‘When we came together to film Building The Band,’ begins former Backstreet Boys star A J McLean, ‘we never imagined we’d soon be saying goodbye to our friend Liam Payne.’
Covered in tattoos with a dangling earring, large crucifix necklace and bleached blond hair, McLean concludes his tribute: ‘We dedicate this series to Liam and his family.’
After months of speculation, the Netflix talent show Building The Band finally premiered on Wednesday, almost nine months after its star guest and judge, Liam Payne, 31, fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of the CasaSur hotel in Buenos Aires on October 16, putting the show’s future in jeopardy.
The ten-part series sees 50 wannabe singers – who have never met – attempt to form bands based solely on recordings of their voices. In other words, the musical equivalent of Blind Date.
While reviews of the quirky format have varied widely, there is only one story on everyone’s lips – the involvement of Payne in the show.
Despite the tribute in the launch episode from McLean, the show’s host, Liam does not appear until later in the series. The episodes he appears in will be launched next week.
Judges of Netflix’s Building the Band, from left: Liam Payne, AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys, Nicole Scherzinger of The Pussycat Dolls and Kelly Rowland of Destiny’s Child
But, last week, McLean made an astonishing revelation in an interview. He said Liam had shared unreleased material with him during the shoot and that it ‘was a great body of work’. He added: ‘I hope that the world and that the fans get to hear it somewhere down the road. It’s beautiful, beautiful music.’
Today, the Mail can reveal that Liam’s unreleased music comprises two complete albums, one of which was co-written with renowned songwriter and producer Jamie Scott. This album was recorded in Camden, north London.
Scott had previously worked with Liam and his One Direction bandmates in 2014 on their top-ten single Night Changes, which – with more than 2.2 billion streams – is the band’s most listened-to song on Spotify.
Liam’s second unreleased album was recorded in Palm Beach, Florida, and Sweden over the summer of 2024, shortly before he flew to Manchester to film Building The Band.
The Mail understands the album also features contributions from a number of Liam’s close friends, making it perhaps the most intimate record of his all-too short career. Little is known about the content of the albums, though the involvement of hit-maker Scott suggests that they could mark a return to the rollicking pop anthems of Liam’s boyband days.
After One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, Liam released a string of less commercially successful R&B tracks, including Strip That Down and his final single Teardrops, which scraped into the UK charts, debuting at number 85.
There is no indication as to when the public will get to hear Liam’s unreleased music.
However, a source involved in producing one of the albums told the Mail there were ‘serious discussions’ about releasing some tracks to coincide with Liam’s appearance on the show next week. As yet, it appears no definitive decision has been made.
‘It would have to be with the blessing of Liam’s family,’ admitted the source, who still works in the music business. ‘Obviously, this is hugely sensitive, and no one wants to be seen to be doing the wrong thing.’
Posthumous releases are common across the music industry. John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Milk And Honey came out in 1984 – four years after the former Beatle was shot dead by Mark Chapman in New York. And yet, the possibility of new music from the late Liam Payne feels of unique significance.
Liam’s girlfriend of two years, Kate Cassidy, left him at the hotel just days before his death
For the Mail understands that Liam wrote and recorded the second of his two unreleased albums in the four-month period of sobriety he enjoyed between May and August last year, while he was living in a $9,500-a-month apartment in Florida with girlfriend Kate Cassidy.
As I previously revealed in these pages, Liam had suffered an overdose in early 2024 and – after a short stint in rehab – left the UK for Palm Beach with the help of long-time friend, Argentine businessman Roger Nores.
‘When I met Liam in Florida last summer, he was shivering and clearly unwell,’ Nores told me earlier this year. ‘He told me he’d lost 20kg and weighed just 60kg.’
However, over the following four months, the star stuck to the straight and narrow.
‘Liam began to go to the gym every day,’ Nores said. ‘He was really looking after himself… after four months, I truly believed he had turned a corner.’ This raises the tantalising prospect that the album Liam recorded during this time may well address some of the unanswered questions surrounding the singer’s battle with drugs and alcohol during what were to be the final months of his life.
After four months of sobriety, Liam returned in August to the UK to film Building The Band in Manchester. And it was then, according to his former bodyguard, that he relapsed into drug-taking.
And yet, the mystery of the unreleased albums is far from the only question surrounding Liam’s legacy. Today, the Mail explores how the fallout from the star’s death continues to reverberate not just in the UK with his posthumous appearance in the talent series, but halfway around the world in Argentina where two men remain in prison awaiting trial for supplying him with class A drugs.
Waiter Braian Paiz, 25, and hotel worker Ezequiel Pereyra, 24, have been incarcerated since January, and face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty at trial later this year.
