Is Liam Payne heading in an Urban direction?
If the One Direction star’s latest collaboration is anything to go by, the answer could very well be be yes.
Dive below for details…
Taking to Instagram, the budding solo star revealed that he’s been hitting the studio with ‘Happy’ hitmaker Pharrell Williams.
He wrote to his 11 million followers today:
Great few days with @pharrell pleasure working with you as always ???
The session was presumably for Payne’s much-anticipated solo debut, which is due next year.
It’s been an interesting aftermath for the members of 1D, who were previously signed with SyCo.
Early break-away Zayn Malik stayed within the Sony family, inking a lucrative deal with RCA. That union brought with it the giant hit ‘Pillow Talk,’ as well as the well-received but so-so selling ‘Mind Of Mine’ album.
Harry Styles also kept things Sony, recently signing with Columbia Records.
Payne and Niall Horan, however, opted for pastures new and have been snapped up by Capitol. Said move puts them under the Universal umbrella and in direct corporate competition with their former comrades.
With a heavy-hitter Pharrell in his corner, will Liam’s solo foray pack a powerful punch? What’s more, will 1D’s respective new labels take conservative or battle approach to the scheduling of their projects?
Interesting times certainly lay ahead.
Maybe he can actually perform live without tanking
Liam is in the right place! But I’mma need Ed Sheeran to post a picture with Pharrell next lol…yaaaas
Omg those pink shoes! Give them back to nicki Minaj pls
I need my male pop stars to push through. Wheres the male beyonce? Male rih? Hell even, male gaga. Male performers are so afraid of being labled as not masculine enough they dont step outside of the box to experience real success.
Truth tea!
Eh.
Male Beyonce –> Usher
Male Rihanna –> Drake
Male Gaga (Yuck) –> Adam Lambert (Yuck)
Now…that being said…I see no reason for male artists to have to be as flamboyant as these females. They’re men. Not women. A male artist doesn’t need to strut like Beyonce or be all colorful like Katy in order to experience real success.
I don’t think he’s saying that…Michael Jackson, Prince, George Michael, David Bowie, Queen, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, Poison, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, KISS, Elton John, Rick James…all FEARLESS, in my opinion…they did what they loved, not giving a damn about what’s masculine and what’s not…and the music was adventurous because of it! They let the music LEAD them…and wherever it went, they went!
They all wore makeup and did things that were typically done by females. That’s basically what I said. So what he basically wants is a return of androgynous, gender-bending male singers…probably because masculinity either bores him or he can’t relate to it. This push to feminize men needs to stop. When do we ever hear people say that wish female singers wouldn’t be so girlie and encourage them to step outside the “female” box? How many people here would like to see Beyonce and Nicki Minaj downplay their femininity and butch themselves up. Wash off the makeup, cut their hair mannishly short, wear mens clothes and be more rough and gruff like the boys? That would appeal to no one, and would be unnatural to most. Men are men and women are women.
Fancy BISH you hit it on the head. Im not saying they have to be gendy bendy but they take no risks. Step a bit outside of the box. The male counterparts you listed are nothing compared to the women they are up against….except maybe drake…but drake sells but has no grammys, gets no critical respect or acclaim. He is the mail rihanna in a sense. As far as USHER, nah id say just timberlake is more the male beyonce than him or even bruno mars at this point . B E Y O N C E is completely and utterly obsessed with her career and brand and therefore is always a step ahead of her peers. WHAT MALE ARTIST CAN YOU SAY THAT ABOUT IN URBAN POP/RAP RNB besides maybe kanye west.
Disagree. Men are becoming too soft. What we need is another NWA or Public Enemy type of explosion of alpha males in the game. I’m tired of these tight pants wearing manbun facial dudes. That needs to stop.
Liam was always the best looking of them all after he cut his hair. There’s just something gutter about him that I like
gutter? lmao GURRRL BEH!
Honestly, who didn’t see him going the “J.T.” route? I don’t know how all of the O.D. members got solo contracts except for Louis, but I seriously think they’re all still gonna flop regardless. That Niall interview with the caller from Canada pretty much proved it.
wait, what happened???
Niall recently did an interview at a radio show and they took in callers to ask their questions, as usually expected. The radio show host answered the first call and said that Niall was in the studio with him and how cool it is, but the caller was completely unbothered and said that he’s not even popular or important in Canada, which was where she called from, and his little Irish face turned redder than a reindeer’s nose. It was a mess! The host tried to “clean up” and justify what she said was a mistake, but the caller wasn’t having it and she reinstated her comment again, but even more obvious. I bet Niall felt like a fool! Meanwhile, Simon’s collecting his checks, so he doesn’t care if he flops.
They need to market these male stars as just that. STARS. Remember NSYNC, BACKSTREET BOYS, hell AARON CARTER, back then dudes were polished developed and in line and ready to hit the 8 count and the harmonies. Niall is very bland to me. I dont see him farting without blushing
Guess we’ll see, but the random and generic over-usage of the term “urban” is becoming annoying. The way it gets tossed around now has diluted what it once meant.
basically they trying to say black people music
“Urban,” in terms of music, used to be another word for R&B. Now its been twisted into being a term for pop singers who can’t sell themselves as R&B, but still want to incorporate fragments of black music into their sound. The sad thing is that even black artists are now falling into the new definition of “urban”. And the more widespread it becomes, the more it redefines everything — to the point where actual R&B music is being called “urban,” instead of R&B…only because “Urban” is now the more commercial term. So basically if you’re a white singer with a rhythmic track, it’s “Urban” and if you’re a black singer under the age of 30, you’re “Urban.”
You notice you can have a white person singing soul music but its pop or urban pop but a black person making clear pop music will always be labeled rnb
“Interesting times certainly lay ahead.”
*snicker* Yeah if you were born in like 2000. Thefuqisthisshit.
It boggles the mind that anyone ever took 1D seriously in the first place and that the industry is now trying to snap up its members for solo projects. 1D group album sales were modest. They didn’t permeate pop culture outside of their base…and whatshisface Zayn Sadam or whatever is not living up to the generated hype. Give up the ghost and invest in something real. Backstreet/Nsync they weren’t.
y’all already playing favs I see… why is there no post about Niall’s across-the-world Top 10 iTunes hit, huh?
I was never interested in them as a band but I’m here for solo Liam and Niall. Zayn kinda disappointed me but I still feel he’s talented.
but how do we know this collab is for Liam’s solo project and not for say Cheryl? I thought he was writing for other artists
Couple of things.
Pharrell os well known for making pop records.
I’m also tired of these whyt boys (and gals) putting their thin vocals over good beats whilst black guys and girls are struggling to get a deal or recognised with the same music. None of the 1D crew were exceptional singers and Zayn was the strongest.
another culture vulture. great.
How urban can you be if your producer got on pink suede timbs
Hmmm interesting