Liam Payne shares One Direction song that ‘makes you really happy and alive’ in old STAR interview

MANILA, Philippines —  Back in March 2012, The STAR had the opportunity to interview the late One Direction member Liam Payne on behalf of the British band, which also included Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik.

At that time, the boy band just broke records as the first UK group that shot straight to the top of the US charts with their debut album Up All Night, becoming “frontrunners” of the new wave of Brit talent shining in the music scene.

But before the US breakout success, One Direction’s debut album had already become the fastest-selling record in their home country, with debut single What Makes You Beautiful peaking at No. 1 in domestic charts and getting named Best British Single at the 2012 Brit Awards.

Liam enthused to The STAR back then, “I think us being No. 1 is the most exciting thing,” adding they were solo artists in the 2010 edition of the reality-TV talent search “The X Factor” in the UK, who were brought together by the show’s creator and judge Simon Cowell.

“No, we never met each other before ‘The X Factor.’ We were put together in the show and (at that time) we had only known each other for like three months,” Liam further recalled in the phone interview.

While they found it cool to be called a boy band, Liam said that One Direction “tried to do something a bit different as a boy band.”

“We are kind of making it like a bit younger and kind of real because some boy bands tend to be a bit fake and cheesy. I think we don’t want to be like one and we want to make it as best as possible.”

Despite not knowing each other at first, he said of his fellow bandmates: “We’re like brothers. We spend every single day together and no matter what, we’re friends. We kind of actually just get on (with each other) and everyone is similar. We have this same humor and we (enjoy) laughing together.”

During The STAR interview, Liam would reveal that his favorite song from their first record was actually One Thing, an uptempo pop-rock number about one's admiration for someone special and is best known for its anthemic chorus. It also happened to be primarily sung by Liam and Harry.

“I think it’s my type of music and I think it’s a really,