Halloween has only just begun, but Liam Payne is already thinking about this Christmas season. The ex One Direction member announced this Tuesday that he will be releasing a new single, titled “Naughty List” this Friday, October 30th to usher in the 2020 holiday season.

Rumors had been circulating that Tik Tok star turned singer, Dixie D’Amelio may be featured on the track as well. While the collaboration has not been outwardly confirmed, multiple signs have led fans to believe that it is actually happening. When searching up the song on Apple Music, Dixie shows up as a featured artist. Payne also shared a clip of the song on TikTok, and it very clearly has a female’s voice in the background, which fans have begun to believe is the young Tik Tok creator. The biggest giveaway? Dixie then duetted the video of Liam Payne sharing the song, and comments from fans basically confirmed the rumors.

So what does this collaboration mean for both Dixie and Liam? On Dixie’s end, this collaboration is a huge step for career as a musical artist following the release of her first single “Be Happy” this past summer, and the remix collaboration with blackbear and Lil Mosey. This also exposes Dixie to a much larger fanbase than she had previously, as many of Liam’s loyal One Direction fans still keep up with him in his solo career.

However, for Liam Payne, fans do not see this as a great move for his career and reputation as an artist. Being a member of what was one of the largest boy bands in the world, many fans expected him to choose a more established artist to work with on new music, rather than a young Tik Tok star with little experience. Many fans' comments on Dixie’s duet showed disappointment, saying “respectfully, no” or “absolutely not. I’m sorry but no.” Some even blatantly pointed out how this collaboration could be a setback for Liam by commenting, “he went from collabing with Harry Styles to Dixie,” and “you could’ve done a collab with literally any other celebrity (including 4 certain men)”, seemingly indicating that they are still waiting on a One Direction reunion to occur.

Are Liam’s fans simply bitter over his choice of collaboration because he did not work with his ex bandmates? Or is this really a setback to Liam’s music career while Dixie makes big leaps in the music industry? Regardless of the publicity aspect to this release, the short clip from the song does prove to be quite catchy and set the Christmas spirit into motion. If you are interested to see whether this Dixie D’Amelio - Liam Payne collaboration is really happening, the song is releasing this Friday on all streaming platforms. Don’t forget to check it out!