Every Single Album - 'Flicker' | Every Single Album: Niall Horan

Episode Date: May 2, 2022

Who could have predicted that Niall Horan would have a no. 1 album debut? Nora and Nathan talk about the surprise hit that was 'Slow Hands' (10:35), how Niall's work ethic as an artist made this album possible (23:45), and this album's slow, sad rock sounds (37:56). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan Hubbard Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yo, Rob Harvilla from 60 Songs That Explain the 90s here to inform you that we are back with 30 more songs because the 90s were super long and had a ton of rad music. Please join us every Wednesday for more 60 songs that explain the 90s only on Spotify. Hello and welcome to every single album, Nile Horan. What? I'm Nora Fransiotti. I'm with Nathan Hubbard. Nathan, how do you feel about this? How did this happen?

Every single album, Nile Horan. How did this happen? This is a feat of grit and determination. I mean, were there, we didn't even, did Vegas have odds on Nile Horan having a number one album over potentially ending up in an Irish prison or something? I mean, what an accomplishment. You never would have bet that it was Nile who was going to make this happen.

Yeah, so today we're going to be talking about Flickr, which is Nile's debut solo album, came out on October, 2017, debuts at number one. What? And to break that down, all right, I'm going to tell you, Nate that a few things that I know about Mr. Nile Horan. Okay. He loves Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles.

Oh, yeah. We have a theme, a recurring theme here, by the way. Yeah. He's a little claustrophobic. Okay. He's got a touch of acid reflux. Yeah, bad knees. I would describe his personal style as to say that he dresses

as though golf is always a possibility. He is a golf freak. He dresses in a manner so that if golf becomes an opportunity at any point on any given day, don't you worry, Mal can be there. We should all dress that way. I just call that happy to be here. I personally disagree, but I support Yora and Nile's personal happiness.

In his time off between One Direction going on indefinite hiatus and when he really gets to work on this album, he went on a backpacking trip through Asia with his boys. Nice. Other than the fact that Nile was in one direction, which I acknowledge is significant, I have not really said a single thing here that would differentiate him from like the average guy that you pull out of a Murray Hill bar on a Friday night? Well, you would know. I would not.

So tell me what makes this guy special enough to have a number one album that we both love. I don't know. It's just this wonderful story of like hard work and nose to the grindstone. This starts for me with that video where he's with one of the original trio who helped make the first two, I think it's Carl Falk, right? Yeah, the Swedish House Mafia. Yeah, who... Who...

Who... ...help make the first two One Direction albums, and he's learning how to play the guitar. And he's working at that craft, and he's got something in him, and we hear it a little bit come through lyrically across this album, by the way, that little sort of chip on the shoulder,

that little bit of maybe insecurity... I don't know that drives him. And he did it. Now, we should say Harry's album came out. Zane's album was number one. Like, the One Direction brand is a pretty massive halo. And the truth is he's going to go out in tour and it's going to be a little bit more work for him to go play bigger venues than it was, say, for the One Direction guys. but this isn't real album. He's got real people. I mean, yes, Julian Benetta is a carryover, and he worked. But guess who resurfaced our old friend Greg Kirsten from the Adele years?

Our old pal, Greg. There are quite a few of our old pals working on this album, actually. There really are. Greg worked on Adele 25 and 30, and he worked on Nile Horan's album. I mean, that's a real guy working on this thing. He was producer of the year at the Grammys, I believe, this year. I believe this year. And sure,

the top line of that is working with Adele, right? But this guy's getting in the studio with our guy, Nile, too. I have a conspiracy theory about this album that I need to just put out. Please!

My conspiracy theory is that there's like this common thread through the lyrics of this album of, like, please don't leave me or the end of a relationship. It's really somebody who is struggling with the end

that is either just happened or about to happen in a relationship. I think you could make a case that this whole album is about One Direction breaking up. Wow. Wow. I kind of love it. Nathan.

