Nicole says Liam texted her hours before his death, unaware it would be their final exchange
Nicole Scherzinger has revealed the heartbreaking final message she received from her friend Liam Payne on the day he died.
The Pussycat Dolls singer and musical theatre star opened up about her final exchange with the late One Direction singer, who died in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires. He was 31 years old.
Speaking to The Times, Nicole described the text messages they shared just hours before his death as “pretty light” and “just chit-chat”, unaware it would be their last conversation.
“I just adored Liam,” she said. “He had such a good heart. It was just chit-chat and pretty light. I’d known he was in Argentina.”
Nicole, who first met Payne when she was a mentor and judge on The X Factor in 2010 — the show that formed One Direction — said she learned of his death moments before she was due to go on stage for a performance of Sunset Boulevard in New York.
Despite being devastated by the news, she went ahead with the performance.
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“The show must go on,” she said, recalling how she later dedicated a small part of each night’s performance to Liam. “From then on, I dedicated a little part of the show to Liam every night. Just a little moment that always made me think of him.”
Payne’s sudden death sent shockwaves through the music industry and among fans worldwide. A post-mortem later found he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the fall.
Nicole said she still finds comfort in the memories of working with him during what would become one of his final projects — the Netflix reality series Building the Band, which premiered in July 2025, nine months after his death.
The show saw Payne join forces with Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland from Destiny’s Child to mentor emerging music groups. Behind the scenes, the three pop icons became close friends, sharing laughter and creative energy as they worked together.
A photo from filming, taken just weeks before Payne’s death, shows the trio smiling backstage — Liam in a sharp blue suit, standing between Nicole and Kelly, both dressed in sleek PVC outfits. The image has since taken on a poignant meaning for fans, marking one of Liam’s last public appearances.
In a previous interview with People magazine, Nicole called Payne “a kind and beautiful heart”, saying she was grateful to have spent that time with him.
“Selfishly, I’m glad that I got to spend my time with him,” she said. “He was amazing. He was so giving and generous, even when the cameras weren’t rolling — spending time with fans, singing to them. It was lovely to watch him.”
She also spoke to Billboard about how much joy the show brought him:
“I know how proud he was of this show, and I know the joy that he got from doing this. I feel like we are honouring him with this show, and that is such a beautiful thing.”
Liam had often spoken about his passion for mentoring young artists, using his own experiences in the music industry to guide others. Nicole said she felt he was in his “happy place” while filming Building the Band.
“I saw the joy it brought to Liam,” she added. “He was in his element. Like myself, AJ [McLean] and Kelly, we’ve lived this. We’ve learned it.”
As the one-year anniversary of Payne’s death approaches on October 16, his former co-stars and fans continue to honour his memory — not only as a global superstar, but as a man remembered by those close to him as “kind, generous, and full of heart”.