AJ McLean remembers 'sweetheart' Liam Payne after latter's tragic death

AJ McLean just paid a tribute to Liam Payne.

The Backstreet Boys alum remembered the now-deceased One Direction star as “a light” as he looked back on the time he worked together with Payne on a new Netflix show.

While the two worked together on the music competition, Building the Band, where singers get a chance to build the next great pop group, along with Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland.

The four of them worked together and developed a rather close bond over the course of six weeks, about which the I Want It That Way crooner stated that all of them had "a great time."

AJ, who has remained vocal about his personal addiction battle throughout his career and has first experience in these kinds of situations, admitted to TMZ that he did not see the warning signs while he worked with Liam.

However, he did state that both the boyband heart throbs shared "lots of similarities,” and even though the two did not discuss their sobriety journeys, AJ recalled how he had conversations with the History crooner over “life” deeming Liam as "very funny" and a "sweetheart."

AJ McLean said of addiction struggles, "Addiction is a real thing. Fortunately, I came out the other end, but I’m one of few."