Niall Horan couldn’t be at the BRIT Awards to collect One Direction’s prize with Liam Payne because he was working "late in the studio".
Liam, 23, took to the stage at The O2 on Wednesday night (22.02.17) to accept the fan voted British Video Award for the boy band’s single ‘History’ and admitted he was blown away by the "devotion" of the Directioners.
Niall missed the ceremony because he was hard at work on his solo material but he did manage to make it to the Warner Music & Ciroc BRIT Awards After-Party held at Freemason’s Hall in London to let his hair down after a productive recording session.
Speaking to The Sun Online about his BRITs no-show, the 23-year-old Irish singer said: "I missed the show because I was in the studio until late. I’m gutted I couldn’t be on stage with Liam to collect the award. I basically have no life now. It’s pretty boring. I’m just working really hard on my album."
Niall was among a galaxy of stars to go to the exclusive party with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Noel Gallagher, Brooklyn Beckham, Ashley Roberts and Clean Bandit’s Grace Chatto all attending the bash.
In his acceptance speech, Liam – who is expecting his first child with girlfriend Cheryl – gave hope to 1D fans pining for the boys to get back together by saying "One Direction is who we are and who we will always be".
In the wake of the BRIT win – which saw the group beat former member Zayn Malik to the accolade – Louis Tomlinson took to Twitter to post a video from his home in Doncaster, England, to offer his gratitude for all the Directioners who voted for ‘History’ to win.
In it, he said: "Absolutely incredible. I mean, I’ve said it so many times but you guys continue to surprise with how incredible you are over and over again. This means a hell of a lot to all of us and again sorry I couldn’t be there tonight. I just wanted to spend the night with the family and do something special for them. But you guys – you are incredible. Thank you so much. Thank you for all the support through everything."
Harry Styles also took to his Twitter account to praise the 1D fans for their unwavering support even though the band are on hiatus.
He tweeted: "Thank you so much to everyone that voted for the BRIT award tonight, your support is unbelievable. Always has been. Thank you, Love you. H (sic)"