Does Liam Payne Crave Credibility?
Is Liam Payne suffering from the curse that has long afflicted aging and disillusioned boy band members everywhere, one that is likely to strike fear into the hearts of the most ardent Liam Payne fan?
What are we talking about? In two words: musical credibility. In the world of rock and pop, boy bands don’t tend to have all that much. Just ask Liam.
Let’s get it straight, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne are nobody’s glove puppets.
Yet Liam Payne and One Direction are undoubtedly aware that compared with popular music giants of the past such as The Beatles and Nirvana, they are perceived by the musical elite as little more than an artificially contrived, all-singing, all-dancing, all-smiling piece of product which signifies nothing and means even less.
Yet what do Liam Payne and the rest of the One Direction lads care for such shameful snobbery. Payne and his posse have conquered the world, earned millions and have become one of the biggest boy bands in history. It’s a definite result. Just ask the millions of One Directioners whose hearts melts every time they hear Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne do what they do best.
Except, the heady brew of global fame, fortune and mass adulation may not be enough for Liam anymore.
Payne is often regarded fondly by One Directioners as the most philosophical, sensitive and creative member of the boy band. Liam is a seeker and definitely appears to be on a quest of sorts. Yet when Payne recently revealed his envy of Australian band 5 Seconds of Summer, it set the alarm bell ringing in a big way.
Those bells began to ring a lot louder when Liam Payne exclaimed: “They are f***ing great musicians.”
When anyone, especially boy band royalty such as Liam Payne, proclaims someone else as “F***ing great musicians,” you just think there’s some sort of personal issue going on regarding musical credibility which could spill over into a full-blown crisis if not carefully contained.
How many times must we stand idly by and watch in horror as a perfectly boy band member such as Liam decides that they want to rock out a little in a frantic bid for credibility?
Speaking of 5 Seconds of Summer, who supported One Direction on tour, Liam Payne said: “I am a bit jealous of them. I am working on learning to play now but I wish I had put the time in like they did when they were kids.”
If it ain’t broke Liam don’t fix it. After all Mr Payne, being a member of perhaps the biggest boy band in the world without ever having to play a note is not a bad gig by anyone’s standards.
