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Niall Horan laments the 'madness' of early One Direction fame: 'I struggled with it'

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 3/25/21

Niall Horan is 27, which is practically 50 in fame years.

The former One Direction member visited with Dermot O'Leary for the "People, Just People" podcast where he reflected on the challenges of becoming instantly famous at 17 years old, then suffocatingly famous at 18 and 19.

"Around the release of 'What Makes You Beautiful' is when it really kicked off," Horan said. "We did a run around the country—Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester—to do these signings, and that was the first time I'd seen the madness."

The Irishman continued: "This is one of the maddest promo trips we did: we did Italy, Germany, France and Holland in, like, four days. Different country every day. I remember getting to Milan on the first day and just being like, 'This is a different level now.' ... We were on Duomo in the middle of Milan city cathedral, and it was just houses. They're banging on the car windows. The first time I had seen proper hysteria."

When asked if he had ever felt "like a prisoner" during One Direction's five-year run, he admitted that he had a few times.

"We were 17, 18, 19 for the first few years, and I struggled with it," he said. "The thought of [having to] closing the curtains in my hotel room was madness to me. I struggled with the idea. 'Why won't you just let us out? We just wanna for a walk!' But you can't get inside the brain of a fan, and now I completely get it. But at the time, you're like, 'You're our age. Just let us out. We just wanna walk down the street.'"

Horan described how upsetting it was to not be able to actually enjoy "all these amazing cities" they performed in during the band's first trip to South America. "Heartbreaking but amazing at the same time," he said.

One Direction was comprised of Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. Together, the U.K. sensations put out five albums before announcing an indefinite hiatus in August 2015. Malik had already announced his departure from the group in March 2015. Each of the five artists has pursued a solo career, with Styles becoming the first of them to win a Grammy earlier this month.

Horan has released two solo studio albums—Flicker (2017) and Heartbreak Weather (2020)—and enjoyed chart success with singles "Slow Hands," "This Town" and "Nice To Meet Ya."
The full interview is available exclusively on Audible.

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