Press Association

One Direction's Liam Payne jokingly keeps ignoring bandmate Louis Tomlinson's calls

There are millions of people worldwide who would kill to answer Louis Tomlinson's call.

Liam Payne isn't one of them.

The former One Direction bandmates have a playful history of missed connections with the latest bout coming Thursday.

Payne posted his fresh new haircut and his watercolor painting tribute to Prince Philip to his Instagram Story, which tipped Tomlinson off:

One fan couldn't handle the cliffhanger and asked whether Payne finally picked up, to which Tomlinson assured, "Just spoke to him."

Payne and Tomlinson have been mates since Simon Cowell paired them with Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik on The X Factor to form One Direction in 2010. The world-famous boy band stayed together for around five years before announcing their indefinite hiatus in August 2015. (Malik had departed the group in March 2015.) 

All five guys have found success as solo artists since then. Most notably, Styles won his first Grammy for best pop solo performance ("Watermelon Sugar") last month. 

Payne released his debut solo album, LP1, in December 2019, which included top-10 Hot 100 single "Strip That Down" featuring Quavo. Tomlinson's debut solo offering, Walls, came shortly thereafter in January 2020.

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