Reflecting on his career transition after the massive global success of One Direction, Horan admitted that hitting the ten-year solo milestone felt remarkable. “It is pretty surreal to think that it’s been 10 years,” Horan shared. “I’ve been doing this for 16 years already and I’m only 33 in a couple of months. It’s madness, yeah.”
Horan revealed that the foundations of his solo career began during a period of total isolation following the band’s hiatus. “After the band, I just thought, I’m going to do nothing now,” he explained. “I literally backpacked around Southeast Asia with a little red rucksack on my back and flip-flops for four months and I just tried to cut myself off from it all.”
It was during this trip that his debut hit was born. “I came up with the idea for This Town on a beach in Thailand… I just didn’t want them to think I was disappeared off the face of the earth, you know.” He posted it as a tweet, “not knowing that… it would go on to take on a life of its own.”
The singer also opened up about his fourth studio album, Dinner Party, which he recorded in Nashville with longtime One Direction collaborators Julian Bunetta and John Ryan. Horan described the sessions as his most authentic experience yet: “We just said that we were going to start the album as organically as possible… I just stood at a mic like this with a guitar plugged in and whatever came out of me, whatever we jammed and whatever melody I threw over it was what we went with.”
The artistic process was deeply fulfilling for the singer. “This felt like the most organic and the most me, hence the fact the way I might sing the songs a bit better than songs that I’ve previously written. So it was kind of a very cool feeling.”
Despite his massive stadium experience, Horan surprised Kay by admitting he still battles intense stage fright during broadcasts. “TV performances are something that I get ridiculously scared about,” he confessed. “I’m nervous right now. That’s why I’m over-talking. But yeah, I get very scared.”
The session concluded with an orchestral rendition of “Desperado” by the Eagles, whom Horan called his “favourite band of all time.” He added, “Don Henley is my favourite male vocalist ever. My first concert was an Eagles concert… I just wanted to do a song that I knew and a special song.”
