Fans paid tribute to British singer Liam Payne this weekend by creating a memorial in the Boston Common following the former One Direction member’s sudden death.
A tree near Brewer Fountain and Tadpole Playground was adorned with letters, photographs, flowers and candles Saturday night in a vigil for Payne. The site is still decorated today.
Payne was a member of the group One Direction, a boy band that accumulated 29 Billboard’s Hot 100 hits across its five albums. The band was known for its upbeat, pop-rock sound and its massive, often screaming fanbase, the “Directioners.”
The singer died Thursday after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Payne was 31 years old and is survived by his 7-year-old son, Bear.
When her best friend broke the news to her over FaceTime, Mary Caro, a student in the Boston area, said she “didn’t believe it.”
“I grew up with [One Direction], and they were such a big part of my life,” Caro said. “It still just feels fake. It still feels like it didn’t happen. It’s just heartbreaking, truthfully.”
Emily Dickerson, a third grade teacher, and Leilani Clark, a day program manager, were on a road trip from Utah and listening to One Direction songs in the car just before the news broke.
“We had just talked about him,” Dickerson said. “Thirty minutes later we heard, and we were just almost in tears … It was just out of nowhere.”
Dickerson described the memorial as “so beautiful” when admiring the handwritten notes and memorabilia.
Emerson Holloway, a partnership and engagement associate for the Boston Public Art Triennial, said the Boston community gathering to mourn Payne was “really special.”
“It speaks to the strength of the reach that this person and this band had and still has to this day,” she said.
A fan-led memorial was also created in Buenos Aires where Payne died. Others were organized around the world, including in New York, Nashville and London.
“Memorials are just popping up everywhere,” Caro said. “I feel like that shows how much they were loved, particularly Liam.”
Payne was open about his struggle with mental health and addiction during his life. While the autopsy report was inconclusive about whether Payne’s death was the result of suicide, it was also reported that drugs and alcohol were found in his hotel room at the time of death.
Joanna Bridger is the founder and director of Safety, Hope and Healing Counseling and Consulting and the co-chair of the Greater Boston Regional Suicide Prevention Coalition. She said memorial activities like the one in the Common are “powerful” means of facilitating “healthy grieving” among fans and preventing suicide contagion by focusing on the positive elements of Payne’s life.
“[We need to] make sure that what we’re talking about is more about who Liam was and how he lived and the art he created and what it meant to them, as opposed to getting entrenched in how he died … [which] tends to not really help people grieve a loss in a healthy way,” Bridger said.
Bridger said “being around other people who are also grieving” to discuss Payne’s music and “allowing that grief” is important. She added other mental health resources are available, such as Now Matters Now, a website that provides free mental health resources for those coping with feelings of suicide.
Clark said the memorial symbolizes how important Payne was in the lives of his fanbase.
“It definitely speaks to Liam and how influential he was in all of our lives and our growing up,” Clark said. “It’s beautiful that we can pull a community together … and show our love and appreciation for this person and what he did for us.”
