragically like this, I find the fragility of life is emphasised all the more. Being a heartbeat away from such disaster is sobering to say the least.

Whatever he was going through, it’s simply a sad and tragic end to a bloke who had his life ahead of him. RIP.

Dominic said:

One day in the future what's left of humanity will step back aghast at just how much damage 'Social Media' has inflicted on so many aspects of life . It really is the Black death of modern society .

Maybe I shouldn't say this, but I always felt that someone from One Direction would come to an unfortunate early end. 

To be thrown together as five strangers, to have such enormous fame and success - essentially overnight - with almost no control over anything that was happening, and at such a young age.  They might have "always wanted to be pop stars", but there's no way anyone could be prepared for the scale of it all. 

The pressures must have been enormous, and no-one would really understand except the other four people in the same situation.  Some will cope with that, and some won't.  It's all very sad.

Poor guy, just 31.  RIP.

What a terrible thing fame is, especially these days.

Dominic said:

One day in the future what's left of humanity will step back aghast at just how much damage 'Social Media' has inflicted on so many aspects of life . It really is the Black death of modern society .

Before Social Media, plenty of Celebs struggled with Mental Health, Addiction etc Generally speaking I think the world in general is much better educated and aware than it was - however, if individuals do fall into the "hole" they face just the same struggles as before.

I think Social Media is just a new and different problem added into the mix.

just a thought:

57Deluxe said:

just a thought:

Q:How much can you earn from Instagram with 1 million followers?

A: $5,000 to $25,000 per post

In conclusion, while having 1 million followers on Instagram is an impressive feat, the exact amount you can earn varies greatly. With the right strategy, engagement, and niche, influencers can earn anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000 per post, with plenty of opportunities to make even more through diverse income streams.

He had 33 million followers...

Im struggling to find the relevance today?

This is a good tribute for those who don't know much about him (I didn't):
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/oct/17/after-one-direction-liam-payne-was-just-getting-started-his-death-is-a-heartbreaking-end

Horrendous when someone dies so young. RIP fella

Teetonetal said:

Dominic said:

One day in the future what's left of humanity will step back aghast at just how much damage 'Social Media' has inflicted on so many aspects of life . It really is the Black death of modern society .

Before Social Media, plenty of Celebs struggled with Mental Health, Addiction etc Generally speaking I think the world in general is much better educated and aware than it was - however, if individuals do fall into the "hole" they face just the same struggles as before.

I think Social Media is just a new and different problem added into the mix.

It goes way beyond the world of celebrity, look at the shitstorm social media has unleashed on the political world. We've opened Pandora's box and there's probably no going back.

I love living in a world where the first article I find in relation to this is an analysis of sentiment towards him on social media in the weeks before his death.

The types of posts about Liam Payne on social media in recent weeks

Tragic. Poor lad, and his family.

I wish he could have seen how much more he had to live for - 31 is no age.

DefaultM said:

I love living in a world where the first article I find in relation to this is an analysis of sentiment towards him on social media in the weeks before his death.

The types of posts about Liam Payne on social media in recent weeks

By Josephine Franks, digital investigations reporter

Liam Payne's rise to fame and his career since X Factor has mirrored the increase in use of social media and social platforms.

As part of One Direction, Payne and his bandmates have been the subject of millions of fan posts.

But in the fortnight before the singer's death, negative social media posts about the star outweighed positive ones by more than two to one. 

Sky News' Data and Forensics team looked at the sentiment of posts using social media monitoring tool Talkwalker, which analyses whether posts are positive, negative or neutral with AI.

Negative posts mentioning Payne's full name or X and TikTok handle started picking up in the first week of October.

In late September, there had only been a handful: just over 500 a day for a couple of days at the end of September, then sitting in double digits until 3 October, when there were 3,700 negative posts, then 4,300 the following day.

[There was a graph here]

Negative mentions dipped for a day, before rising to more than 8,400 negative posts on 7 October, the day after Payne's ex-fiancee Maya Henry posted a video on TikTok about his behaviour since their break-up.

In the two weeks until midday on Wednesday there were 42,500 negative posts mentioning the star, with close to 900,000 engagements and a potential reach of 2.2 billion.

This includes posts on TikTok, X, YouTube and Reddit, but not Meta-owned platforms Instagram and Facebook.

^^ There had been a lot of posts about him though - I use Facebook and Instagram for my piano side hustle so the algorithm shows me a lot of suggested stuff on a musical theme and i had seen quite a few mocking memes about him over the last few weeks, so roughly in line with what that article is saying really. It reminded me of the Caroline Flack scenario to be honest. It can't have helped the poor chap

thecolourbox said:

^^ There had been a lot of posts about him though - I use Facebook and Instagram for my piano side hustle so the algorithm shows me a lot of suggested stuff on a musical theme and i had seen quite a few mocking memes about him over the last few weeks, so roughly in line with what that article is saying really. It reminded me of the Caroline Flack scenario to be honest. It can't have helped the poor chap

Yea the memes have been relentless for ages now. It kind of started when he went on Logan Paul's podcast last year and started talking about how the group was formed around him, how he could beat them all up if he wanted, how he could beat up other celebrities and so on. After that anything he did was picked up on and mocked if there was any angle that it could be mocked by, like his dancing at Niall Horan's concert last week. It also reminded me of Caroline Flack's treatment too. 

From what it sounds like he was desperate to get to the hotel pool and the staff wouldn't let him because he was out of it. Reports have said he was really confused that the pool was on his floor so it's possible that this was the result of disorientation and confusion because of intoxication rather than suicide, but I guess we'll find out.

It was a comment on what society has turned in to. Looks like someone famous has killed themselves and we’re actually able to analyse the level of abuse he was receiving and say he probably did it in part because of this.
I don’t know anything about the guy, but it’s probably safe to say social media wasn’t the best way for him to be spending his time for his mental health, but he’s basically got to for his career.

I didn't know who this was although I have now learned that he was born in the same hospital where my mother died. 
Suicide or misadventure, lots of stress, sudden fame,social media outrage it's certainly a story of our times. I was reading something about Wynne Evans earlier and the is he/isn't he a groper thing which is a complete storm in a tea cup but it's still real people at the centre of it and I think how do they cope with all this shit and get on with their lives. 
A very sad end for Liam and those close to him. RIP. 

earwighoney said:

… cocaine.  I don't know whether LP was using this filth when he died but, from his description of his erratic behaviour, it sounded like it was involved. 

Everybody knows that you live forever
When you've done a line or two.