A Look Back At Nicole Scherzinger's Friendship With Liam Payne

Nicole Scherzinger was one of many lives Liam Payne touched before his sudden and shocking death. The former Pussycat doll recently found the words she'd been wanting to share with the late singer days after he tragically fell from a hotel balcony on October, 16, 2024. She took to Instagram to pen the emotional tribute. "Dear Liam, I will forever cherish and treasure the time we shared together, from fifteen years ago when One Direction was born, right up until just a few weeks ago," she posted.

Scherzinger further reminisced on how they both bonded over music, which started after they met on "The X Factor (U.K.)" back in 2010. She concluded the letter by reassuring followers that Payne may be gone, but he'll never be forgotten. "You brought so much joy, light, and laughter to the lives of those that truly knew you. I will 'miss you' my friend and carry you in my heart. My thoughts and prayers are with your family," she said.

What might've made Payne's death hit Scherzinger especially hard was that she was still in contact with him. She was working on the Broadway production "SUNSET BLVD." with veteran composer Andrew Lloyd Webber when she heard the devastating news. "On the Wednesday when he died, she was still texting him that day, and [that evening] the reviewers came in [to 'SUNSET'], she'd just heard that he died. And the fact that she even did the show at all is extraordinary," Webber recalled to Billboard.

Despite "X Factor" being a major part of Liam Payne's life, Nicole Scherzinger might've had the most impact on his career out of all the show's judges. On July, 23, 2022, the reality series' official YouTube channel "The X Factor (U.K.)" released unseen footage showing the formation of One Direction.

Scherzinger's co-judges, Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh, were having a hard time picking between Payne and his competitors. Looking at photos of their choices on a table, the judges started imagining them as a group instead of rivals. It was an idea Scherzinger couldn't get out of her head. "They'd be the cutest boy band ever," she gushed. Still, even after combining the singers into a group, Payne still managed to stand out to Scherzinger. "I think that he would definitely shine, he could actually maybe be the leader," she suggested to her fellow judges.

But their work together didn't end after "X Factor." Scherzinger continued to mentor the talented youth, and she and Payne were collaborating on a new reality series for Netflix called "Building the Band." The show would bring aspiring singers together who'd never met before to see how well they'd work as a music group. As of writing, it's unclear if Payne's death will have any affect on the show's release.