Harry Styles turned a sold-out arena show into a memorial on Friday night. During his ongoing Madison Square Garden residency in New York, Styles debuted 'What Is Enough,' an unreleased song he wrote for Liam Payne, on October 16 — exactly two years after his One Direction bandmate died at 31 in Buenos Aires.
Before playing it, Styles reflected on the people behind his career. 'There are so many people in my life, friends and people that I've worked with, that I wouldn't have been able to do this without,' he told the crowd. 'And two years ago today, I lost one of those friends.' He added: 'I'm sure a lot of you have been through similar things; I hope you haven't, but really, it's just about looking after each other.'
He then performed the song alone with guitar as the first song of his encore — the 20th song of the set — singing of dancing until your time and imagining his friend among the stars, before closing the night with 'Sign of the Times' and 'Aperture.' Styles said he wrote the track about two years ago, shortly after Payne's death from a fall from a hotel balcony in Argentina.
The anniversary was marked elsewhere in the One Direction circle as well: Kate Cassidy, Payne's girlfriend, posted throwback video of their final hour together, writing '2 years gone without you here but an eternity of memories.'
Styles has spoken rarely about his grief, telling Zane Lowe earlier this year that losing a friend 'who is so like you in so many ways' is especially difficult. Friday's premiere — inside a 30-night residency — was his most public reckoning with it yet.