It's not. But I think you could make that case. And he has this. this sort of, there's a very interesting sort of, I don't know, it's sad, soft rock. I mean, this is the album that John Mayer should have made. As far as I'm concerned. Like, if you take Niles' voice out and put John Mayer's voice in and a little more like guitar noodling, it's a John Mayer album. It's a John Mayer album, don't you think? Yeah. Yeah, but it's... Yeah, it's not. It's not. We'll talk. I know. That John Mayer album kind of

stunk. So we're going to call a Miles Horn album instead. I mean, look, the thing for me about this is it does show a little bit of chinkin the armor is wrong, because this is going to sound like a criticism. I think this album and frankly Nile's career should be celebrated because as we

talked about in the last episode, there's usually only one guy who gets out of the boy band. So the fact that he's ostensibly you know, guy number four, maybe five, who gets out and actually has a standalone solo career really, really matters. But he does go out and he's playing smaller venues. He's playing

theaters. And then he tries to go play amphitheaters in the U.S. But the attendance is just okay. It's not great. Like he was playing the Ask Gary Amphitheaters of the world. 1-800 Asked Gary Amphitheaters of the world. He was playing like 50. Which by this point in time might have been renamed. Yeah. Well, sources tell us the 1-800-Ask Gary Amphitheater did not stay the 1-800-A-Hs-Gary Amphitheater. No, he did play I know that he played the Jiffy Lou Live amphitheater. So,

that's in Virginia, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, it's basically the DC Empathyre. It's a great place. I grew up going to shows there. But some of these things are 15 to 20,000 seat venues. And only about like 6 to 9,000 people are showing up in those venues. So he's used to making $290 million on a tour. He plays. 83 shows, he makes $25 million. It's harder work. Now, he's not playing arenas anywhere outside of Dublin, right? But what I love about this guy, you and I commented on this through the journey. He loved being in one direction. He loved being a star. He loved the work. And in this solo career, it feels like he's working. He's actually out there doing the work.

It is the NFL draft season, which is my other vocation. And one thing that, one thing that people say about draft prospects a lot is scouts or people in the media will describe someone as, well, he's really solid, but there's no one thing that he's great at. He lacks a core defining trait. People have been saying that about me for my whole life. How's your 40 time? Slow. Slow. All right.

Well, good thing that you're enabled podcaster. One thing that I wonder and hope that maybe by the end of this podcast or by the end of when we go through heartbreak weather, I'm trying to figure out what Nile's superpower is. I'm trying to figure out what his core defining trait is. and it might be that it actually is that that work ethic and that sort of love for persevering through the stuff that he's doing. He just shows up and it's sort of an unsexy trait, but it's really, really important. He's a grinder.

And yeah, it's the type of thing that makes sort of why this album resonates with me hard to figure out, which makes me excited to talk to you about it. But it's the Mark Hubbard. It's a really interesting. You want to unpack that? You want to unpack that for the listeners? My brother's on the PGA tour. He's just a grinder.

He's just out there. But people appreciate that and enjoy his personality. So he has an outsized fan base and following because of that. But, you know, if he goes head-to-head with Rory McElroy, he's going to get his ass kicked. You never know. What if he goes head-to-head with Nile? How good of a golfer is Nile? Nile is, okay, let's talk about his golf game as we get through this,

because I have some comments on his golf game. Okay, you want me to save it? Yeah, let's save it. Okay. Let's go category. Let's go categories. Let's talk about this album. Let's talk about slow hands.

Fuck yeah. This song, this is not a day. This is not a... debate. This is the biggest hit. It's the second single, which is an interesting thing, that they were like, why wouldn't they lead with this? I don't know. Well, this album had a long run-up. So this town was the first single. It was released in September of 2016. The album doesn't come out for another year. It comes out in October 2017. Slow Hands being the second single that was released came out in May. So still months before the album is going to come out.

out. So they really drew it out and maybe this town was kind of a one-off just because there was going to be so much distance between that coming out and the album that Slow Hands ends up being the one that they really used to build momentum for it. But whatever, it rules. It rules. There was no tour in 2016. So maybe they felt like they had to feed the audience. I mean, Nile is the one who stayed with modest management. So you would assume that you would see some sort of familiarity in the playbook that they're running and it feels like they're trying to give content.

But this song is sexy as fuck. Like, where this comes from? It really is. Well, there's a great irony to that, though, because I agree with you. All of a sudden, Innocent Nile is doing sexy time.

But the great irony to it that I actually think makes it even better, this song is from the woman, perspective. The woman is coming on to him. I'm stunned. I mean, listen, when I listen to this song, I say, oh my God. Like, can someone put this song to the Wicked Game video or like the Freedom 90 video?

Like, it's great. How did he get this perspective? Like, do you think Nile was, I mean, I guess it's the horn doggery, right? I don't know if the horn dog name had been coined yet, though. But one thing that we do know about Nile is that when he was a young lad, his email address, which he used to send in his original X-Factor application was duh underscore pimp underscore is underscore ear, E-R-E at hotmail.com. So, you know, from a very young age, I guess he was training all his life for this moment.

