Bruce Springsteen speaks out on the ‘enormous pressure’ the industry puts on young people in the wake of Liam Payne’s tragic death aged 31

American singer Bruce Springsteen has said the music industry is putting “tremendous pressure on young people” following the death of Liam Payne in Argentina.

The One Direction singer, 31, plunged from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

Speak with the Telegraphthe legendary musician, 75, said: ‘That’s not unusual in my line of work.

‘It’s normal. It is a company that puts enormous pressure on young people.

‘Young people do not yet have the inner facility or inner self to protect themselves from many of the things that come with success and fame.

The One Direction singer, 31, plunged from the third floor into the courtyard of the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday (photo 2016)

“So they get lost in a lot of the difficult and often pain-inducing things… whether it’s drugs or alcohol to take some of that pressure off.”

He added that he understands this “very well” from his own experience, as he has “been through his own struggles with different things.”

Springsteen describes his depression in the memoir Born To Run, saying he came “close to the abyss.”

Liam has opened up about how One Direction’s global fame changed his life and affected his relationship with drugs and alcohol, once admitting: ‘I don’t know if I’ve hit rock bottom yet.’

Speaking to Stephen Bartlett on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast in 2021, Liam admitted: ‘I was scared of how far my bottom would be. Where is the low point for me? And you would never have seen it. I can hide it very well’.

‘I don’t even know if I’ve hit him yet. I can make that choice now and choose my last moment as my low point, or I can reach a whole new low point.”

He admitted that he suffered from ‘social anxiety’ and ‘stress’ for years due to being famous, and discussed the strain his mental health faced while not having the freedom to go anywhere as a boy band member.

Meanwhile, he also admitted he was ‘very lucky to still be here’ when he spoke to Ant Middleton on his Straight Talking program in 2019.

The musician said: ‘Young people do not yet have the inner facility or inner self to be able to protect themselves from many of the things that come with success and fame’ (photo 2023)

Liam opened up about how One Direction’s global fame changed his life and affected his relationship with drugs and alcohol (pictured 2011)

Speaking to Stephen Bartlett on the Diary Of The CEO Podcast in 2021, Liam admitted: ‘I was scared of how far my bottom would be. Where is the low point for me?’

He added: ‘There are times when that level of loneliness and people meeting you so often every day… it’s like, ‘When is this going to end?’… that almost killed me a few times cost.’

Argentine prosecutors said the investigation into Liam’s fall is so far “inconclusive.”

He died of multiple traumas and ‘internal and external bleeding’, a post-mortem examination revealed.

Liam collapsed from the third floor of the Casa Sur Hotel courtyard in the Argentine capital on Wednesday before doctors confirmed his death.

The star had arrived in South America with his girlfriend Kate Cassidy on September 30, spending two weeks in Argentina after planning to spend “five days” there.

Police were called to the hotel after reports of an ‘aggressive man who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol’.

Shortly afterwards, workers heard a loud noise in the hotel courtyard before the Wolverhampton-born singer’s body was discovered just after 5pm local time.

Shocked fans gathered outside after police cordoned off the area as forensic examiners entered and exited the premises wearing white hazmat suits and blue gloves.

According to local media, the star allegedly ‘behaved erratically in the hotel lobby and broke his laptop’ before having to be ‘carried back to his room’.