--- title: Watch Liam Payne and James Corden Sing Hits in Battle description: It's a battle of boy bands versus solo artists, in which One Direction's Liam Payne goes up against James Corden in an a cappella showcase. canonical: https://time.com/4931603/liam-payne-james-corden-riff-off/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-07T16:10:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:05.057Z og:title: Watch Liam Payne & James Corden Battle It Out in a Riff-Off og:description: It's boy bands vs. soloists in an a cappella riff-off og:url: https://time.com/4931603/liam-payne-james-corden-riff-off/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Liam Payne & James Corden Battle It Out in a Riff-Off twitter:description: It's boy bands vs. soloists in an a cappella riff-off twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # James Corden and Liam Payne Do Their Best Hanson in A Capella Battle > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=3486b2d4-242e-40a6-9f69-38b9c3c863f9&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 7, 2017 4:10 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 7, 2017 4:10 PM UTC It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a singing voice is good, but a boy band of harmonizing men is better. While James Corden was mulling over this critical fact during his show Wednesday night, out popped [Liam Payne](http://time.com/4794885/song-of-the-summer-2017/item/strip-that-down-liam-payne-feat-quavo/) of One Direction — a boy bander with a [solo career](http://time.com/4849770/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-18/item/get-low-zedd-feat-liam-payne/) of his own. “Don’t get me wrong, boy bands are great, obviously,” Payne admitted. “But… you can’t be slamming solo artists.” The duo settled on competing in a boy-band-vs.-soloist riff-off, a la _Pitch Perfect._ Joined by [The Filharmonic](http://time.com/4630094/neil-patrick-harris-james-corden-sing/), Corden and Payne then went head to head in their battle of tunes. Corden repped jams from the likes of \*NSYNC and Hanson, while Payne took a crack at hits from Georgie Michael, Ed Sheeran and his own single “Strip That Down.” Ultimately, however, Corden and Payne were able to find common ground. “I love boy bands too, you know. I’m in one,” Payne said, prompting screams of joy from the audience. (His use of present tense to describe his affiliation with One Direction strikes joy in the heart of any fan of the group, currently on an [extended hiatus.](http://time.com/4794745/niall-horan-one-direction-billboard/)) That was the perfect segue for the two to jump into a rendition of One Direction’s hit “Best Song Ever.” Payne, who is also [a new father](http://people.com/babies/liam-payne-son-bear-humongous-new-music-strip-that-down/), is yet to release his debut solo album. Meanwhile, his bandmates Niall Horan, [Harry Styles](http://time.com/4785837/best-songs-2017-so-far/item/harry-styles-sign-of-the-times/) and Louis Tomlinson are each in the midst of their music releases and solo tours. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4931603/liam-payne-james-corden-riff-off/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4931603/liam-payne-james-corden-riff-off/"},"headline":"James Corden and Liam Payne Do Their Best Hanson in A Capella Battle","datePublished":"2017-09-07T16:10:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:47:05.057Z","description":"It's a battle of boy bands versus solo artists, in which One Direction's Liam Payne goes up against James Corden in an a cappella showcase.","url":"https://time.com/4931603/liam-payne-james-corden-riff-off/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Music","Late Night Television","james corden"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4931603/liam-payne-james-corden-riff-off/","name":"James Corden and Liam Payne Do Their Best Hanson in A Capella Battle"}}]}] ```