Look, again, nobody likes being famous as much as Nile does, I don't think. But this song, look, thank goodness for Julian Panetta. I mean, Julian helped write a lot of that later stage One Direction stuff. This does sound like it could be a One Direction song. Why don't we play this game? Who would they have given the verses to if they'd done this in one direction? Probably Harry. Right?

Yeah, and he'd take it pretty slowly and give it a little bit of rasp. Yeah, Liam would have the, like, tricked out like, yes, or whatever. That would be Liam's voice. The best thing is that when Nile does it, he sounds like he's like impersonating Elvis or something. He's like, yeah. This song is awesome. It got to number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, which is better than a lot of One Direction song. songs. Yep. And by the way, he's definitely singing in a bathroom. And it's totally consistent with

what we've seen of him. You know he's in his underwear, first of all, and only his underwear. Wait, what tells you that he's in a bathroom? You got to listen to the vocal. Like, you can hear... It just sounds echoy? Yeah. And it's not just the effect. Like, they've got him somewhere in something that has tile or metal surfaces. And it sounds great. Yeah, he does sound great. This song is just a bop. I just like, did you know he had this? I had no idea. It's like if you scout a pitcher and you're like, okay, he throws like a 88 mile an hour fastball and like a decent curve ball and you step up and he throws like 102 right past you and you're like, I'm completely frozen, you win. That's how I feel listening to this song. I'm like, I, Nile, I didn't know you had it. So I can, I can make an argument

that we could have seen it coming that Nile could sort of like do a do a sexy tune, right? This is, he kind of went there with temporary fix and some stuff like that. The thing that is sort of amazing

about this song is it's cool. Yes. It's not just like exuberant. It's not just sort of passionate and, oh my God, I want you so badly. so I'm just going to scream. Like, we sort of know that Nile has that.

Yeah. But it's really smooth. No, it is super smooth. Look, my sister's in town for the weekend, and we were hanging out with my family, and I put on, I'm always DJing, and I put on, like, secretly, like a one-direction playlist of, like, some stuff that I like,

just to see if she would notice and ask, right? And I found myself, I kept putting in wolves. Because wolves is fucking good. Wolves slaps. it's great, but it's not smooth. No. Like, there's a goofiness to wolves, but it's a great song. The chorus is awesome.

And by the way, it totally works at a party just so you all know. But it doesn't work as well as slow hands. So I did something kind of similar recently, had some friends over, and I should issue a little bit of a confession. You could have come. early on in this process, I started making fun of my boyfriend by telling everyone that Nile was his favorite. Not sure he could have picked Nile out of a lineup at this point.

Right. So I've been carrying this on, but we're all hanging out, and I'm playing music, and slow hands is on. And he looks over at the speakers and sees it and goes, this is Nile?

I love this song. I love this song. I love Nile. Yeah, you converted him. This song converted a lot of people. This song converted a lot of people, but that's the point is that I wonder how many people don't even know that this song is Nile.

Know that this song is a song they heard on the radio a bunch. But I'm not sure that it even really connected with a lot of people. I think it's massively underappreciated. It's just like Nile. Like, you don't realize it, but it's there. This is a treasure. It is a treasure. And the album, hey, we can talk about the rest of the album.

The album should have been made for this song alone. This song needed to see the light of day. I mean, we'll get to drafting songs, but I can tell you this is in my top 10 for sure of anything that's been put out by the One Direction crew. It's really way up there. It's a great song. So then I assume that it is your best song.

It is. I mean, it is. And I will say that. This town is beautiful. I love the everything comes back to you line. It gets me right in the fields. Over and over the only truth, everything comes back to you.

Has a little bit of like the John Mayer hat tip, which, you know, whatever. But everything comes back to you is a killer line. And I love his voice on it. I love that they didn't try to over-inject lyrics and he hums that last outro on the chorus. And it's okay that there aren't words there. They just let that line, everything comes back to you hang out there. I understand why they picked it as the first single,

but it's genuinely, the chorus is absolutely gorgeous. One of the ways in which Nile just continues to surprise is that I think of him as this golden retriever bundle of energy, totally exuberant, his core trait is enthusiasm. Right. that's all true. There is so much restraint on this album, which is sort of remarkable. Like, the fact that on the first go-around, they really seem to know when not to do too much and when less is more. And it's super impressive. I have a real soft spot for too much to ask. You do.

