‘Building the Band’ has Liam Payne’s last major appearance before his death

By ITZEL LUNA Associated Press LOS ANGELES AP Netflix s new reality show Building the Band unexpectedly became Liam Payne s last major appearance moments the show s hosts say they along with contestants and viewers are lucky to have The show features Payne as a guest judge offering pointed but witty advice to young bands chasing success not unlike what he achieved as part of the culture-shifting boy band One Direction Payne died in October after falling from a hotel balcony in Argentina not long after the show s production wrapped Getting to see the real true him that the world gets to remember him for which you ll see on this show is just a beautiful thing says the Backstreet Boys AJ McLean the show s host AJ McLean poses for a portrait to promote Building the Band on Wednesday July in Los Angeles Photo by Rebecca Cabage Invision AP Building the Band flips traditional music competitions on their head bringing together up-and-coming artists who are tasked with humming for each other and forming groups based on those performances The catch They can t see how anyone looks The first batch of episodes premiered in early July and the last sparse episodes including the finale will drop Wednesday The show ultimately follows six bands working to develop their group sound and performances until only one band is left standing winning the prize The show is hosted by McLean with Pussycat Dolls frontwoman and newly minted Tony winner Nicole Scherzinger mentoring the bands and Destiny s Child star Kelly Rowland serving as a guest judge alongside Payne Payne s impact on Building the Band The series opened with a dedication to Payne and his family in which McLean explained they never imagined we d soon be saying goodbye to our friend while filming the show Payne first appears in the seventh episode for the showcase where each band performs in front of a live audience and the judges only about a week after they form Related Articles Medical expert pleads guilty to selling Matthew Perry ketamine in the weeks before the actor s death These recipes were made for summer travels Dear Abby Can t move on from naked encounter songs to memorialize Ozzy Osbourne the great Black Sabbath frontman The Weeknd and Shakira will headline Global Citizen Festival supporting vitality access and the Amazon We were amazing dancers obviously in One Direction Payne joked in the episode while offering critiques to boy band Midnight til Morning whose members expressed hesitations with dancing onstage Band member Mason Watts then revealed his family had won tickets to sit front row at a One Direction concert when he was stoking applause from the crowd and a heartfelt response from Payne Ever since that moment I requested to be in a group Watts originally from Australia explained in the episode It s kind of a full-circle moment to be here with a group and performing in front of you So thank you man Landon Boyce a member of the show s other boy band Soulidified recounted The Associated Press that Payne left a lasting impact and was a leading example of how he hopes to carry himself as a performer I remember Liam just disclosed Have fun Boyce says He just reported us I wish One Direction kind of like did what you guys were doing And I kind of just took that as like let s just have fun and dance Payne is seen nodding along with excitement during the band s showcase performance when they sang Sure Thing by Miguel Bradley Rittmann another Soulidified member advised the AP they were on Cloud after Payne noted he would join their band Payne applauded their ability to own the stage and acknowledged the unconventionality of their band due to the members varying musical and fashion styles saying he wouldn t put you guys together but the impact was amazing How it works Love is Blind meets The Voice This show mashes together the likes of Love is Blind with music competition shows like The Voice secluding contestants in pods where they can only hear each other Contestants can express interest by hitting a button during the performance and then speak through voice chats to test their chemistry The initial contestants dwindled to just comprising two boy bands three girl bands and one mixed-gender group Contestants chose their bandmates without input from the host or judges It formed in the the greater part real raw authentic way says Aaliyah Rose Larsen a member of the mixed-gender band SZN I think we would have re-found each other in a million other lifetimes in a billion other shows because we were perpetually meant to find each other Aalith Rose Larsen from left Cameron Goode Donzell Taggart and Katherine Reorder of SZN pose for a portrait to promote Building the Band on Wednesday July in Los Angeles Photo by Rebecca Cabage Invision AP The conclusion of this process judges say are bands that labels traditionally wouldn t form given members differences in style and appearance an crucial pillar of the show McLean and Rowland say given the current state of the music industry Back in the beginning of our careers your sophomore album was the one that would make or break you Now you get one shot McLean says To be able to give the power back to these individuals to let them put each other together based on just raw talent and chemistry never seeing each other is a testament to truly what it is to be in a band An audience vote determines which bands continue on after each live performance The last episode of the first batch left viewers on a cliffhanger as Midnight til Morning and girl group Siren Society were voted in the bottom two The next batch will reveal who was eliminated Payne embraced the mentorship role Rowland says Payne was fully invested in the process and checked in regarding the bands progress after filming Payne had also expressed interest in mentoring the bands after the show ended Boyce remembers He was just honest He called everything out you know what I mean Before they saw it before we saw it Rowland says adding that Payne had numerous shining moments during his storied and decorated career but this was a really incredible one Nori Moore a member of Quency had a lot of firsts in the show as a young performer and says Payne s advice to contestants that they claim the moment every time they walk onstage was pivotal to her expansion as an artist Brianna Mazzola from left Nori Moore and Wennely Quezada of Quency pose for a portrait to promote Building the Band on Wednesday July in Los Angeles Photo by Rebecca Cabage Invision AP Larsen says viewers can watch the show and see his heart We know how much he loves the show says Katie Roeder another SZN member I know he s very proud of us and looking down on us