A handwritten note from Taylor Swift to Liam Payne — in which she tells him she’d “always been rooting” for him — will be hitting the auction block in December.
By Website Content Manager
The One Direction member passed away in October 2024 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A handwritten message Taylor Swift wrote to the late Liam Payne in 2017 is now headed to auction.
In the heartfelt note — dated “12.1.17” — the 35-year-old singer expressed her support for Payne and his solo work.
The letter will be sold on Dec. 2 through Omega Auctions, where it’s estimated to fetch between £5,000 and £10,000 (approximately $6,500–$13,150).
The auction listing explains that Swift gave the card to Payne — who died at age 31 on Oct. 16, 2024 — before they each took the stage at the Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball at London’s O2 Arena. Both artists performed at the event on Dec. 10, 2017.
Printed on Swift’s personalized stationery, the message reads: “Liam, it’s been a while! I’m thrilled for you — you’re absolutely killing it. I love ‘Bedroom Floor.’ Watching your success from a distance has been amazing, and I’m always rooting for you. Have an incredible show tonight!”
Expecting serious interest in this. An original handwritten note from #TaylorSwift to Liam Payne, December 2017. Offered in our 'Showcase' sale of music memorabilia, 2nd December.https://t.co/qdH6M4cctB pic.twitter.com/RseXrC9rAj
— Omega Auctions (@OmegaAuctions) November 12, 2025
Swift ended the letter with her signature, placing it inside an envelope addressed to “Liam” and decorated with stars. The envelope was sealed using her custom wax seal featuring the letter “T.” The back also included the words “Nashville, Tennessee,” a nod to the city where Swift relocated as a teenager to pursue music.
According to the auction listing, Payne later passed the note along to a “close associate” not long after he first received it.
PEOPLE has reached out to Swift’s representatives for comment.
Payne released “Bedroom Floor” in October 2017, following earlier solo tracks including “Strip That Down” (May 2017) and “Get Low” (July 2017).
His solo work came after One Direction announced their hiatus in August 2015. The group officially began their extended break in January 2016 after their fifth album and following Zayn Malik’s departure in March 2015.
Although neither Swift nor Payne ever publicly addressed their friendship, Swift has interacted with several One Direction members over the years — and famously dated Harry Styles. The two were first linked in March 2012 and separated in January 2013.
Swift has also been seen spending time with Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson at a Billboard Music Awards afterparty, and she teamed up with Malik on the 2016 hit “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.”
The auction listing arrives shortly after the one-year anniversary of Payne’s death.
Payne died after a fall from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina. An autopsy later determined the cause of death to be “polytrauma,” a term used for multiple traumatic injuries affecting several organs or bodily systems, according to the National Library of Medicine.
A toxicology report released the following month by the prosecutor’s office stated that Payne had alcohol, cocaine, and prescription antidepressants in his system at the time of his death.