Liam Payne went under fire last year for claiming that One Direction was formed around him, and insisting that he outsold all the other members--Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, as well as former member Zayn Malik.
Many criticized him for jumping on a podcast with Logan Paul to spread hate about a group that he was once a part of.
"After that video was uploaded, I went away for a little bit, if you noticed," Payne said in a newly uploaded video to YouTube. "[...] I kinda had to go away to, get better, let's say. The whole thing up to that point of where it was was kind of scrambled to stay relevant, let's say."
The video is eight minutes long, and titled "I'm Back..." The "Strip That Down: singer is wearing a simple crewneck and seated in a couch with a piano behind him in the shadows.
Since his controversial interview, Payne has reached out to some of the members and shown his support towards their music and careers, like Tomlinson's documentary and Malik's music teasers.
"[...] That was the most important, I was getting back to the roots of it to find out why I like doing this, why I like making music for you guys," Payne continued.
"Who am I? What do I actually want to say to you? It's a really privileged position where I am right now, and I actually want to make use of it."
Liam Payne Apologizes for Controversial Interview
When the podcast interview first came out, One Direction's fans were dismayed by how arrogantly wrong Payne was about how he "outsold" his other bandmates.
They pointed out that he was simply insecure and angry about it, which he eventually acknowledged in his YouTube video.
"A lot of what I just said came from the wrong place," Payne admitted. "[...] And I just think, yeah, I just took it out on everybody else. My own frustrations with my own career, where I could have landed; I took shots at everybody else, which is wrong. So obviously I want to apologize for that."
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Liam Payne Receives Hate, Death Threats
Shortly following the interview, Payne took part in a soccer aid. He claimed that he was so hesitant of going onstage after receiving so much hate and death threats.
Elsewhere in the video, though, Payne eventually admitted that he "never had a bigger chip on [his] shoulder" and he said that he is "really glad to lose it."
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