Harry Styles just gave fans a rare look into his grief over former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne, who died more than a year ago after falling from the third-floor balcony of a hotel room in Buenos Aires.

While speaking to Apple Music 1’s The Zane Lowe Show in an interview posted Wednesday (March 4), the British pop star expressed that “even the idea of talking about” his friend’s death is something he wrestles with still. “I think there was a period when he passed away where I really struggled with kind of like acknowledging how strange it is to have people kind of like own part of your grief in a way,” Styles told Lowe.

“I have such strong feelings around my friend passing away,” he continued. “And then suddenly being, you know, like aware of there’s maybe a desire from other people of you to convey that in some way, or it means you’re not feeling what you’re feeling or something, you know?”

Styles is likely referring to the way fans naturally looked to him — as well as the rest of the surviving 1D members — to speak out almost immediately after Payne passed away. Following the news that the “Strip That Down” singer had died on Oct. 7, 2024, with toxicology reports later finding he’d had multiple substances in his system at the time, the Pleasing founder addressed the loss in both a personal statement and in a joint memorial post with his ex-bandmates.

“I will miss him always, my lovely friend,” Styles wrote at the time individually, while his joint message with Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson read, “The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever. We will miss him terribly.”

“It’s so difficult to lose a friend,” the Grammy winner elaborated in his interview with Lowe. “It’s difficult to lose any friend, but it’s so difficult to lose a friend who is so like you in so many ways.”

“It’s like, I saw someone with the kindest heart, who just wanted to be great,” he added. “It was a really important moment for me in terms of taking a look at my life and being able to say to myself, ‘OK, what do I want to do with my life? How do I want to live my life?’ And I think the greatest way you can honor your friends who pass away is by living your life to the fullest.”

The interview comes two days ahead of the March 6 release of Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, Styles’ first album in four years. It’s also his first album since Payne’s death.

Watch Styles’ full interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1 above.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning (Feb. 28) — the same day Protoje’s Lost in Time Festival was slated to kick off its third staging — Israel and the United States mounted a coordinated attack on sites across Iran, sparking a still-unfurling global conflict that will likely define the year, and potentially the rest of the decade.

With the tension of an uncertain global future and the unbearable boots of imperialism and late-stage capitalism still digging into the back of regular everyday people, the Lost in Time Festival was tasked with easing emotions and heralding unity — two things that reggae music is uniquely equipped to facilitate.

Held at Hope Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica, Protoje launched Lost in Time in 2023 alongside co-founder and fellow St. Elizabeth native LeAnn Ollivierre. With his fast-growing festival, the two-time Grammy-nominee hopes to provide a first-rate festival experience for his beloved island that specifically champions reggae’s next generation. This year’s iteration, which pulled over 8,000 attendees across each of its two days (Feb. 28-March 1), also saw a portion of its proceeds benefitting Hurricane Melissa relief efforts — another reminder of our collective fate as global citizens that hung in the air over the weekend.

Moreover, the festival also helped kick off Protoje’s global spring 2026 tour, which will take him across the United States and Europe in support of his forthcoming The Art of Acceptance album. Modeled after iconic music and arts festivals like Coachella, Lost in Time featured several independent food vendors, a lineup that prioritized new-gen reggae stars, art installations and comfy suits for those willing to shell out a little extra bread.

The first night of Lost in Time featured performances by Joby Jay, Yeza, Iotosh and The Voice alum Tessanne Chin. Fresh off their 2026 best reggae album Grammy nominations, Lila Iké and Mortimer also delivered fiery sets, as did reggae icon Tanya Stephens and the night’s headliner, Protoje. Each artist put on a show that was worthy of their place on the lineup, but the one-two punch of Iké and Protoje was nothing short of magical.

Iké, who helped open the Grammy Premiere ceremony last month (Feb. 28), brought a powerful message of perseverance and resilience to the Lost in Time stage. Intense mental health challenges resulted in a rocky path from her debut EP (2020’s The ExPerience) to her star-cementing debut studio album (2025’s Treasure Self Love), and the Manchester Parish native laid her soul bare on Saturday night.

