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.
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Zachary Newbould, from left, Conor Smith, Mason Watts and Shane Appell of Midnight Til Morning pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
Brianna Mazzola, from left, Nori Moore and Wennely Quezada of 3Quency pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
CORRECTS NAME OF BAND: Shade Jenifer, from left, Bradley Rittmann, Malik Heard and Landon Boyce of Soulidified pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
AJ McLean poses for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
Aalith Rose Larsen, from left, Cameron Goode, Donzell Taggart and Katherine Reorder of SZN4 pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
“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.
“Building the Band” flips traditional music competitions on their head, bringing together 50 up-and-coming artists who are tasked with singing 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 few 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 $500,000 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.
The series opened with a dedication to Payne and his family, in which McLean said 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.
“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 11, stoking applause from the crowd and a heartfelt response from Payne.
“Ever since that moment, I wanted to be in a group,” Watts, originally from Australia, said 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, told 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 said, ‘Have fun,’” Boyce says. “He just told 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, told the AP they were “on Cloud 9” after Payne said 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 result was amazing.”
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 50 contestants dwindled to just 22, 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 most real, raw, authentic way,” says Aaliyah Rose Larsen, a member of the mixed-gender band SZN4. “I think we would have re-found each other in a million other lifetimes, in a billion other shows, because we were always meant to find each other.”
The result of this process, judges say, are bands that labels traditionally wouldn’t form, given members’ differences in style and appearance — an important 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.
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 “many shining moments” during his storied and decorated career, “but this was a really incredible one.”
Nori Moore, a member of 3Quency, “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 development as an artist.
Larsen says viewers can watch the show and “see his heart.”
“We know how much he loves the show,” says Katie Roeder, another SZN4 member. “I know he’s very proud of us and looking down on us.”
Zachary Newbould, from left, Conor Smith, Mason Watts and Shane Appell of Midnight Til Morning pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
Brianna Mazzola, from left, Nori Moore and Wennely Quezada of 3Quency pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
CORRECTS NAME OF BAND: Shade Jenifer, from left, Bradley Rittmann, Malik Heard and Landon Boyce of Soulidified pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
AJ McLean poses for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
Aalith Rose Larsen, from left, Cameron Goode, Donzell Taggart and Katherine Reorder of SZN4 pose for a portrait to promote "Building the Band" on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)
