Pop star Rita Ora broke down onstage while performing a song she collaborated with Liam Payne on, just hours after his death.
The former One Direction member’s death has sent shockwaves throughout the entire music community, since it was reported last night (16 October).
Fans, friends and family were left devastated after police in Buenos Aires, Argentina, confirmed that the 31-year-old had passed away.
Payne died after falling from a balcony at the hotel CasaSur in Palermo, with police saying they responded to an emergency call informing them of ‘an aggressive man who may have been under the effects of drugs and alcohol’.
Liam Payne died in Argentina on 16 October (Gareth Cattermole / Staff / Getty Images)
Officers later described his hotel room as a ‘total disorder’, with claims that there had been ‘various items broken’, and that medications had been found.
This included clonazepam, a benzodiazepine used to control epilepsy, involuntary muscle spasms or panic disorders, and energy supplements and other over-the-counter drugs.
Ora, who has been married to movie director Taika Waititi since 2022, was onstage in Osaka, Japan, and was seen getting emotional while singing the duet she’d recorded with Payne, titled ‘For You’.
The pair collaborated on the 2018 hit ‘For You’ (Lia Toby/BFC/Getty Images for BFC)
Ora performed in front of an image of herself and Payne projected above her, and it appeared to have been her own special tribute.
But at one point she became too emotional to continue and put her head into her hands, turned away from the crowd and then looked up towards the sky, saying: “I can’t even sing this right now.”
The two singers recorded the track for the soundtrack to 2018 film Fifty Shades Freed.
Ora also shared a post of her with Payne on Instagram after her gig.
The ‘Let You Love Me’ singer wrote: “I’m devastated. He had the kindest soul, I will never forget.”
She continued: “I loved working with him so much – he was just such a joy to be around on and off stage. This tragic news breaks my heart.
“Sending all my love and prayers to his family and loved ones. Our song ‘For You’ takes on a whole new meaning for me now. R.I.P.”
For You (With Rita Ora)
リアム・ペイン，リタ・オラ先程終わった大阪公演 の映像を拾う。
悲しみの中ほとんど歌えなかったみたい。@RitaOra @LiamPayne @liampaynejp
本日の大阪公演 #リタオラ はこの曲を歌えるのか？ 追悼の言葉とか思い出話はあるのか？ #RITAORA #ritaora pic.twitter.com/b58a71caYu— 肉 Jason 24 (@nikuniku2424241) October 17, 2024
Forensic pathologists Santiago Maffia Bizzozero and Victor Roberto Cohen carried out a post mortem at a city morgue, however, further tests are being done.
Alberto Crescenti, the head of the state emergency medical system, said on Argentina’s Todo Noticias TV channel: “At 17.04 through the 911 integrated public safety system, we were alerted of a person who was in an internal courtyard of the management of a south house hotel.
“At 17.11 a SAME team arrived and verified the death of this man and later we found out that he was a singer in a musical group. Unfortunately, he had injuries that were incompatible with life, as a result of his fall, so we had to confirm his death, there was no possibility of resuscitation.”
