Hosted by McLean and that includes Nicole Scherzinger, Kelly Rowland and Payne as mentor/judges, the present follows aspiring singers who type teams — with out ever having seen one another in individual. And whereas AJ had years of historical past with each Scherzinger and Rowland — whose group Future’s Little one even as soon as opened for his Backstreet Boys — it was fellow boy bander Payne he actually made a robust reference to whereas filming the sequence.

“Liam, I knew as soon as the band shaped. As soon as 1D was shaped, we might see one another at award reveals or festivals,” McLean informed TooFab earlier than the sequence premiere, saying it was at all times “tremendous candy” for the group to quote BSB as certainly one of their inspirations in interviews. Whereas he initially bonded strongest with Niall Horan, simply by seeing him probably the most typically, he and Payne actually clicked once they began to work collectively.

“Whenever you put Liam and I collectively in the identical room, it was form of outstanding to me how a lot our lives had been parallel, regardless that there’s such an age hole,” mentioned McLean. “We have form of lived very comparable paths. That basically form of linked us from leap avenue.”

“Each had the identical form of witty humor, dry humor and simply speaking about music, sobriety, speaking about life,” continued AJ, who, like Payne earlier than his demise, has been very open about his points with habit and restoration.

“We had been form of in one another’s face for 14 hours a day, for like 5 weeks and also you’re gonna be taught any person, in the event that they’re open. And he is very open,” McLean recalled of Payne. “He lit up any room that he walked into and he was simply an absolute dream to get to know on a way more private stage.”

Payne unexpectedly handed away after fatally falling from his lodge balcony throughout a visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 16, 2024. The One Route member was 31, abandoning younger son Bear, whom he shared with ex Cheryl Cole. He had a number of substances, together with “pink cocaine,” in his system on the time of his demise.

“[The Backstreet Boys] had been on a convention name with our group speaking about [our upcoming residency at The Sphere] and this and that and the opposite, and my supervisor messaged me whereas we had been on the Zoom, the information [of Payne’s death],” McLean revealed. “And I used to be like, ‘Guys, I am sorry. I gotta sign off for a minute.’ I took a while after which I known as Nicole and I known as Kelly and all of us form of cried collectively and talked and simply form of received it out. It is unhappy, it is horrible.”

“Hopefully … I am assuming he is now not in ache, as a result of it’s a every day wrestle,” McLean mentioned of sobriety. “I am developing on 4 years sober. Am I there but? No. And I will not ever put the cart earlier than the horse once more. I’ve achieved that too a few years the place I’ve gotten complacent.”

“For me, I attempted to comprise it and simply concentrate on each day,” he mentioned of how he offers along with his personal habit journey. “What can I do to be higher right this moment and what can I do to be a greater father, a greater bandmate, and only a higher individual to others round me? I do not assume that was a difficulty with [Liam]. He was so type to everybody. You have seen divas earlier than. I’ve seen divas earlier than. There was nothing diva about Liam, in any respect.”

The Netflix reveals opens with a dedication from McLean to Payne, who seems within the later episodes of the season. Whereas the sequence would not drop till later this month, the One Route singer’s household has already screened the present — and spoke about how watching it again over the previous few months has allowed them to “nonetheless really feel shut” to their brother and see him at his “finest.”

That is a sentiment shared by McLean.

“I am longing for all of the 1D followers and for his household and for anybody that knew him, that they get to see him the way in which he actually was, at his finest and simply the person who everyone actually knew him for,” mentioned AJ, noting that each of them had their “struggles” in very totally different instances, with a few of Payne’s taking part in out on social media.

“However we know the actual Liam,” McLean concluded, “and he was a freaking legend.”

The primary 4 episodes of Constructing the Band premiere July 9 on Netflix, adopted by episodes 5-7 on July 16 and the ultimate two episodes on July 23.