Liam Payne and J. Balvin bring summer on new single
I think it is safe to say that Liam Payne does not like to do things on his own. The former One Direction star started his solo career last year, but all his singles apart from ‘Bedroom Floor’, have been collaborations with other artists. His debut ‘Strip That Down’ featured a rap from Quavo, ‘Get Low’ was recorded with hit producer Zedd and with Rita Ora he released 50 Shades Freed duet ‘For You’. His new single ‘Familiar’ is out today and this time Payne gets some help from Colombian reggaeton star J. Balvin.

Liam Payne has not yet announced his debut album and at this stage it is hard to tell in which direction he was going. He tried a (dated) mix of pop and hiphop on his debut, moved to dance with Zedd, while his new track explores the sounds of latin pop. Payne and his team must have noticed the revival of this genre thanks to monster hits like ‘Despacito’, but ‘Familiar’ actually might come slightly too late to fully take advantage of the hype. Although the chorus is incredibly simple and repetitive, it is his best single so far (if we count the fabulous ‘For You’ as a Rita Ora single of course). His take on the genre sounds more like Ricky Martin around the year 2000 than Bieber’s verse on ‘Despacito’, but there ain’t nothing wrong with bringing back the early noughties. Ask Anne-Marie! I don’t think this track will fully sell him to the public as a distinctively unique solo artist, but ‘Familiar’ is memorable enough to become an early summer hit!