When Niall Horan’s unmistakable Irish brogue rings out from the speakers of my computer, it’s obvious he’s in a cheery mood.
The former One Direction member has recently released his fourth studio album, Dinner Party (via Capitol Records), and while a certain buoyancy has been a motif of his musical output since the start of his solo career, his latest project is on another level. (Dinner Party riffs on Horan’s relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Amelia Woolley, its title inspired by the way they first met.) Consider a song like “Tastes So Good” (on which Horan croons longingly, “Can’t take another breath without you / Can’t walk down the street”) or “Pretty” (“Baby, can’t you see? You’re so fucking pretty”), a sort of spiritual successor to One Direction’s breakout single “What Makes You Beautiful.” But perhaps the most powerful moment on the album arrives with “End of an Era,” a long-gestating, bittersweet ballad that Horan rewrote following the 2024 death of his former bandmate Liam Payne.
I would imagine not everybody would be so open to that, and especially the result being so out there.
Yeah, I haven’t really dug into that with her. She’s just of the understanding that that’s what I do for a living. I’m sure sometimes she’s just like, Oh my God. I have played songs to her and she’s been emotional, so it’s a nice thing that we can have together, too.
There’s a story about Billy Joel writing “New York State of Mind”: he thought of the song while on a train and raced home to write it down, humming it to himself so it wouldn’t evaporate into the ether. Do you ever have moments of inspiration like that?
“New York State of Mind” is one of my favorite songs of all time, so I feel you, Billy. For me, I’d say it’s more so after the fact. When it came to the dinner party, I said, “Well, why not write a song about the thing that started it all?” I just wrote down the words “dinner party,” and it provoked a thought to keep that night in mind when I sit down and write a song and hear a musical vibe that makes me think, Oh, that kinda matches the emotion of that night. But they all can kinda come from everywhere. I’ll be humming something or I’ll be in a conversation with someone, and they’ll say something and I’ll have to walk out the room and make a voice note. “Sorry to be rude, but I need to go and write this down!” Then when I go to sit and write stuff, I’ll have a look back through my notes or my voice recordings.
One of the album’s most powerful songs is “End of an Era,” which I understand is your reflection on your time with One Direction and the death of Liam Payne. Can you talk to me about the writing of that song and its evolution?
Yeah, I’d written that a while ago, and it had completely different lyrics but a similar melody. The original song was basically saying, “Alright, new chapter in my life.” Looking back at the past with nostalgia, enjoying the present, and being excited about the future was basically the crux of it. But I never really hit the nail on the head with the lyrics, and it just kinda got parked in a Dropbox somewhere. I would attempt to write here and there and see if anything else would happen, but then, obviously, with the passing of Liam, it popped into my head. I was chatting with [producers] Julian Bunetta and John Ryan about it, and it was very much like: Oh my God, that song! If we just change a couple of things, it’s really about Liam and his passing. We were talking about nostalgia and looking back at the past with these fun memories, but also being in the present and being sad. I think those were the two emotions we had to get across in the song and once we realized we were writing a song about Liam, the lyrics came in about, I’d say, 15 minutes.
It was a very surreal thing to be doing. One minute you write a song about nostalgia and being excited for the future, and then something like that happens and you’re writing the same song but with a completely different meaning. It’s a weird thing to explain.
Sometimes a piece of writing waits for the right moment to really bloom. I’m assuming that’s what it feels like for you?
Yeah. I guess there’s a time for everything, and that song was waiting in the wings for me to write while grieving, I suppose. It definitely helped things. And I think it’s huge for the fans also, since they’ve felt, obviously, a connection with Liam as well. I haven’t performed it in front of people yet, so it’ll be an interesting thing. I don’t know how I’ll do or feel, but it’s gonna happen and it’ll be an amazing moment, I’d imagine.
Are there songs or lines that you’ve left on the cutting-room floor because you felt like they revealed too much?
It feels like I probably used to do a little bit of that. I don’t think I do it as much anymore. I do think the best lyrics are the ones that first come to your head. If you overthink it, you’ll never get the best stuff. If you’re trying to be artsy and creative about writing a line, it can nearly mess it up a little bit. I’m basically just trying to tell a story and I try to write quite conversational music if I can.
I’ve heard you say in the past that you’re an “old head, young shoulders type.” Most people in your position can really buckle under the pressure, but you, in a comparable expression, seem to have a good head on your shoulders.
Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know. Maybe it’s the way I was brought up. There’s so many variables to it. I mean, it’s not something that I think about. I just go along, you know? I kinda plod along and just be myself where I can be, and just be honest. I feel like I’ve heard it a thousand times, but [it’s important to be] grateful for what I have. I mean, my life has been absolutely incredible for the last 16 years. We obviously have our own relative ups and downs, but I’m just kinda always happy to be anywhere. Happy to be doing what I’m doing. The places I get to go, the people I get to meet—I try not to take any of it for granted. I don’t think I’ve ever let it get to my head fully.
“Old head, young shoulders” could also describe your musical voice since the One Direction days. You’ve never really chased a super pop sound. When I listen to your music, it sounds modern, yet rooted in singer-songwriters of the past. Was that your sonic mission all along?
Yeah, that’s the stuff I grew up on. Your firsts are your firsts, you know? So when I go to pick up a guitar—the type of chords I play, the strumming pattern that I play, the melodies I try to sing—it all just kind of happens. But I’m very fortunate that was the music that I was brought up on; the classics that we all still listen to to this day. And a lot of those people are still playing stadiums worldwide. So I guess I got lucky in that sense having a love for ’60s, ’70s, ’80s music. When I go to make records, they’re always my references. Like, how do I put my spin on this? How do I make a modern version of this song?
You have a global tour to support the album kicking off later this year. Do you do anything special to prepare for it?
Now that my promotional run is coming to an end, I will get into complete tour mode. I’m in the gym a bit now, but I’ve been having a few beers here and there, and I’ve been eating some bad food, but now it’s time to start locking it in because I’ve got quite a big stage on this next tour. On the last tour, looking after myself, I just felt better, sang better, performed better. I had more energy. I feel like I really enjoyed the tour because of all of those things. I think that was one of the things I learned after turning 30.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
