Shawn Mendes pays emotional tribute to Liam Payne on stage

Shawn Mendes has remembered Liam Payne as a "beautiful soul" following his shock death.

The former One Direction singer died on Wednesday (16.10.24) at the age of 31 after falling from the balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires and his fellow pop star Shawn, 26, paid tribute to him whilst on stage at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in New York on Friday.

He said: "We heard the news about Liam. It felt like... It felt completely devastating. I got to meet him a couple times, and he was a beautiful soul and his eyes gleamed — it was beauty, shining into his eyes."

The 'Stitches' singer then decided to dedicate a performance of his track 'Heart of Gold' to Liam as he "sent love" to the tragic star.

He said: "It's about grieving those we miss with tears and it's also about celebrating them and who they were and what they left in this world and I just want to take a second to send so much love to him, wherever he is up there. Liam, we love you."

Liam shot to fame in 2010 alongside Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik when they placed third on the UK version of 'The X Factor', and they went on to achieve global chart-topping success as the world's first billion-dollar boyband.

The group went on hiatus in 2016 and Liam went on to have son Bear, seven, with his former partner Cheryl and enjoyed a solo career with his hit single 'Strip That Down' and his only album 'LP1'.