Niall Horan first guest on Making The Album podcast

A new PopBuzz podcast, Making The Album, is where one prolific artist reveals what their album really means to them.

In the first episode of the podcast and video series, host Sam Prance speaks to singer-songwriter Niall Horan as he breaks down his third album The Show.

The former One Direction star turned solo artist, who takes an exclusive track-by-track deep dive into his new album says: “It’s a record that I’m really, really happy with and proud of, and hope [that] people like… it’s good to be back.”

Niall talks about his inspirations and dreams, his long-term goals and his creative synergy with producers Joel Little and John Ryan.

The multi award-winning artist explains why The Show is his most important record to date. Discussing the opening track and first single Heaven’ Niall says: “It felt like it summarised the album…people would have an idea of what’s coming.”

As for the message behind the final track Must be Love, Niall says: “If it feels like it, you should probably just go for it, ‘cause it must be it.”

Approaching his thirtieth birthday, Niall sees the album as more ‘experimental’ than his first two records: “I wanted to make an album of a 29-year-old,” he says and adds, “If I wasn’t a fan of me and walked past a stage somewhere, at a festival or something and was like, ‘oh I like that’, that’s the kind of stuff I wanted to make but still being me.”

Niall tells PopBuzz host Sam that the album track Never Grow Up was inspired by the parental parallels in his life.

“I watch my girlfriend’s parents, married for years, obsessed with each other, getting drunk together, talking s**t and dancing around the kitchen, I laugh at their arguments, I love that,” he reveals. “I come from a divorced family, not that my parents despise each other but there is two sides to the story and it’s like, ‘which one do you want to be?’”

The title track, The Show – which Niall says is his favourite – evolved as the singer songwriter was glued to the daily news bulletins during the pandemic.

“The Show is a metaphor for life as we know it… good, bad, happy, sad, anxiety. It helped me kick-start the record, and it’s a really important song and it was the first song that was fully produced,” he explains.

The PopBuzz podcast and video series Making The Album trailer is available on Global Player now, with the full episode on Friday 9 June, then on all other platforms on Friday 16 June.