Before Liam Payne‘s tragic death last year at the age of 31, Backstreet Boys‘ AJ McLean got to work with him on the Netflix series Building the Band, which is due to premiere this summer. And at Netflix’s Tudum event on May 31, where the first footage from the show was screened, AJ told Entertainment Tonight what a great guy Liam was.
“I mean, he was an absolute dream to work with,” AJ said, describing him as “even more talented than I think anybody [realized].” AJ also praised his “creative mind” and “his lyrics,” adding, “I got to hear some music that we may never get to hear.”
“He was just so talented, so sweet, so genuine,” AJ added. “He was just a light.”
Of course, AJ and Liam had a lot in common as members of boy bands. “We would joke about a lot of stuff and the parallels between our band and his band,” AJ shared. “And we also talked about recovery and we talked about addiction and about mental health.”
AJ described Liam’s death as “heartbreaking” and said he hoped the singer would be remembered for his “light, talent” and his “genuine heart.”
“He was just a sweetheart,” AJ concluded. “An extremely talented individual.”
Liam died of multiple traumas after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Argentina in October; toxicology reports revealed he had a number of substances in his system.
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