Rocking two-toned blue braids to match her streetwear-adjacent all-blue fit, Iké ripped through selections from her small but mighty catalog, supplementing each song with intimate, humorous banter. From the lively dancers that rushed the stage for “Romantic” to her serene rendition of standout standalone single “Good & Great,” Iké proved that she’s not only more than ready to rule festival stages, but she’s also verifiably headliner status. The Grammy nominee had every member of the audience wrapped around her manicured fingernail as she channeled the full gamut of emotions that ground her revelatory Treasure Self Love. Sure, more uptempo moments like “Fried Plantain” were particularly fun, but few Lost in Time performances matched the gravity of “Scatter.”

Of course, Iké also took an opportunity to honor the late reggae greats before her, namechecking Garnett Silk as she prepped her guitar for a section that included a cover of Grammy-nominated reggae fusion band Third World’s “96 Degrees in the Shade.” When she closed her set with a real-time testimony in the shape of her signature hit “Where I’m Coming From,” Iké tapped into the divine. For the first time in what feels like forever, a pop star saying some variation of “life gets better” or “there are brighter days ahead” actually meant something. Through her candor, Iké primed her set closer to be a song that didn’t just get bodies swaying but also kept brains thinking and hearts feeling. And that’s what reggae is all about.

After Iké cleared the stage, Protoje delivered a star-studded set that featured his own vibrant hits (“Rasta Love”), as well as appearances by Damian Marley, Romain Virgo and Original Koffee. In addition to a performance of “At We Feet,” his recent collaboration with Protoje, Marley also gifted the crowd a truncated set of his own, including his seminal “Welcome to Jamrock,” which predictably sent the crowd into a frenzy. His brother, Stephen, also performed a bit of “The Mission.” While Romain Virgo held it down for reggae’s lovermen on night one, it was Original Koffee who truly stole the show. The Grammy winner emerged in a white T-shirt, shorts and a snapback to assist Protoje for “Switch It Up,” their 2020 collaboration. Koffee hasn’t performed at a major Jamaican festival since 2022’s Reggae Sumfest, so her appearance absolutely delighted the crowd — and her voice sounded as pristine as ever.

Night two of Lost in Time festival featured performances by Dahvid Slur, Royal Blu, D’yani, Jah9, Juno Award nominee Naomi Cowan, two-time Grammy nominee Jesse Royal, and Grammy nominee Chronixx, in his first full set on Jamaican soil since 2019. Always dapper, D’yani delivered a suave showcase for the ladies. The electric Jesse Royal, whose set featured appearances by Yohan Marley and Jah Lil, enamored the crowd by celebrating his beautiful daughters onstage. Royal’s set was one of the night’s most passionate — from reflecting on his recent life-threatening car accident and taking the time to rebuke pedophilia. The final night of the festival was terrific, but the weekend’s big moment belonged to Chronixx.

The reggae savant returned last year with Exile, his first collection of new music since 2017’s Chronology. A raw celebration of the spirituality and humanity of roots reggae, Exile landed at No. 1 on Billboard’s 10 Best Caribbean Album of 2025 list — and Chronixx’s instantly legendary set was proof positive. As he stood on stage in silence, taking in the moment and holding reverence for where Jah has brought him on his life journey, a calm chill swept across Hope Gardens. This was going to be an all-timer festival performance. And that it was. Chronixx seamlessly crooned through older hits like “Eternal Fire,” “Big Bad Sound” and “Here Comes Trouble” before transitioning to Exile with cuts like “Keep On Rising” and dedications to the late Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.

And then, in storybook fashion, the power appeared to go out. Lights dimmed on the stage and all the sound cut, but the crowd responded the way only Jamaican reggae lovers could: with grace and music. As Chronixx tried to assess the technical difficulties, the crowd started singing songs from his catalog, with different pockets tackling different eras of one of contemporary reggae’s shining stars. After around 15 minutes, the problems were rectified, and Chronixx returned to the stage, with his time seemingly extended to account for those complications.

