The emotion was present this Sunday. Tributes have been paid to Liam Payne around the world, five days after the artist’s death. The latter had fallen from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires in Argentina, in which he had been staying for several nights. Only 31 years old at the time of the tragedy, his death shook the world, he who had marked an entire generation in the 2010s with “One Direction”.
If the other members of the group, his friends Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson took turns saying goodbye to him, his community also wanted to come together in his memory. All over France, “One Direction” fans gathered, like in Paris where around ten people gathered at the Jardin des Tuileries.
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Bouquets of flowers, roses, candles: many of them came to leave all kinds of objects, in memory of Liam Payne. A memorial organized in front of a parapet, where a black and white poster of the British singer was placed.
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Devastated fans in Paris
Between tears and nostalgia, the crowd sang songs by the Briton in unison. Alongside them, a guitarist was on hand to accompany them. At the “AFP” microphone, fans spoke about the importance for them of paying tribute to the man who marked a large part of their childhood. “He brought me a lot of joy and laughter. […] It was like an air bubble that was not reality,” we can hear. “I have a hard time realizing that he is no longer here,” admits another.
Some expressed being truly touched by the death of Liam Payne: “It’s like losing a member of my family and in truly horrible circumstances […] He was my whole life, my favorite singer, he helped me through difficult ordeals in middle school, in high school, like harassment and meanness,” declares a young girl.
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For one of them, this accident is proof that young talents generate “too much” stress: “I have difficulty accepting this society which does not treat people like him humanely. They were kids when they started with so much pressure on them. Everyone suffered from psychological problems and it was like a snowball.”
London, Madrid, Glasgow, New York,… the tributes follow one another
Parisians are not the only ones to have united to honor Liam Payne. The singer of “For You” was treated to a very nice tribute in his country of origin, the United Kingdom. British fans gathered in London, more precisely in Hyde Park right in front of the statue of Peter Pan aka “the boy who didn’t want to grow up” – in reference to the very young age of the star when he died.
Also this weekend, many other countries held vigils for the singer. In front of Saint Peter’s Church in Wolverhampton in Madrid, in the heart of Washington Square Park in New York or in front of the hotel from which Liam Payne fell, in Buenos Aires in Argentina. But also in Stockholm, Munich, Glasgow, Sydney and even as far as the Philippines and Colombia, the wave of mourning has spread throughout the world.