Because he says the word fucked up? Well, the F-bom, I do think, is important. First time we've heard it, right? Yeah. Outside of a Zane record. Right. Anytime you have a, like, one song, if I ever made an album, I would just have one one explicit song on there, because then they know you really mean it.

Okay. I mean, it's cool. All right. Well, it's beautiful. I think the melody is beautiful. Here's Nora's one explicit rap song, and now more soft rock. Just going back to mid-tempo, you know. No, I think that's too much to ask is on my list as well.

But it really, on this album, it is slow hands and slow hands and slow hands. Can I give you a wild card? Are you going to say on my own? I'll drink till it's safety. No. Okay. But are you going to say on my card? own. Okay, but then you got to fill in the blank there. Yes. The cover of Post Malone's

circles that he does live is so good. It is so good. Tell me about it. So first of all, the number one thing that's important about it to me is that it just shows you how far his voice has come. There's sort of there's rasp, there's control. Yeah. But there's something about, I think this is just Nile covering songs that also tends to be really great is because it's an opportunity for him to one display his musicianship, which was the thing that, you know, he started working on really in earnest before the other members of One Direction so early on were getting into that. But it also just shows you how much of a fan of stuff he is. And we talked about this a little bit with Harry, but he just gets so into it. The main reason that I love that is because

he just sounds great on it. He's playing the guitar. He works in, in the middle, he just weaves in a couple lines from pumped up kicks. Nice. And then just goes back. It is so cool.

All the other kids pumped up, you better run, better run. I'll run my good. It sounds absolutely great. But you just can see how into it he is. So he's really fun to watch perform in that way.

sounds awesome on it. I like when he covers songs. On tour he did Dancing in the Dark. He actually did more One Direction songs than covers. Like he did one cover and then I want to change my clothes, my hair, my face. Fool's gold and drag me down.

Don't be great. Falling for you. But I agree. I think he actually holds up well as a, listen, he started as a cover singer. That's what the X Factor was. But he can really do it.

And I think he plays some characters across this album. His voice sounds different on seeing blind with my girl, Marin Morris, who he was early on, right?

She supported him on that tour as the opening act. But like sort of making that quasi-country song happen, his voice is very different, certainly than on slow hands, but also on this town, it's very soft.

And then you get through Flickr and you and me and like he he manages to sound authentic even when his voice is again playing some different characters. That's what I like about this. Yeah. And it does help because I do think that this album looks. So the first five tracks, right?

That's on the loose, this town. Seeing blind, slow hands, too much to ask. That's where I think it's really strong. There's some other gems, totally. But the strength of this album is definitely at the top of it. and some of the stuff that's later on, particularly because they're not using a whole bunch of computers and wacky production tricks.

Right. Just using instruments and Niles' voice. Some of those songs still leave me wanting a little bit more, but the fact that he is able to modulate his voice in those ways, put on sort of different affects, it helps. It certainly helps. And I think it helps when he covers stuff, too, to your point. I don't understand why on my own wasn't on this album.

Like, we got the Irish jig we needed. He talks about getting punched in the head and kissing all the girls. Like, ballads in Irish drinking songs, let's go. That would have been the perfect tagline for Flickr. It's a slightly different crew that produces this thing. I just don't get why they didn't put it on. Yeah, I'm with you. Maybe it's because it is a different vibe for the most part.

Yeah. But I love it. And it's totally a Nile vibe. I mean, you totally hear... You hear the act my age kind of, let's just be wacky. That's what it is. It's kind of an act my age cousin. And it's super fun.

I wish it had been on the album. Are there little diamonds in the rough on the back part of the album? Or mostly do they feel like they try to get there and don't? Like I feel that way about paper houses. Like it tries to get the same. Like it tries to get the same. there, but it doesn't quite. Flickr, I like, like, lyrically, it's really great. It tries to be good. It really has best intentions of being good.

Still a flicker of all that you first gave to me that I want a key. But doesn't quite get there for me. Yeah, I'm, Paper Houses is one of the more meh ones to me. even though his vocal sounds really good and I really like it. I have kind of a soft spot for mirrors just because it's a little if there's anything on this

on the back half of this that we're going to describe as a little harder that would be it. And I think at that point in the album once you're into the deluxe edition my ear is year is yearning for a little bit of a change.

