A friend of Liam Payne has shared an unreleased track the singer wrote about the difficult last years of his life which includes poignant lyrics about feeling lost in the dark.
The emotional song also hears the former One Direction star tell of being a little uncertain of everything and asking, does it ever get easier?
It was shared on TikTok by British songwriter Adam Midgley, who said it was recorded when he was staying with Payne at a home the singer once owned in Malibu.
The track is deeply poignant given its publication within days of Paynes death aged just 31 after he fell from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
As he strums a guitar, Payne sings: Im a little less high than I used to be. Still a little uncertain of everything. I keep hearing Im right where Im supposed to be, so tynna find out what thats supposed to mean.
And Im all in my head now, every night when I lay down. Does it ever get easier? If Im lost in the dark now, will you hear when I call out? Does it ever get easier?
Ohh, look what youve done, what have you done? Telling myself look what youve done was it ever enough?
Mr Midgley, who writes under the name Ritual, is signed with Universal Music, the record company that dropped Payne just days before his death.
The songwriter co-wrote Hotter Than Hell for Dua Lipa and had also worked with Avicii and Raye.
He describes the story behind the song he worked on with Payne in a caption on his TikTok post.
In 2019 I met Liam Payne through a mutual friend.. he was in a difficult place in his life after the end of One Direction and the break up of his relationship, he writes.
Liam wasnt used to writing his own songs but we spoke for hours about what hed been through in his life and I wanted to help him try and express things he was bottling up.
He was incredibly kind and welcoming to me we got on so well I ended up going to stay with him for a while in this beautiful home he owned near Malibu (the house was later sold to Halsey).
Liam had such crazy stories and such an unbelievable life.. he would tell me stories of being in 1D that blew my mind as exciting as it was I could tell it had taken so much out of him and for someone who had so much it felt like he was left with almost nothing.
One night in the house we were talking about how much we both loved Oasis and we started playing these guitar chords.
Liam started to say really honest things about how he felt about himself and where he was in his life I told him to write them down and we had this melody.
Paying tribute to Payne, the songwriter adds: I wrote this song with my friend Liam Payne before he died. Hit me so hard listening to this today, felt right to share with you all will miss him so much and never forget that time.
The former One Direction star fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday in what prosecutors have described as a drug-induced episode.
Longstanding friends and celebrity hair stylists Royston Blythe and Nick Malenko were among the first to reach out to his heartbroken family, who live in his home city of Wolverhampton and include Karen, her husband Geoff, and their daughters, Nicola and Ruth.
Mr Malenko said: I messaged his mum Karen. Shes finding it hard to speak about whats happened, but she said Ive lost my beautiful boy.
Its absolutely shocking and devastating that such a young and talent life has gone. We are never going to see him again. There are so many tears here, how can we put how we feel into words?
We have sold the business now, but hed been coming to the salon to get his hair done since he was a young lad. His mum still gets her hair done there.
When he was competing in X Factor we put up posters in the windows to get people to vote for him. Of course, after that he became a global phenomenon. We always saw him as a hero at the salon.
Even at 14 he was very eloquent. I knew he was going to be famous. Thats why I gave him his first proper set of hair straighteners. He had a lot of motivation and loved what he was doing. He was passionate about it.
We used to go with Karen to his concerts a the NEC and he would point us out in the audience and say I was his hairdresser which was a nice thing for him to do. Like me he came from humble beginnings. His story will be a massive inspiration to young people from here.
He supported The Way youth hub and he used to go to a local boxing club to train because he was bullied.
