The late One Direction star’s death shook fans and band members alike when he fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires four months ago.
Last night, the 2025 Grammy Awards ceremony paid tribute to the late singer during the annual ‘In Memoriam’ section of the show. The emotional tribute featured a montage of Liam’s life with One Direction and a performance from Chris Martin.
Grammys ‘In Memoriam’
Every year the Grammys holds an ‘In Memoriam’ tribute segment where late music icons from the year prior are honored.
This year it included icons like Quincy Jones, Marianne Faithfull, Eric Carmen, Tito Jackson, Cissie Houston and Rich Homie Quan, according to E! News. But Liam Payne was the focus of the ceremony.
They played a montage
The emotional tribute on Sunday showed a montage of the singer’s time with the iconic 2010s’ British music band One Direction.
Footage started with Liam and his One Direction bandmates waving at a large crowd of fans from a rooftop.
Fans got to hear Liam’s voice
“We never expected any of this to happen,” Liam’s voiceover sounded from the speakers as the video played on the big screen, “Actually sit and think about it, we’ve done some amazing things.”
The montage showed moments of the singer smiling and singing on stage.
Chris Martin performed for the tribute
As the clips of the montage rolled, Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin started performing a rendition of his band’s song All My Love.
Safe to say the segment brought back memories for One Direction fans, who were left in tears in remembrance of Liam.
Fans took to social media
Fans of Liam Payne and One Direction took to social media to talk about their feelings regarding the segment.
One fan wrote on X/Twitter, “The tribute to liam really has me bawling :(( seeing stuff like this and it still just doesn’t even feel real.”
Payne passed away in October
The 31-year-old singer tragically died on 16 October, only four months ago, when he fell from a third-floor balcony in a hotel in Buenos Aires.
His unexpected death sent his family, fans, and band members into mourning, with the latter putting out a statement about their devastation from the incident.
Fans are still mourning his loss
Other fans also spoke about how they’re still struggling with mourning the singer.
One person on social media wrote, “Enjoying the grammys and then getting hit with the liam payne tribute felt like getting hit by a semi truck.”
They also acknowledged the singer’s impact
Fans also acknowledged Liam’s impact on the music industry as a whole, with one writing, “What a touching tribute to Liam Payne at the #GRAMMYs. His impact on music is undeniable.”
“Wasn’t ready for this liam payne tribute,” another fan also wrote.
The singer’s death raised questions
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Many questions were raised following Payne’s death on the ways in which he might have fallen from the hotel balcony.
In December, five people, including four workers at the hotel and Payne’s friend Roger Nores, were charged with a connection to his death. Two other hotel employees were also charged with supplying the singer with cocaine.
Nores filed a legal complaint
Payne’s close friend, Roger Nores, made a legal complaint in the US against the singer’s father, Geoff Payne, claiming that he made “false and defamatory” statements about him which led to his arrest in relation to the singer’s death.
In January, court documents filed in Florida claimed that Nores “never had a legal duty of care” towards the singer.
