Far from the first time a line
of sexy singles has led to a
One Direction member, this
four-track EP marks the first
major record from the 1D
alum (he was “the hot one,”
says EW’s intern) after a string
of songs in 2017 establishedLIAM PAYNE
FIRST TIMEg
the sweet spot of Payne’s
bedroom-ready solo sound.magic, of fun. It’s a
place that certainly
transformed me. This
was a regurgitation
of everything that
saved me in my life.
The gift that was
given to me by being
introduced to the
theater, I wanted to
give to kids.Theater has so many
moving parts, and
you really conjure that
chaos in the book.Corduroy is discov-
ering it for the first
time. No matter
what corner you turn
in the theater, there’s
something new to
discover that keeps
you exploring. In the
theater, it doesn’t
matter—you could
be the jock, you
could be the nerd,
you could be the
goth queen—it
captures everybody.
And that’s why I
really wanted to
end [the book] with
Corduroy taking
a bow. It’s an accep-
tance. Theater is a
space of belonging.
Taking a bow is the
ultimate act of say-
ing, “I belong. I’ve
been accepted,
and I’m being seen.”Did you rediscover
that magic of theater
yourself as you
wrote, seeing and
exploring it as if
for the first time?Yeah! I was exploring
my first love of
theater while I was
writingCorduroy—
through a bear! I
explored every bit
of the theater that
has left an imprint
on me. Sometimes
you forget that stuf.
Sometimes you
need the imagina-
tion of a child to
come back to life
again—to remember
why you fell in love
with anything.Run &
Done
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