Niall Horan Exclusive: "The Show was informed by the biggest life experience we've ever had"
13.06.2023 - 09:55
/ officialcharts.com
Niall Horan has been an Official Charts mainstay for well over a decade: first as a member of era-defining boyband One Direction; then as a solo artist who blends pop, soft rock and folk into inescapable bops like his recent Top 20 hit Heaven.
That chart-conquering song comes from his third solo album, The Show; a charmingly-melodic collection of guitar-led tunes out today. In an equally-charming interview, Niall talks about how the pandemic affected his songwriting process and outlines his aims for his latest album campaign.
It's the biggest cliché, but as an artist, when you've been away for three years, the nerves kick in even more. Because you just don't know [how it will be received]. Obviously I've got a strong fanbase and they'll be there. But you want them to like what you're putting out there. And a lot of shit has happened in that three years, hasn't it?
Heaven, to be honest with you. I was singing the first two lines of that chorus for about two or three days! And then it was like, "What is that? Am I singing a lullaby?" Like, I don't know what it is. And then, after days of me singing that, one of the lads just started playing the opening guitar and I was like, "That's exactly what it is."
Sometimes you need to hear a music [part] for it to match up, but it took a while to get to that point – like, you rack your own brain to get to there. And you've probably been past it six times already.
The pandemic. To be honest, that's the biggest life experience we've ever had. I don't want it to be "my pandemic album", but a lot of the concept came to me during that [time], when you're sat around just, like, listening to your own thoughts all the time. It just felt like a bigger thing. You know, [as musicians] we're