Niall Horan Australian tour dates and new album The Show

“Every day I walk through the rehearsal studios and see them all sitting around, it reminds me so much [of X Factor]. Even though it was like 14 years ago, doing the show makes it feel like it was yesterday.”

Like fellow judge Kelly Clarkson – who was the first winner of American Idol in 2002 – Horan knows first-hand the pressures that come with rapid attention and expectation, and can relate to his young charges.

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“Being on the stage at a young age in front of the whole nation [and needing to get] the best out of every performance in two or three minutes … it’s scary stuff. Not many people actually really appreciate how tough it is to be 16 and get up there and do that – we just sit at home and get the entertainment out of it. But I think having that empathy has made the experience at the show really good.”

He’s also living, breathing, platinum-selling proof that winning isn’t the only route to success. After all, One Direction came third back in 2010.

Horan’s new record, The Show, arrives on June 2, three years since his previous LP, Heartbreak Weather. Its inopportune release date – March 13, 2020 – gave Horan a head-start on planning his next move. It took him six months to start writing, but when he did, a more considered and ambitious concept began to take shape.

The record opens with the warm, hopeful harmonies of the single Heaven. Co-written with Tobias Jesso Jr. and Horan’s new collaborators Joel Little and John Ryan, it backs up his confident, country-tinged vocals with strings, jangling guitars and an optimistic beat.

“Heaven feels like a really loose song,” he says, remembering the trip to the Mojave Desert where it was written. “I think we got that from just staring out the window at Joshua Trees. Subconsciously, just being there made the music more ethereal. Some of the other songs have tension in them, but you’re forced into relaxing out there. Which makes for good music, I suppose.”

After becoming a household name in his teens, Horan is looking forward to moving into the next chapter of his career when he turns 30 this September – and feels like The Show provides the soundtrack for crossing that symbolic threshold.

“I’m definitely not the same writer I was when I was 21. I feel like I’ve progressed in that sense – and sonically – without losing the core of what I am. I think I’ve managed that … well? Question mark?” he laughs.

“I think this is a really good way to wrap up my twenties.”

Niall Horan The Show live on Tour 2024 will play next year in Brisbane on April 28, Sydney on May 1 and Melbourne on May 3. All concerts are all ages.

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