It’s been more than a month since Liam Payne claimed that he was meant to be the leader of One Direction during his appearance on Logan Paul’s podcast. And after weeks of fans’ disappointment towards the former One Direction star, The X-Factor has released behind-the-scenes footage, revealing once and for all if Payne was meant to be the leader of the popular boy group.
The X-Factor uploaded the behind-the-scenes footage onto their YouTube channel, where the judges Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, and Louis Walsh were looking at the headshots of their contestants. According to the video, both Niall Horan and Harry Styles were the first two members that were placed together, with Scherzinger commenting that the two look “so cute together”. The next member that was added to the group was Louis Tomlinson.
Then came placing Payne down along with the other three members. According to Cowell, Payne has “a standout audition” and had plans to put him somewhere else. It wasn’t until Scherzinger suggested that Payne could be “the leader” of the group since he was the “standout”. Both Walsh and Scherzinger debated against Cowell on having Payne stay in the group as they believe he has “the confidence” to be the best. Cowell was convinced after looking at the four headshots once more, saying they “all look good”.
They then placed Zayne Malik down, cementing their fate to become one of the greatest boybands in the 2010s.
So what does this BTS footage proves? Payne’s comments of him being “the leader” of the group were somewhat true, but the leadership dynamic was changed when fans took a liking to Styles more. Cowell saw the potential of Payne as a solo artist but was convinced by both Walsh and Scherzinger that he’s better off in a boy group as long as “they gel together”.
But one thing’s for sure, One Direction built Styles and Horan, not Payne.