Liam Payne has offered an apology to fans who were offended by his song “Both Ways,” in which a woman invites him to have a threesome with another woman.
The track, released last December on his debut album LP1, caused debate on social media about whether it is a celebration of open sexuality and a woman’s right to make choices about her own body or a misogynist fetishization of sexually fluid women.
As the hashtag “#liampayneisoverparty” trended, Payne remained silent. But, in a new interview with Daily Star Online, the singer said: “I am sorry to anyone who got offended by certain songs or different things on the album for sure.”
Payne explained he didn’t set out to write sexually-themed songs but it was “confusing time” for him. “I was going through a lot of personal things that I didn't speak about a lot,” he said, “with song writing, stage fright and being scared of the future.
“Looking back on it now, it was just a moment in time for me.”
Payne said after the success of “Strip That Down,” his 2017 single featuring Quavo, he received a lot of sexy songs for consideration.
“I was pigeonholed into this kind of thing and of course, I am a young guy, I am interested in that sort of stuff,” he said. “I like the idea of the songs and the grooves or certain vibes so I was like 'ok let's go for it.’
"It was a growing period. It just kind of happened.”
A month before the release of his album, Payne appeared in a provocative Hugo Boss underwear campaign. For one image, he is seen standing completely naked in a window, with only part of a curtain covering him.
“I was standing there and all of a sudden it was, ‘Right, OK, take them off.’ I'm like, ‘Really? Take them off? Off, off? Like on-the-floor off? Oh, my God,’” he told Britain’s GQ Hype.
“And there was a real hollow moment afterwards where I was sitting outside smoking a cigarette thinking, ‘I have basically just shot soft-core porn.’ For one, my mum is going to kill me.”
Payne told the Daily Star Online he is now less focused on sex – at least musically. "I am a lot more chill about things these days,” he explained. “It's a rejuvenation rather than going down that route again. The music I am looking at now is a lot different.”
LP1 was a commercial disappointment, peaking at No. 70 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart and at No. 111 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S. It failed to crack the Top 10 in Payne’s native UK.
“Getting back in the studio I really am looking at what the messages are I want to say rather than just going through the motions of making a song, putting it together and going 'yeh that sounds good' and putting it out.
"It isn't really the way to do it.”