So that's fun for me. I don't mind you and me Because I know what's to come And it's coming for you It's got a lot of cold plays Everglow The melody is Is really pretty Though

Yes Yeah But I enjoy it Since we're alone I'm okay with It steals A lot of dire straits As Sultan's a swing

The guitar But But those are those are all okay if we have to cut I like since we're alone I like since we're alone a good bit

it's just good vibes if we have to cut though what are we doing if I have to cut something I'm cutting fire away I am cutting fire away because you know it'll be okay fire away

wow Nathan look at us firing away fire away I mean, it's just, come on, man. It's too soft rocky. It's just too soft rock. Yeah.

The thing that cracks me up about it is that there's a melody towards the end when he's saying, And I will steady your head. Which sounds like the Nelly song over and over with Tim McGraw. Oh, yeah. Like, it's just that little snippet of Mel. but I'm like immediately transported to, I don't know, 2011 or whatever, whenever that song came out, whenever I hear it. So it really like is simultaneously a song that I don't like very much and one that comes

with sort of an out-of-body experience in about 10 seconds towards the end of it. I just don't think that much happens in the song. Again, he sounds nice. I need to tell you something. Okay. Over and over again was released in September of 2004. 2004? You were like eight.

Well, that's why I don't know. Like, I probably heard that song for the first time in 2011. Oh, my God. Yeah. Anyway, maybe you were born to that song, and that's why it's so close to you. 2004? Yeah. Can you believe it?

This is brutal. God! It's brutal out of here. Anyway, here we are. Back to Nile. I think it's definitely fire away. I'm sort of with you that, like, paper houses is pretty meh. I actually thought Mirrors was a little eh, but I liked it a little bit more

than more I listened to it. The tide at the end is interesting. It sounds like it could be a Sarah Borrella song. But I think I'd take that cover. Yeah, me too. Exactly. That's what I was sort of hoping for. But fire away, like, eject.

Is being fired away. Yeah, paper houses. It's fire a fact. on fire. Yeah, yeah, back to 2004 for you guys. And look, I didn't need, I didn't need 10, 12 killer tracks. It is a chill album. There's no like party anthems. It is risky in that way from my perspective, in that even Harry felt like he had to put some real rockers on that album. This one, man, you can't just take this and go play the fired up crowd that is, expecting to dance for the night. This is a very, this is just,

it's very, very soft rock. And it was a choice. And I think there was a little bit of a risk to it. But I love that he went for it. And there's a lot of him in this album in a bunch of different shades. So I appreciate it. I think Harry kind of took that risk, too.

Different ways. To a lesser degree because he was Harry Stiles. So the same thing. same risk is actually less risky because he probably had more cushion to work with. Yeah. But I don't think that the fact that Harry's album was a little bit more hard rocky in places necessarily changes the fact that they're just, both of these guys made albums that don't, I guess you could argue slow hands, but there's just really not a lot of like, we are sure this is going to work on radio. and this is definitely what's going to get you, you know, an invite to jingle ball,

and this is going to be the song. And it is kind of fascinating that both of them, not necessarily didn't care, but neither one of them really went that row. Well, so who's this most important collaborator? Did he do this alone? I don't think he did not. He did not.

But he does get a writing credit on every single one of these songs. Yes, and he was first listed. He's first listed. It seemed like he was pretty eager once he'd done all of his backpacking with his buddies to sit down and write some songs. Okay. Which again speaks to the Nile work ethic, the Nile desire to do more and just to keep going. He was mostly working with people that he'd sort of met over the course of the One Direction Day is Julian Beneta and John Ryan are on a lot of these songs. Jamie Scott's also on a lot of these on a couple of these songs.

Ruth Ann Cunningham who'd done Where to Broken Hearts Go and No Control. Get some credits in here. But brings in Greg Kirsten. Yeah. Who we know from working with Adele. And also, I would be wrong not to mention Kelly Clarkson! Kelly Clarkson! Greg Kirsten pops in for this town too much to ask.

and since we're alone. And then he gets our old friend Dan Wilson from Semi-Sonic and treacherous and come back be here and someone like you and not ready to make nice and all sorts of fun stuff. And then he gets some people sort of with more country backgrounds, a little bit of more sort of like rockish stuff, Jaquire King who'd worked with Cold War Kids and Kings of Leon. and was also working with Shanaya Twain at the time

that they were doing this album is in here. So he's brought some new people into the mix, but it's a lot of old friends. I would like them to be acknowledged because I'm not going to choose them as the most important collaborator because Nile's most important collaborator was our friend, Marin Morris.

Yes, thank you. God, I thought you were never going to get there. I wanted everybody to get there due because they were all fighting for second place. Okay, fair enough. I agree with you on that. Marin is the shit. The Bones Are Good is a badass song.

