Watch James Corden's epic musical riff-off with Liam Payne

He has gone head-to-head with a number of musical stars on his chat show in the past. 

And James Corden decided to make One Direction star Liam Payne his next target on Wednesday night, as he challenged the singer to a tense riff-off, the Daily Mail reports.

The singer, 23, was seen squaring up to the 39-year-old presenter onstage during the most recent episode of The Late Late Show - before the pair embarked on a playful boybands vs solo singers battle, after which Liam explained that he and Cheryl's son's name Bear was so-called due to the growling noises the baby made as a newborn. 

James, known for his love of performing on the show, began his latest skit by breaking into famous Backstreet Boys hits I Want It That Way and Quit Playing Games With My Heart - declaring that boy bands are far superior to solo artists.

Clearly miffed with the comment as a star of both genres, heartthrob Liam then emerged onstage ahead of his interview, to the delight of fans.

Outraged at James' words however, he declared as he came face-to-face with the presenter: "I just hear that you've been saying boy bands are better than solo artists?"

Not backing down, the former Gavin and Stacey star squared up to Liam, and jokingly nuzzled their noses together - leaving the pop star in giggles.

Returning to their fighting talk however, James then said confidently: "I've got boyband hits from before you were born."

To which Liam fired back: "Well I've got boyband hits of my own, and your beard is very soft."

Laughing as he backed away, the pair then embark on a tense song battle - with Liam trying his hand at a number of NSYNC and George Michael hits.

However, coming to a truce at the end of the 11-minute skit, the pair concluded their battle by teaming up for a perfomance of famous One Direction hit, Best Song Ever.

Liam also revealed to James what inspired him and Cheryl to name their child Bear. 

"When he was born, one of the midwives said it, he had this thing where if they don't have a good cry they get fluid in the lungs which is quite serious," he said.

"He was going like, "Grrr, grrr," when he was sleeping. So I had specialists running in and out of hospital all day, my missus was asleep, I had like 10 doctors come into the room.

"And in the end, the guy was just like, 'I'm not being funny, there's nothing wrong with him, he just likes to make a lot of noise.' And that's carried on ever since, so it just became Bear."

Clearly having a ball on the show, Liam immediately took to social media after filming to share a selfie of him and the British actor.

Pulling funny faces at the camera, the singer captioned the shot: "Corden I missed you man... tonight on CBS."

Liam has been promoting his debut single Strip That Down in the States in recent weeks, following the birth of his son Bear with girlfriend Cheryl, 33. 

This article was first published on Daily Mail and is republished here with permission.