Simon Cowell's Search for 'New One Direction-Style Boyband' is 'Well and Truly Over' in Wake of Liam Payne Death: 'There's no Way He's Going There Again'

Global music mogul Simon Cowell has told insiders his search for a new One Direction-style boyband is "no more" after he scrapped plans for a telly talent search for the next big thing following Liam Payne's death.

The demise of the singer aged just 31 following his well-publicized battles with drugs and the price of fame has brought the boyband phenomena sharply into focus in the world of showbiz, RadarOnline can reveal.

Now the TV talent competition format looks to be over.

Cowell’s latest Netflix show, in which he searches for 'The next big boyband', has been canned mid-production.

Just 40 people turned up to the first date of the show's auditions in the UK city of Liverpool — birthplace of The Beatles.

And further dates were said to have been subsequently canceled.

A source said: "The amount of railings they put up suggested they were expecting hundreds or thousands of people to arrive and pack out the queues but they had a fraction of those kinds of numbers. Simon says the boyband is no more. It's had its day and Liam's death has hastened that."

After a disappointing start to filming, the Netflix show, originally rumored to be called The Midas Touch, was said to be turning away from the idea of creating a new boyband and instead becoming a documentary about their dwindling influence in the music industry.

Our source added: "Many of the singers turning up are cast-offs from bands that didn’t make it in previous talent shows. But perhaps more crucially, Simon has now to come to terms with the fact that maybe the era of the chart-topping boyband is over. It is devastating for him but he is a realist.

"It's not controversial to say gone are the days when four or five average-to-handsome boys were willing to queue up to audition to be part of The Next Big Thing, given individual makeovers that made them look even more similar, and go on to spend years dominating the charts."

A spokesperson for Cowell insisted the project was still going ahead, despite it being hit with a major blow in the summer when only 40 wannabe singers turned up to an audition call in Liverpool, north England.

Despite widespread reports the documentary on the X Factor mogul’s search for a new boyband is going to be called The Midas Touch, they also said it was not the title.

They added: “This project is primarily a search for a boyband, which is being documented; it is not a 'show', nor is it titled The Midas Touch.”

Meanwhile, one of Netflix's current top shows is called Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam.

The three-part documentary uncovers the dark side of former talent manager Lou Pearlman, who was responsible for bands like 'NSync and Backstreet Boys and reportedly formed the groups as a continuation of his own criminal Ponzi schemes and money laundering.

The news comes as cops probe the possible theft of Liam Payne's Rolex watch.

He was reportedly wearing the expensive watch two to three hours before he jumped from the third floor of a hotel, according to local newspaper La Nacion.

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