Niall Horan is about to release his fourth album, and he's already excited about making the next one. Before he even wrapped up his 2024 tour, he was thinking about what his next would look like. It's easy to assume, then, that before One Direction called it a day (sorry, an 'indefinite hiatus') in 2016, he was thinking about what his own material might sound like.
Ten years on from the release of his debut solo single 'This Town' and Niall has stuck to his guns with the intensity of a fly to a generously iced bun. From the start, he did whatever came naturally; for Niall, it was pretty much set in stone that he'd be the guy with a guitar. Now, a few albums later, he's carved out a career for himself that has not only outlasted the one that flung him into the limelight but has solidified his place in modern pop.
But if Niall's million-miles-per-hour career beginnings have taught him anything, it's to slow down. 'Dinner Party' meets the star at a point where he's entering his thirties, settling into routine (hardly an average one, mind you) and taking more chances musically.
We meet Niall in the middle of a very hectic day. He dials in from London (where he spends half of his time, the other half is spent in Los Angeles) amidst preparations for Radio 1's Big Weekend in Sunderland, his first live show back since wrapping up his tour for 'The Show' in South America almost two years ago.
"After the tour, I just needed to step away for a little bit and live some of my life," he says. "For this album, I think my personal relationship plays a big part in it, and everything that comes with that. There's a bit of everything, from nostalgia to excitement for the future and for being in the present. And love, and loss, and fear of losing that person or fear of losing anyone."
He's almost astonishingly down to earth, with the same Irish charm that won over nations when he was a teenager, doubled down on by his admission that releasing an album has never stopped being a nerve-wracking process. But with his last full-length, Niall also took the leap towards his first solo arena circuit and wound up with enough inspiration to fill the next album.
"I've always wanted to make the most sonically live-sounding thing I possibly could," he says. "I feel like the world is kind of heading that way a little bit more. What we're listening to in pop music is definitely sounding more live these days, so I've been waiting in the wings for that to happen so I can make it. We didn't really try to complicate the recordings. There's mainly just acoustic guitar, a couple of electric guitar parts, a synth part or a keys part, and drums and bass, and we kept it pretty straightforward. I think that leans into things I love, like Britpop, you know, Oasis, Blur, then like Radiohead, especially from a melodic standpoint. I tried to try to copy Thom Yorke subconsciously; his cadence for his melodies is always something that I've been interested in."
