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Here’s Liam Payne Being Brutally Honest About Harry Styles’s New Music

'It’s not something I’d listen to'

Hey, One Direction fans: Remember that time Zayn Malik semi-slammed the band after going solo, saying, “That’s not music I would listen to. ... I want to make music that I think is cool shit.” Well, get ready to feel a similar kind of gut punch when you hear what Liam Payne has to say about Harry Styles’s new tunes.

Speaking with Music Choice, Payne first complimented his 1D mate Niall Horan, saying, “I heard the rest of the boys’ debut songs. Obviously Niall had ‘Slow Hands’ out and he had ‘This Town,’ which is great, and Niall’s gone down the singer-songwriter route, which is really cool.”

As for Styles’s “Sign of the Times”? Payne-o isn’t impressed.

“Harry’s song I heard, and I’ll be honest with you, it’s not my sort of music,” he admitted. “It’s not something I’d listen to, but I think he did a great job of doing what he wanted to do. That’s the way I’d put it best, I think.”

The aspiring hip-hop luminary continued, “And I think the funny thing is, [Harry] would say the same thing about me because he doesn’t really listen to hip-hop music where it’s like my song’s more ‘Rack City’ and his song is more of a different era to something I’d listen to, I guess.”

Payne is on the cusp of releasing his own debut solo single, “Strip That Down,” which promises a feature from Quavo and a steamy-looking visual. He's clearly going for a much edgier vibe than Styles’s classic rock-inspired solo album, so his comments shouldn’t come as a total surprise. Still, it’s hard not to be disappointed imagining Payne scoff and turn the radio station when “Sign of the Times” comes on. Sigh.

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