Ahead of his Australian Tour and new album, the Irish singer talks to marie claire about Aussie fans, his favourite Taylor Swift song and why Melbourne is his second home.
marie claire Australia: Hey Niall, how are you?
Niall Horan: I’m great. I can’t believe you get to meet the man of the month.
MC: It’s an absolute honour and let me tell you, it’s not easy to make the cut.
I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d ever say I was marie claire [Australia’s] man of the month.
MC: Congratulations for that, and also for your new album, The Show. You wrote the record in lockdown but it has such a positive feel to it.
NH: There was a mixed bag of emotions during lockdown, but the pandemic was the first extended period of downtime I’ve had in the past 10 years. It gave me an opportunity to think about the good and bad, [and] great things that had happened in my life. Spending time reflecting is a good thing and all of this created The Show.
MC: You’ve been to Australia many times with One Direction and also as a solo artist. Which memories stand out?
NH: I’ve had so many unbelievable gigs in Australia, and can literally picture them in my head now as I’m talking about it. We [One Direction] played like a billion nights at Rod Laver Arena one tour. We played in football stadiums across the country. I’d arrive ahead of the tour and spend that time mostly in Melbourne with friends and family, living there for five or six weeks. I fell in love with the place. It doesn’t happen often, but I feel at home when I’m there.
MC: If you could go back in time and attend any concert, what would it be?
NH: Well, that is some question. The obvious one would be The Beatles, that it would have been insane. I would have loved to have seen [Frank] Sinatra in Vegas. He’s the king. I’ve got photos of him all over my house. Also, one of those big Bruce moments in New Jersey. Yeah, a hometown Springsteen gig, that’s pretty unbeatable.
MC: What is your all-time favourite Taylor Swift song?
NH: I’m a huge Taylor fan, she’s absolutely one of the best songwriters of my generation, if not a few before that too. So prolific and so smart as a writer. My favourite T-Swift song … it’s probably “All Too Well” … although I do like “Cardigan”. I honestly think “Style” is one of the greatest pop songs ever—the way it’s written. “All Too Well” is the number one for me [because] it’s very introspective and you can really see what’s going on. I like songs where you can picture what’s happening.
MC: The 10-minute version?
NH: When it’s 55 verses I can’t remember all the words but she’s such a smart writer. The fact that she had a 10-minute version is just amazing.
MC: We’re looking forward to welcoming you back to Australia.
NH: Thank you for having me as your man of the month. I appreciate that. It’s something I’ll remember … I don’t often get that sort of thing.
The Show is set for release on 9 June and is available to pre-order here.
General Public ticket On-Sale at 10:00am (local time) on Friday 2 June here
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