AJ McLean has fond memories of working with Liam Payne on “Building the Band,” as well as bonding with the late singer over music and their shared experiences.

The two singers are part of the upcoming Netflix singing competition, premiering July 9. Backstreet Boy member McLean hosts the show, while the former One Direction singer appears as a judge.

Payne died at the age of 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Oct. 16, 2024. His unexpected death shocked fans and people around the world.

“Building the Band” marks Payne’s final television appearance — and one that McLean says shows his compassion, kindness and talent.

“He lit up any room that he walked into, whether it was the makeup room, dressing room, on set. Wherever he was, he lit up that space with his energy, with his open heart, open mind,” McLean tells TODAY.com.

“Building the Band” centers around singers, isolated in their own pods, who have to create their own group without ever seeing one another, just hearing the others' voices.

Once the groups form, Payne, along with judge Kelly Rowland and judge and mentor Nicole Scherzinger, give feedback to the singers during performances.

McLean remembers Payne as a mentor to rising talent.

“He was just so well spoken, very supportive, rigorously honest, in a compassionate way,” McLean adds. “He always spoke from the heart.”

McLean recalls spending time with Payne in between takes, describing him as “the coolest dude.” He also says that Payne shared unreleased music with him and asked his opinion.

“I had known him prior to the show, but not as close as we got. Obviously, we’re with each other 12 to 14 hour days for about five weeks, you do learn a lot about someone,” McLean says, noting that Payne was “very inviting and very forthcoming.”

“He was just an absolute sweetheart, witty, funny. He sent me an unreleased body of work to get my opinion on it — and I never put that out there,” he continues. “I thought that was really sweet that he would entrust someone that he’s still learning about to give their opinion.”

After One Direction went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016, Payne embarked on a solo career. He released an EP, “First Time,” in 2018 and his debut album, “LP1,” the following year. His final song, “Teardrops,” dropped in March 2024.

Of the new music Payne was working on, McLean says, “I thought it was a great body of work."

“And I hope that the world and that the fans get to hear it somewhere down the road. It’s beautiful, beautiful music,” he says.

Aside from being in best-selling and popular boy bands, McLean touches on their shared life experiences and openness about their past addiction struggles.

“Honestly, we had a lot of parallel life experiences, (despite) our age gap,” McLean says. “But we definitely, I feel, lived very parallel lives, both sober and not sober.”

Prior to his death, Payne said that he had been in rehab for 100 days in 2023. In 2019, during an interview with Men’s Health Australia he shared that he used alcohol to cope with the fame of being part of One Direction.

Over the years, the Backstreet Boy has been candid about his substance abuse, sobriety and staying clean. In a 2020 interview with People, he recalled hitting rock bottom when he was with his then 3-year-old daughter Lyric.

McLean is grateful for the time he was able to spend with Payne, adding, “He was just an absolute dream.”

The first four episodes of “Building the Band” will be released July 9 on Netflix. New episodes drop Wednesdays, with the final batch on July 23.

Liz Calvario

Liz Calvario is a Los Angeles-based reporter and editor for TODAY.com who covers entertainment, pop culture and trending news.