It had been three long years since his last release when Niall Horan sat down at his piano to compose the beginnings of The Show. The smoky title track draws the curtain on Horan’s latest pursuit, underlying the premise for the project as a whole.
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Conceptually, the album adds a sense of melodrama to the familiar facets of pop music. He frames love through the lens of a cult leader in one moment and gives it cosmic proportions in another. That thesis helped Horan through inescapable bouts of writer’s block and widened the scope of his narrative immensely.
“It’s important to find other ways of saying things,” Horan shares with American Songwriter. “That is where the concept made the songs broader.
“I feel like it sounds like an album that a 29-year-old would release,” he adds. “I could have kept releasing the same stuff as I did before, but I feel like when my new influences come into play it’s [inevitably] gonna sound just a little more mature.”
The Show follows his 2020 album, Heartbreak Weather, which dropped as scheduled, but the ensuing tour was then promptly halted by the pandemic in March. Though it likely became a staple in many quarantine playlists, Horan was unable to meet his appreciative fans face to face.
That is one marked difference with the release of The Show, as Horan is currently bringing the album to the masses via a number of festivals he’s slated to play this summer. For Horan, his long-awaited return to the live circuit has made The Show all the more special.
“It would be great if the fans could connect to every song because it’s one of those records—the topics are relatable,” Horan says. “I think we all go through the things I am writing about. I’m excited to get out on the road and see the fans. I haven’t been in a room full of them in—I couldn’t even tell you how long.”
Horan started his solo career in 2017, about two years after One Direction decided to go on an indefinite hiatus (which doesn’t seem to be on track to end anytime soon). Horan made his debut with the folk-infused album Flicker, branding him as more of a singer/songwriter type than his former bandmates.
In their early days, Horan and his One Direction bandmates largely left the songwriting up to others. Slowly but surely, they started to grip the reins of their whirlwind success a little tighter, adding more hits to their own songwriting catalog with every release.
“Everyone [started to realize], ‘Oh, they actually have stuff to say,’” Horan jokes. “We were around a lot of great writers at the time, so [us getting into songwriting] just happened naturally.
“It was the albums where we had time to make them that we would get involved the most because, up until that point, we would make a record and go straight on an 18-month tour,” he continues. “So we didn’t have time for that kind of thing.
“I think it comes with age too,” he adds. “I started in the band when I was 17. I’d written a couple of bits but they were never any good. So I’m glad I didn’t [write] for a while because I got to learn how to do it properly.”
For Horan, writing Flicker’s lead single, “This Town,” instilled confidence in his songwriting. In his own words, he calls the cut a “Nashville” kind of song, that holds strong to the country music mentality of “three chords and the truth” being the pillars of great songwriting.
“I try and tell a story as much as I can in ‘This Town,’” he says. “The Irish folk and country music thing are very intertwined. Writing that song and seeing the success of it, I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this.’
“As writers, we like trying to be cool about lines and overly poetic, but the most successful songs are the ones people can relate to—plain and simple,” he continues. “It’s from the heart and I think that was said to be early on. I’ll always stick by that.”
Horan followed up Flicker with the far rockier Heartbreak Weather in 2020, earning his biggest single to date with “Nice To Meet Ya.” The success of that single made it clear that Horan had managed to avoid the sophomore slump, and was consequently only getting better with age.
With his third album signed and sealed, did Horan feel the pressure of continuing his thread of success?
“I like what someone said to me recently: ‘You have your whole life to write your first record and about 10 minutes to write your second one,’” he says. “It feels like, because of the pandemic gap, I’ve had more time to make the third album. I think you can hear that in the record. It sounds less stressful.
“But, there was definitely some pressure,” he continues. “I’ve been away for nearly three years, so it was massively important for me to get it right.”
Though it’s up to individual interpretation on whether or not Horan “got it right,” his goal of adding a flair of dramatics to life’s “ups and downs,” he pulls off tenfold.
A lot of the questions Horan ponders on The Show were born out of the singer being in his own head while at home during the pandemic.
Horan previewed the album with “Heaven,” a lush track about not ceding to societal pressures and taking life at your own pace. He laughs in the face of fate with a partner by his side in the lyrics and tops the whole production off with some harmonies that would find a comfortable home on The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
Let’s not get complicated
Let’s just enjoy the view
It’s hard to be a human
So much to put an answer to
But that’s just what we do
God only knows where this could go
And even if our love starts to grow outta control
And you and me go up in flames
Heaven won’t be the same
Horan wrote the song with John Ryan, Joel Little, and Tobias Jesso Jr. in Joshua Tree, California. The layered vocals and spacey musicality found on “Heaven” can be chalked up to both their “ethereal” surroundings and the new addition to the Horan team, Little.
