Liam Payne has signed with CAA for representation for all areas of representation. 

In March, the former member of One Direction released a single, “Teardrops,” written with *NSYNC’s JC Chasez. It was his first new music in three years. “Teardrops is out now,” Payne posted on Instagram. “This song is born from many tears, not all mine. I hope you love it like I do and not too many of you can relate.” 

Payne has never done a solo tour, having canceled a South America outing last fall after falling ill and being hospitalized with a severe kidney infection. Of course, One Direction was a touring powerhouse. Its biggest outing was the Where We Are Tour in 2014, which grossed $290.2 million and sold 3.4 million tickets over 69 shows, earning the band the No. 1 slot on Billboard‘s year-end Top Tours chart in 2014, according to Billboard Boxscore. 

Other than “Teardrops,” Payne has been relatively quiet in recent years — though perhaps the announcement signifies the start of a new chapter. Following One Direction going on hiatus in 2015, he released his debut solo single, “Strip That Down, “ featuring Quavo, which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2017. He subsequently released several other singles, including “For You” with Rita Ora, which was on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack and a top 10 hit in the U.K.  He released one solo album, LP1, in 2019 via Capitol Records. 

Payne also served as the first global brand ambassador for Hugo Boss in 2019 and worked with the designer on the Hugo x Liam Payne capsule collection, which debuted at Berlin Fashion Week in July 2020.