Nicole Scherzinger, mentor and judge on Netflix‘s new reality show Building the Band, is opening up about filming with Liam Payne before the singer’s tragic death last year.
The Pussycat Dolls singer was one of the creative brains behind One Direction during her time as a judge on the U.K. X-Factor, helping to put together the group that catapulted Payne and fellow band members Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan to global stardom in 2010.
Scherzinger spoke to Billboard about filming the Netflix contest — where 50 musicians form six bands without ever seeing each other — alongside host AJ McLean, Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland and Payne.
The British musician died aged 31 after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Oct. 16 in 2024. In a story published Thursday, Scherzinger reflected on her time spent seeing Payne’s rise to fame on the X-Factor and how much he appeared to enjoy shooting Building the Band.
“I thought it was so beautiful to see the journey, to see Liam come full circle,” Scherzinger said. “Especially my relationship with him, having helped form the band One Direction and then see him have such wildly, phenomenal global success with One Direction and with his solo career … [to see him] mentor these bands, it was really beautiful.
“I saw the joy it brought to Liam. I felt that this was his happy place. Like myself, AJ and Kelly, we’ve lived this. We’ve learned it.”
She continued: “To be able to bestow any inspiration and knowledge and wisdom and experience on any of these contestants and these bands, it brought us all joy. Particularly Liam. I felt this really inspired him and this was his happy place. This was his happy place because Liam was such a beautiful heart, and he loved to give back. He loved to help.”
Following Payne’s untimely death, the show’s producers and the star’s grieving family weighed Payne’s inclusion in the series. Ultimately, with his family’s consent, they decided to move forward.
Episodes of Building the Band began rolling out in groups, starting with the first four, from Wednesday, Jul. 9. Scherzinger said about the format: “It doesn’t get any more real than having a band put themselves together without any record execs or labels telling them what they have to do, what they have to look like.
“That doesn’t work anymore,” she added. “That’s the old formula.”
