Niall Horan incorporated a recording of late One Direction bandmate Liam Payne's voice during the opening show of his Dinner Party Live on Tour in Birmingham on 22 September. The unexpected tribute played at the end of "End of an Era," the closing track from Horan's fourth solo album, adding emotional resonance to a song already written as a memorial to Payne, who died in October 2024. Horan had originally begun writing the track years prior but substantially revised it following Payne's death, describing the process as therapeutic.

The album Dinner Party debuted at number 7 on the Billboard 200, marking Horan's fourth consecutive top 10 album. In the recording, Payne reflects on One Direction's extraordinary trajectory after the band formed in 2010 on The X Factor, stating: "We thought something might happen, but never anything like this." One Direction achieved considerable commercial success with four number 1 albums on the Billboard 200 and six top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 before going on hiatus in 2016.