‘It’s not the time’: Posthumous music release from Liam Payne postponed

The release of new music from Liam Payne has been postponed because “it’s not the time yet”, his collaborator has confirmed.
The One Direction star had made the track Do No Wrong with North Carolina singer Sam Pounds before his death on earlier this month.
The song had been set for release on Friday, but the decision was reversed in a statement from Pounds on X, formerly Twitter.
Payne died after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina on October 16.
“Today I’m deciding to hold Do No Wrong and leave those liberties up to all family members,” Pounds wrote.
“I want all proceeds go to a charity of their choosing (or however they desire). Even though we all love the song it’s not the time yet.
“We are all still morning (sic) the passing of Liam and I want the family to mourn in peace and in prayer. We will all wait.”
Pounds previously said he hoped the song “eclipses the negative echoes” surrounding Payne’s death.
“I pray that this will be a blessing to the world like Liam has always dreamed,” he wrote on X, in a post that has now been deleted.
“I pray angels will comfort you all every day while listening. I pray that this song will be a blessing to (sister) Ruth, (son) Bear, and the entire family.
“I pray that this song eclipses the negative echoes. I pray supernatural positive healing power will embrace each and every one of you.”
Payne shared his only child with Girls Aloud star Cheryl, who he was in a relationship with from 2016 to 2018 after he rose to fame on talent show The X Factor as part of One Direction.
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Last week, all five of One Direction’s studio albums returned to the UK top 40 as vigils continue to be held by fans throughout the world in memory of Payne.
His last solo song, Teardrops, had made its chart debut at number 85 in the most recent UK chart when it was released earlier this year.
Tributes have continued to pour in for Payne, with his bandmates Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson paying tribute shortly after he died.
Payne had struggled with alcoholism when he was at the height of his fame, telling a 2021 edition of The Diary Of A CEO podcast host Steven Bartlett, he reached “rock bottom” before going to rehab.
In 2023, he posted a video about being in an rehab facility in Louisiana, saying he had “got more of a grip on life”.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Argentina is continuing to investigate the circumstances around Payne’s death.
It is being treated as “an inconclusive death”, and an initial post-mortem examination found he died instantly because of multiple traumas and “internal and external haemorrhage”.
Emergency services had been called on the day Payne fell at the Casa Sur Hotel to a “guest who was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and who had destroyed some objects in the room”.
Payne had been set to appear on a new Netflix show called Building The Band, along with fellow judges US singer and actress Nicole Scherzinger and former Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland, before he died.
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