The real reason One Direction will never reunite – after turning down Liam Payne tribute

One Direction

One Direction turned down the chance to perform at the 2025 BRIT Awards and pay tribute to Liam Payne (Image: Getty)

The reason One Direction will never reunite has reportedly been revealed.

It comes after Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik allegedly turned down the chance to perform at the 2025 BRIT Awards and pay tribute to Liam Payne following his tragic death last October.

And it was reportedly Harry, 31, who didn’t want to perform alongside his former bandmates again due to his phenomenal success as a solo artist.

A music insider told The Sun: “Thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears have gone into making Harry a superstar and he has spent a decade getting to a place of respect and legitimacy in the music business.

“He has won awards and hit new heights away from the band. Some people believe any return would have to feel like the right moment – and that doesn’t feel like it is going to be any time in the immediate future.

Harry Styles

Harry Styles reportedly didn’t want to reunite with his former bandmates due to his solo success (Image: Getty)

“Recently he has taken a step back from the limelight and has been taking a break after putting out records and touring for the past five years.”

The source added: “Reunions can often be seen as a cash grab too. It would just look like he has lost faith in his solo career if he bowed out to do something which he knows will be an easy earner in the short term.”

In January 2016, One Direction announced that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus as they wanted to focus on solo projects.

The group were reportedly approached by bosses about performing at the 2025 BRIT Awards on March 1, but declined because they felt it could distract from remembering Liam at the event.

Liam Payne

Liam died after falling from a balcony in Argentina last October (Image: Getty)

Liam died aged 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina last October. His cause of death was confirmed as polytrauma – a medical term used to describe the condition of a person who has been subjected to multiple traumatic injuries to their body parts or organ systems.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Liam died of multiple traumas alongside internal and external bleeding. Authorities dismissed the possibility of suicide, believing that the singer was likely in a state of “semi or total unconsciousness” when he fell.

At the time of his death, Liam had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of “up to 2.7 grams per liter in his blood”, according to the National Criminal and Correctional Prosecutor’s Office No. 14.

This is more than three times the legal driving limit in the UK, which is 0.08. In addition to alcohol, the toxicology report found traces of several substances in his system, including “cocaine metabolites, methylecgonine, benzoylecgonine, cocaethylene, and the antidepressant sertraline”.