Braian Paiz has argued that while he did take drugs with Payne, he did not supply narcotics or accept money from the pop star
According to court documents seen by the Mail, Paiz – who met Liam while waiting tables at the swanky Cabana Las Lilas restaurant in the upmarket district of Puerto Madero – is accused of ‘having delivered narcotics, precisely cocaine, for a price, on October 14’ on two separate occasions. Once in the CasaSur hotel and once at Paiz’s home in the centre of Buenos Aires.
Paiz has always maintained his innocence, arguing that while he did take drugs with Payne, he did not supply the narcotics or accept money from the pop star.
‘I don’t know what I’m doing here, I’m a good person,’ Paiz told Argentine reporters from his prison cell. ‘I shared drugs with Liam but I didn’t sell them. All I want to do is start studying again and leave jail to work, like I was doing before.’
Pereyra, meanwhile, who worked at the CasaSur, is accused of supplying Liam with cocaine on October 15 and on October 16 at 3.45pm – just one hour before the star’s death. It is alleged that, on that fateful day, Liam asked Pereyra for ‘another seven grams more’, according to a technician who overheard the two talking in the hotel basement – a claim corroborated by CCTV.
A friend of Paiz’s, whom I met in Argentina last year shortly after Liam’s death, told me this week that she believes the pair have been ‘scapegoated’ by the Argentine judicial system.
‘They are not wealthy, and they don’t have connections,’ she said. ‘It’s no surprise they’re still in prison.’ In spite of enquiries by the Mail, there is no indication as to when the pair will face trial. Their pre-trial detention is now into its seventh month.
Of course, Paiz and Pereyra were far from the only people accused of playing a part in Liam’s death. In November, this newspaper published an image that shocked the world: that of three hotel employees carrying an unconscious Liam out of the CasaSur lobby and into an elevator just minutes before the star fell from the balcony of room 310.
The following month, head of security Gilda Martin and chief receptionist Esteban Grassi – who joined the hotel only three months previously – were indicted by Judge Laura Bruniard. Yet, despite global outrage, the pair were acquitted in February this year by a trio of Argentine judges.
Liam’s ex-partner Cheryl Tweedy has been put in charge of her late partner’s estate alongside music industry lawyer Richard Bray
An appeal by the prosecutor against their acquittal was denied, with the court ruling it ‘lacked the necessary merit to proceed’.
Liam’s girlfriend of two years, Kate Cassidy – who left him at the hotel just days before his death – still lives in Florida with the couple’s dog, Nala, which Liam adopted shortly before they departed for Buenos Aires.
On June 16, Kate posted a moving tribute to Liam on Instagram, writing: ‘Eight months ago today, I lost my best friend.’
She went on to address the singer directly, saying: ‘I am trying to live my life as best I can for now and live it for you. I miss you more than words can say.’
Earlier this year it was revealed that the 26-year-old influencer – who was working at a diner when she met Liam – will not inherit any of his mooted £24.3 million fortune because the star had not left a will.
Instead, the money will go to Liam’s son, eight-year-old Bear, whose mother – former Girls Aloud star Cheryl Tweedy – has been put in charge of her late partner’s estate alongside music industry lawyer Richard Bray.
Cheryl, meanwhile, has announced that her first major TV appearance following her ex-partner’s death will be as a guest mentor on the latest season of BBC hit music show The Voice – a direct rival to Building The Band – where she will reunite with long-time friend Will.i.am, a founding member of American group The Black Eyed Peas.
Liam’s father Geoff, stepmother Karen, and sisters Ruth and Nicola will not benefit from Liam’s estate, which is comprised of cash, investments and a property portfolio.
However, the family remain active participants and stakeholders in the singer’s legacy, with Geoff and Karen agreeing that Building The Band should be aired.
‘This is how we want everyone to remember Liam,’ they said.
A statement from Netflix confirmed that his family had ‘reviewed the series and is supportive of his inclusion’.
Earlier this week, Liam’s 37-year-old sister Nicola posted on social media: ‘Over the years I’ve shared many achievements and momentous occasions as a proud sister and I couldn’t be prouder of this show.
‘Watching this over the past few months has given me/us a way to still feel close to you and see you at your best and I’m so glad the world gets to see it all now too.’
In a similarly moving message, 34-year-old Ruth said: ‘You’re a star, Liam, you always were and always will be.
‘There are a range of emotions I felt watching this, but one of the main ones is immeasurable pride always. Miss you more every day.’
One Direction fans have a little longer to wait, however, to see their idol back on television. The episodes of the show that feature Liam are expected to be released on July 16 – exactly nine months since the singer’s tragic death.
With the prospect of new music on horizon and the long overdue trial of Paiz and Pereyra in Buenos Aires, Building The Band may be the latest twist in the story of Liam Payne’s legacy. But it will be far from the final verse.
