variety.com
26.05.2023 / 13:23
Niall Horan on His Love of Blake Shelton, Respect for Former One Direction Bandmates and Ambitious New Album, ‘The Show’
Mike Wass The road from boy band fame to solo stardom is notoriously bumpy, but Niall Horan made the transition look easy with 2017 debut album “Flicker.” Eschewing the pop of One Direction for earthier, singer-songwriter fare, the Irishman carved out his own artistic identity — one hit at a time. Horan, 29, then broadened his sonic horizons on “Heartbreak Weather,” but its release coincided with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and promotion suddenly ground to a halt. With time on his hands for the first time in a decade, the pop star looked inward and started writing “The Show.” His third album, due June 9 via Capitol Records, finds Horan laying his feelings bare as he opens up about love and the rigors of adulthood. “If I made this album four years ago, I probably wouldn’t have written some of those songs,” the hitmaker muses. “The pandemic was a good time for me to reflect on everything that’s happened up until that point.”