“It’s hard to not get a bit ethereal when you’re looking out a window at Joshua Tree and seeing the sunsets,” Horan says before throwing some praise Little’s way. “Joel is like having a fresh set of ears. He worked on The Show and I thought, ‘This guy has to do everything.’
“Joel is an amazing room reader,” Horan continues. “He’ll be working on beats and then take his headphones off for a minute and say something that will skew the song in a completely different direction. He’s a good composer in that way.”
Horan, now 29 years old, finds that society is starting to push him in a certain direction. Whether it’s getting married, having kids, or any other milestone he “should’ve reached” by now, Horan is working on letting go of those expectations with the help of “Heaven.”
“At any age, there is a pressure from society saying, ‘You need to do this or that,’” he says. “I think that’s bullshit.
“You should be able to live your own life at your own pace,” he continues. “For want of a better phrase, ‘Live in the moment.’ That’s what I’ve tried to get across in ‘Heaven.’ Let’s not fuck everything up by trying to future-proof it.”
Bringing it back to the idea of “finding new ways to say things,” a standout from the record is the acoustic guitar-driven ballad “You Could Start a Cult.” Instead of taking the typical love song route, Horan puts his love interest on a pedestal, explaining that she is so magnetic that he could easily be more of an acolyte than a partner.
Baby you could start a cult, you see
Anywhere you go, I’ll be
You are so much more than beautiful to me
Oh, I’ll follow you ‘till there’s no tomorrow
I’ll follow you ‘till there’s no tomorrow
I’ll follow you ‘till there’s no tomorrow
I’ll follow you
Elsewhere, he creates a summer staple with “Never Grow Up.” The driving song, written with Shane McAnally, reminds listeners to never forget that they were very likely friends with their partners before they fell in love. In a similar vein to “Heaven,” Horan suggests throwing the typical life path out the window and maintaining that younger, starry-eyed love.
I hope you still dance like we’re falling in love
I hope you still drink like we’re back in the pub
I hope we grow old but, we never grow up
I hope we still fight over bands that we love
I hope we still cry because we’re laughing too much
I hope we grow old but, we never grow up
“The Show” begs the question: “If everything was simple, how would we learn?” If Horan’s show was actually put on a stage in the traditional Broadway sense, the title track would be the rousing, penultimate number. Horan takes a broody approach to the verses before launching into the chorus with a marked upward swing. Life’s downturns are all a part of the plan, according to Horan.
Got plans? Better hurry ‘cause time flies
Hold tight, get ready for the ride
If everything was easy, nothing ever broke
If everything was simple, how would we know?
How to fix your tears
How to fake a show
How to paint a smile, yeah how would we know?
“That was the first song I wrote at home, during the pandemic on my piano,” Horan says. “It was a big moment. Once I had written that one, I realized I was making a record. I sometimes struggle with writer’s block, but when you have a concept you feel is strong, you can run with it and map out exactly what you want to say.
“I think it all goes back to that,” he continues. “I think what makes a good writer is if you know what you want to say. It’s three-quarters of the battle.”
Echoing the way he described it himself, The Show is a mature evolution in Horan’s catalog. While Flicker and Heartbreak Weatherfelt more like Horan figuring out where he wanted to take his solo career, The Show finds him in a comfortable place—sure of himself and his outlook on life.
On top of sounding more mature, Horan also wanted the record to translate well live. Given that he is slated to play a slew of major music festivals this year—including Boston Calling, Pinkpop, TRNSMT, Lollapalooza Paris, and Electric Picnic—it makes all the more sense that the energy on The Show is palpable.
“The album is a lot more live-sounding because of some of the sounds that we chose, which is mainly down to John and Joel,” he says.
On top of sharing his latest record. Horan joined the latest season of The Voice as a coach alongside Blake Shelton, Chance the Rapper, and Kelly Clarkson. Having first stepped into the spotlight on a talent competition himself with The X Factor UK, Horan felt reinvigorated after fostering the next generation of aspiring musicians.
“They reiterated to me that it’s important to stick to who I am,” he says. “When I started on the show, I wanted to make mini-albums for my team. I said to them, ‘Let’s find out what your interests are and make each performance from the same breath.’ I wanted them to find what their thing is and what it isn’t.
“That reiterated to me that I should keep doing that myself,” he says. “‘Follow your instincts and do what you’re good at.’”
Horan no doubt followed his instincts on The Show, leading him to a stunner of an album that cements his standing in the pop world.
Photo by Zackery Michael
