During the conversation, the British singer allowed himself to speak frankly about the pain caused by the death of his former bandmate, as learned from the Argentine News Agency. "It's very difficult to lose a friend," he expressed, and added that the situation becomes even more complex when it comes to someone with whom he shared so many similarities. "It's difficult to lose any friend, but it's very difficult to lose a friend who is so much like you in so many ways," Styles stated. Styles also referred to how strange it was to go through grief while the event had a huge public impact. As he explained, for a time he found it difficult to understand how part of that personal pain was being appropriated by the public and the media. When remembering Payne, the artist highlighted one of the qualities that defined him the most: "I saw someone with the kindest heart who just wanted to be great," he noted. The loss also led him to rethink many questions about his own life; in that sense, he said he began to ask himself how he wanted to live and what decisions to make from now on. For him, the best way to honor those who are no longer here is to live life to the fullest: "I think the best way to honor your deceased friends is by living life to the fullest." A day after Payne's death, Styles had already publicly expressed his pain through a post on his Instagram account. In that text, he recalled that the singer's greatest joy was making others happy and said that sharing the stage and his life with him had been an honor. In that farewell, he also dedicated a few words to the artist's family: his parents, Karen and Geoff; his sisters, Nicola and Ruth; his son Bear, and all the fans who accompanied him throughout his career.