When the Spanish Town native broke out his acoustic guitar for “Hurricane,” a harrowing Exile standout that arrived just before Melissa devastated Jamrock, it seemed as though the audience shared one set of lungs. You could hear a pin drop as Chronixx cooed his way through the song; his soulful, grounded voice soaring across Hope Gardens and into the larger universe. Armed with a robust brass section, pitch-perfect background vocalists, an incredibly tight band and his own stirring voice and songwriting skill, Chronixx delivered a festival set that will be referenced, discussed and reflected upon for years to come. And that’s to say nothing of how nearly every Lost in Time performer put American lineups to shame with their sheer physicality, breath control and devotion to truly live music.

For two days, as the world around it continued to burn, Protoje’s Lost in Time Festival transformed Kingston’s Hope Gardens into a haven of security and serenity that also directly spoke to the great horrors of recent years. As the Epstein files slowly unravel some of the world’s most powerful circles, and as increased surveillance and senseless state-sanctioned violence batter the globe, reggae’s superstars-in-waiting proved themselves as worthy artists of their time — in catalog, performance, and musical adherence to the principles of the Rastafari religion that informs the genre and all its offshoots.

Ivy Queen is one of 19 artists who has tapped into La Liga Femenina, the first-ever, all-female album in the Latin urban space that’s produced by hitmakers Boy Wonder CF and Charlee Way. 

Leading the pack, the Puerto Rican artist describes the album as an ambitious project — one that took Boy Wonder and Charlee almost one year to create.  

“Having to bring together a group of women, even though it might seem easy from the outside, is very difficult from the inside,” Ivy tells Billboard exclusively. “I’ve tried to do something like this before, and it didn’t turn out the way I expected, but finally we’re in a different situation and full of empathy.”

La Liga Femenina (The Female League) is a compilation album that features songs from 19 urban powerhouses from different parts of the world, including Spain’s Mala Rodríguez, Mexico’s Bellakath, Puerto Rico/Cuba’s Mariah Anegeliq, Dominican Republic’s J Noa, Chile’s Loyaltty and Colombia’s Soley. Sonically, the album navigates from hard-hitting perreo to sultry Afrobeats to thumping electronic music.      

“That’s the vibe,” Ivy continues. “It’s a cocktail, and what better time to launch it than in such an important month [Women’s History Month] for us? It’s to show that women can do a project with various artists just as well as men. Every woman who joined this ambitious project is well represented, and each one is in her own element.”

On the set, Ivy’s song is an edgy, futuristic-like reggaetón called “Cría y Calle,” where she shows off her success. 

“It’s literally a fronteo,” she notes. “The lyrics are very much in defense of us women, specifically the whole team of girls on this album. It’s reggaeton mixed with newer, more polished sounds, although I don’t like to lose the essence of the school I graduated from. But the reggaeton is great. It’s a drill-type song. When you see the video, I’m teaching the girls the points of defense.”

Born Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez in Añasco, Puerto Rico, Ivy Queen has rightfully earned her crown as the Queen of Reggaetón. Since kicking off her music career in the 1990s, she’s landed 11 solo entries on Billboard’s Latin Rhythm Albums chart, including eight top 10s and two No. 1s. On Latin Rhythm Airplay, she has 20 entries. Her most iconic song to date, “Quiero Bailar,” peaked at No. 16 on the Tropical Airplay chart and debuted on Hot Latin Songs and Latin Airplay in 2005. 

“When you reach the point where I am, what you want is peace, tranquility, and to connect with what you want to do,” she expressed. “I’m not interested in competing with anyone. I’ve already done an impeccable job representing women with dignity … you have to create your own lane and maintain it with class. That’s something I always preach because it’s what I’ve always lived by.” 

La Liga Femenina drops Friday, March 6. You can pre-save the album here.