The mood was typically celebratory at Harry Styles‘ residency show at New York’s Madison Square Garden Friday night, but Harry Styles was not about to let the second anniversary of the death of former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne go unremarked upon — or, to the shock of fans, unsung about.
Styles used the encore at MSG to premiere “What Is Enough,” a song he said he wrote “about two years ago” but has kept private until now. Performed as an acoustic ballad with minimal accompaniment, the number had Styles singing his thoughts aloud to Payne, to “help you understand what you leave behind.” In the lyrics, he further described the funeral that took place Nov. 20, 2024, singing, “I could tell you what it’s like to bury friends on a Wednesday night, gathered in the garden ’round a fire.”
Fans who were in attendance or have seen video of the performance struggled to make out all the words, between the cavernous sound of the arena and Styles’ extreme soft-spokenness in delivering this musical eulogy. But among the touching lines that seemingly could be made out were such sentiments as: “Among the stars above, the friend in all those satellites… I’m not wise enough, but I wrote you a letter just to burn it up, and watch it rise.”
Styles backed into the song with a preamble that at first seemed just to be a “drive safely”-type goodnight message, before it turned out to be much more than that. “I hope you keep looking after each other, and please get home safety,” he said. “Tell a stranger you love ’em; tell your friends that you love ’em.”
He then started reflecting on his history with the building. ”Being here, I feel incredibly lucky to get to play these shows here in New York. This building means a lot to me, as I said, and I feel incredibly proud when I get to look up there and see my name up there from last year,” he said, acknowledging a banner celebrating his previous success with a “Together, Together” run of shows at MSG. “And there are so many people in my life, friends and people that I’ve worked with, that I wouldn’t have been able to do this without. And two years ago today, I lost one of those friends. It’s sad. I’m sure a lot of you have been through similar things. I hope you haven’t. But, really, it’s just about looking after each other. And there are so many people more than my name that is on that banner. There are so many more people behind it, so many people who have touched my life in such special ways. I wouldn’t be here without them.”
To huge cheers, he then announced, “I’m gonna play you a song that I wrote for my friend about two years ago, if that’s all right with you… This is ‘What Is Enough.'”
Following the surprising premiere, Styles returned to the show’s regularly scheduled programming, rounding out the encore with “Sign of the Times” and “Aperture.”