Niall Horan shares the 'weirdest' part of Liam Payne’s death

It's been almost two years since Liam Payne suddenly passed away, but Niall Horan is still coming to terms with the 'strange' sense of loss.

In his first interview since Payne fell to his death from the third-floor balcony of a Buenos Aires hotel, aged just 31, Horan reflected on the moment he learned of the tragic incident.

Sitting down with content creator Will Shears, who presents the famous A Mug Of Life YouTube series , the Irish musician began: "It was very tough, like. I mean, the guy was only two weeks older than me; it's crazy. I grew up with this kid, and all of a sudden, it is no more.

"It's just, like, mind-boggling. I'll never be able to - I still haven't wrapped my head around it, I don't think. I probably won't for a while."

Horan, 32, added: "You just carry on, don't you? You don't really get proper time to sit on it. But, yeah."

Horan reflected on Payne's passing this week (YouTube/A Mug Of Life)

Payne had been in Argentina supporting former One Direction bandmate Horan, who'd been touring South America, in the days prior to his death. Coroners later determined that he'd died of multiple traumas, including internal and external bleeding.

"It's crazy because I'd just seen him," Horan recalled. "And we were having a great laugh like we always did, and the shock of it all was just a bit much.

"You go through all these phases with the grief thing. You think you could have done this, and you could have done that - should I have done this? Should I not have said that? You know. I don't know."

The 'Slow Hands' singer added: "I'm sure, in time, it'll get easier."

Horan also detailed the 'weirdest' thing he experienced in the wake of Payne's passing in a heartbreaking admission.

Payne was just 31 when he died (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

"It was all over the news, and that was strange," he reflected. "I was looking at the TV, and you'd see pictures on the TV, and I'd be in that photo with him.

"The guy next to me is just no longer with us. It's just very strange to me.

Horan went on to claim he turned off the TV 'straight away', after finding it too disturbing to see his late friend's face plastered across the news.

"The only good thing about the days that passed after was the clips that were fired around on the news, the stuff online - things I was being shown and sent from people that we'd worked with, and behind-the-scenes videos," he noted.

Following Payne's death, his three remaining bandmates, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik - who met on the 2010 series of The X Factor, before parting ways in 2016 - paid tribute to their friend. With Horan, they also attended his funeral.

Horan admitted it was 'weird' to see himself in photos with Payne after he died (Fred Duval/FilmMagic)

"They're all fond memories for me," Horan looked back. "That's what I have to go on, really. I don't want to remember any bad times, or something, because I didn't really have any bad times with Liam.

"All of my memories of him are fun, like us messing around all over the world, and just enjoying what we did."

He reiterated: "It's strange. Whenever anyone passes and you lose someone, they're just no longer with you.

"But one hell of a legacy he has."

Horan added that he '[hadn't] had anyone close to me pass before', aside from his grandfather, who died when he was too young to understand the loss.

"But this was the first time that someone close to me had passed," he added of Payne. "It's going to take time."

The pair had remained close up until Payne's death (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Elsewhere during the interview, the singer shed light on the impact that his friend's death has had on his own perception of life.

"It's definitely made me say no to less," he laughed. "If people are asking me to do something with them, and I just want to sit on the couch, I'll probably do it because you don't know how long you've got.

"You have to take it all in, get out there and - to use the cliché - live life to its fullest."