Liam Payne has been in the studio with rapper Ty Dolla $ign.

The former One Direction star has previously joined forces with rappers A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Quavo and J Balvin on his 2019 debut solo album, 'LP1', and he's said to be planning to drop new music before he hits the road in September.

However, his second album is "still being worked out".

A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: “Liam hit the studio with Ty towards the end of spring and they managed to record a number of tracks. The pair got on really well and have been in touch ever since.

“New music will come before his tour kicks off in September but in terms of an album, things are still being worked out. It might even be that the songs end up on one of Ty’s projects, if released at all.”

The 'Strip That Down' hitmaker's hip-hop and R'n'B-orientated first album reached number 17 in the Official UK Album Chart.

Meanwhile, Liam and former 1D bandmate Zayn recently appeared to put the past behind them after the former praised the latter's new music preview.

After Zayn, 30, teased his solo comeback single - which is due out this summer - on Instagram, Liam, 29, praised what he heard in the comments.

He wrote: “This sounds big already,” to which Zayn replied: “Appreciate it bro, thanks for the love.”

The rare interaction between the pair caused them to trend on Twitter.

During a controversial interview with Logan Paul last year, Liam claimed there are "many reasons" why he doesn't like Zayn.

He said: "There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.”

He later claimed he "didn't leave the house for three months" following the backlash over the interview.

Liam also claimed One Direction was formed around him and that he had outsold all their solo efforts with his own debut single.

And he admitted the way fans "turned on" him led him down a dark path.

He wrote on his Instagram Story: "It got quite dark for me for one point when you guys turned on me. I didn’t leave the house for 3 months.(sic)"

Liam - who has six-year-old son Bear with former Girls Aloud star Cheryl, 40 - admitted he had other issues going on at the time but he's glad to have turned a corner.

He continued: "You guys know I’m sorry about all that stuff I love my boys not sure what was going on with me other than I had a problem with me and I took it out on everyone else...

"Never had a bigger chip on my shoulder and I’m really glad to lose it.

"I’m hoping that you guys can forgive me in time because we’ve been through far to much but the jokes are funny keep em coming.(sic)"