Liam Payne posthumous single to be released in days

New music by Liam Payne will be released following his death. The One Direction star died aged 31 on October 16 following a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Before his death, he had made the track, titled Do No Wrong, with North Carolina singer Sam Pounds. Today (October 29), Pounds wrote on X, formerly Twitter, saying that the song will be coming out on Friday, and he hoped that “this song eclipses the negative echoes”.

He said: “I pray that this will be a blessing to the world like Liam has always dreamed. I pray angels will comfort you all every day while listening. I pray that this song will be a blessing to (sister) Ruth, (son) Bear, and the entire family.

“I pray that this song eclipses the negative echoes. I pray supernatural positive healing power will embrace each and every one of you.”

Sam also shared an image of the song's cover art, revealing a November 1 release date. The single will be available in three forms: the original, a live mix and an a cappella version. Sam paid tribute to Liam in the wake of his death and last week, shared a clip of them both in the studio together working on the upcoming single. The Mirror says Liam had wanted controversial singer Chris Brown to feature on the track, according to Sam.

Payne shared his only child with Girls Aloud star Cheryl, who he was in a relationship with from 2016 to 2018 after he rose to fame on talent The X Factor along with the rest of his boy band group. Last week, all five of One Direction’s studio albums, which he recorded alongside bandmates returned to the UK top 40 as vigils continue to be held by fans throughout the world in memory of Payne.

His last solo song, Teardrops, had made its chart debut at number 85 in the most recent UK chart release when it was released earlier this year.

Tributes have continued to pour in for Payne, with his bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson paying tribute shortly after he died.

Payne had struggled with alcoholism when he was at the height of his fame, telling a 2021 edition of The Diary Of A CEO podcast host Steven Bartlett, he reached “rock bottom” before going to rehab.

In 2023, he posted a video about being in an rehab facility in Louisiana, saying he had “got more of a grip on life”.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Argentina is continuing to investigate the circumstances around his death. It is being treated as “an inconclusive death”, and an initial post-mortem examination found he died instantly because of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”.

Emergency services had been called on the day Payne fell at the Casa Sur Hotel to a “guest who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and who had destroyed some objects in the room”.

Payne had been set to appear on a new Netflix show called Building The Band, along with fellow judges US singer and actress Nicole Scherzinger and former Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland, before he died.