The late One Direction member Liam Payne had spoken about the British boy band’s Filipino fanbase in an old interview.
The Philippine STAR talked to the singer way back in March 2012, wherein he mentioned how very much “aware” the five-member group was of their supporters from the Philippines.
“A lot of people actually tweet from the Philippines and on tour. Sometimes, we see #Bring1dtophilippines, there’s loads of different things that trend and we love that. We’re very aware of our Philippine fans,” Liam said in a March 2012 interview.
“Yeah, we spend a lot of time on Twitter, talking to our fans and stuff. We do things like follow fans as well. We try to talk as much as we can to the fans to make sure we get a little bit closer to them.
“I think we’re coming really soon. I think we’re coming a lot sooner than people know. We’ve got to go to America first for our tour, after, yeah, we’re coming very, very soon.”
It would take One Direction three years before they would visit the Philippines for the first time to headline a two-night concert on March 21 and 22, 2015 at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds.
While highly anticipated, the first Manila show also courted some controversy amid reports that the Bureau of Immigration (BI) ordered organizers to post a P400,000 drug bond as requirement for the special work permit needed for their performances at the SM Mall of Asia.
The Manila show also marked the first time that the band performed on stage minus Zayn. A few days later, he would announce his departure from the group.
On Oct. 16, news of Liam’s sudden passing shocked fans worldwide, including supporters from the Philippines. He was found dead after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was only 31.
His fellow bandmates have since shared tributes as well as a collective statement expressing how “completely devastated” they were over the loss of their “brother.”
“We will miss him terribly. We love you Liam,” their heartbreaking statement read.
