Niall Horan has praised Olivia Rodrigo’s approach to songwriting, asserting that she has become a major influence on modern pop music.
The former One Direction star has revealed that he believes the 23-year-old singer-songwriter is partly responsible for bringing bridges back into mainstream pop songs.
Speaking in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Niall declared that Olivia’s writing style has had a noticeable impact on pop song structure.
“It’s great to hear them,” he said. “I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers.”
Referencing the bridge in Olivia’s song Drivers License, the Irish hitmaker continued, “‘Red lights, stop signs …’ – she does that a lot.”
Niall went on to reflect on what he admires most about Olivia’s songwriting.
“What I like about Olivia’s music is you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song,” he shared. “It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing.”
“Whatever her and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there,” he continued, referring to Olivia’s co-writer. “It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Niall revealed that he “can’t wait” to head back on tour in September, describing live performances as the “best part” of his job.
“It’s also the thing that I’ve done the most of for the last 15 years,” the music star stated. “At a point, playing to thousands of people was normal for me in a weird way, and I definitely am delving more into that in my head now. I just get excited now about the prospect of putting on the biggest possible show I can.”
Niall, who is preparing to release his fourth solo studio album Dinner Party on 5 June, shared that he has already “basically made the setlist” and added, “Giving people value for their money is what I’m trying to do the most.”
