Liam Payne declares himself ‘free of 1D’

Liam Payne has declared himself "free" of One Direction" with his debut solo single ‘Strip That Down’.
The 23-year-old hunk dropped the song on Friday (19.05.17) and the lyrics see him seemingly take a swipe at his bandmates – Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson – on the track by stating he is relieved they are on hiatus.
He sings: "I used to be in 1D now I’m out free/ People want me for one thing but that’s not me."
Liam – whose girlfriend Cheryl gave birth to their baby son Bear in March – has also admitted he is not a fan of Harry’s new music, but he does like Niall’s singer/songwriter style.
In an interview with Music Choice, he confessed: "Harry’s song I heard, and I’ll be honest with you … it’s not my sort of music. It’s not something I’d listen to.
"Niall had ‘Slow Hands’ out and he had ‘This Town’, which is great, and Niall’s gone down the singer-songwriter route, which is really cool."
Liam says he has "come a long way" since One Direction.
Speaking of his new single, he said: "I’ve been working hard in the studio for over a year and I’m really excited to share this new music with my amazing fans. I’ve come a long way since our One Direction debut and I hope everyone likes my new sound as much as I do. 2017 has been a big year for me already and I’m looking forward to what the rest of it will bring."
Despite saying he’s "free" from the ‘History’ group, Liam recently said there is an album that 1D fans – known as Directioners – are yet to hear which he hopes gets released.
And further down the line when the boys aren’t focused on their solo careers, he hopes the record, which he wrote half of, will be released as he thinks it "deserves" to be shared.
Asked about a reunion, he said: "It’s no disrespect, never any disrespect, I had some of the best times in my life in that band, and you know, some things I’ll never forget. It’s given me the greatest outlet to make my own music, and move forward.
"I don’t really know, it’s difficult to see how everyone’s gonna work out at the moment. I’d like to think there was one, and there deserves to be one. There was an album that wasn’t toured, which I wrote half of! I think it deserves it’s time. But we need to write another album, and do some more tours later on."