She is a badass artist and songwriter. I would add one more person to collaborate list, by the way. Matt Chamberlain plays drums on the loose. And Matt Chamberlain has a very long history of badassness playing drums. Across like every, he played on all the Tori Amos records. He's played on Brandy Carly. he played on Wrecking Ball with Bruce Springsteen. Like, he is a monster.

By the way, he played with Stevie Nick, so you know Harry knows who he is. He is a monster drummer. And so just appearing on this album to me is like a signal that this is actually a guy with talent. That's sort of how I feel about Great Kirsten's involvement. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm sure there was a decent check involved,

but that was someone who had, especially in this moment, like really the pick of the litter in terms of who he would have wanted to work with. And there are real signifiers that, one, smart decisions about who to pair him up with were being made.

And that does bring us back to Marin, right? Because she was not at the height of her powers yet, but someone that they really recognized as someone they could bring out, bring out on tour, work with. And I love seeing blind. I was young. The heart was always on

The... Yeah, it's a good song and she was a rising artist that he understood was going to help sort of transition him. I mean, listen, going from one direction to country,

a country song. And Marin obviously has crossover stuff. She did a song with a chain smokers and more. So she's more than a Nashville-based artist. But she is a songwriter. Like, it's not easy to just go, one direction into Nashville. And it seems like there's even more kind of, you can hear, I don't think there are any other

songs on this record that are country songs. But you can hear some of the influence. You can hear some of the little guitar licks. It feels like he's listening to that stuff, which I agree is a choice, right? Like some of it is probably, you can match it up with some of the sort of Irish folk tune stuff as well. Sure. But it seems like you can hear beyond the classic rock influences that Nile is interested in a lot of different types of music and a lot of different stuff.

The other thing I think you can hear on seeing blind is just that he has a lot of experience singing with other people. She has a great voice. The two of them to me sound really good together. And they sound like two people who understand how to sing in a duet. And that is true. They are both very good at singing duets. So is that your peak Nile moment or something? What's your peak Nile?

No. So I think my peak Nile is the fact that slow hands is not from his perspective, but it's from the woman's perspective. It's everything you're hearing. And it's like, oh my God, is Nile like, is Nile kind of smooth now? But if you really read it, he says that's what she said right to my face. That's what she said That's my face

So I love to think of that song As a woman Really, really effectively And in a very cool manner Coming on to Nile And Nile just being like, Oh my God! Yeah, yeah

That's my preferred read of that song And I think it's very fun Runner Up though And maybe this will come up When we cover Heartbreak Weather some more But he's dating Haley Steinfeld during at least some of this time.

And two of the most high profile dates on record that they went on were that he brought her to a Backstreet Boys concert in Las Vegas. Fuck yeah. And he brought her to the Masters. Yeah, you know he brought her to the Masters. Well, first of all, great dates. Great going, Nile. Those are good dates.

Second of all, though. Having just come back from the Masters, I can tell you. Terrific dates. Lovely. they do happen to be things that Nile has just, like, great affection for. Yeah. And... Boy bands and golf.

Boy bands and golf. That's what he's all about. And that is evidence that Nile at his core is just a lover of the things that he loves. Yes. I think is a runner-up peak Nile moment. He is who he is. And he loves the things that he loves. What is your peak, Nile?

My peak Nile happened at the Masters, even though it wasn't specifically during this era. It is his love of golf. I mean, he starts a golf management business through modest. That actually, if you fast forward to today, if you've read anything about this supposed rival golf league that's being started by a bunch of Saudi Arabian money, there's a couple.

It's Nile? It's Nile's golf management company that he started manages a couple of golfers who have been rumored to be in the mix to leave the PGA tour and go to the Saudi League. So his golf management business is one of those movers and shakers

behind the scenes like really impacting a professional sport on its own. But the craziest Nile moment from the Masters is not that he went with her on a date to the Masters. It's that he caddied

for Rory McElroy in the par three contest in 2015. But there is an interview where the BBC's about to interview them and he's carrying the bag and you know he's not a very large guy and the bag the bag is heavy i've caddied on tour for my brother like it's not light the thing is like 60 plus pounds nile falls over on camera complete wipeout while carrying the bag like he missteps or the bag is just too much for his little leprecha and he just flop and he goes right over on camera and there's

this wonderful thing where like the journalist looks at him sympathetically. Like, Rory looks down and I was like, what have I done asking this guy to carry my bag? And Nile just pops back up. Like nothing happened, full energy. Nobody can drag him down. Hi. Hi, Rory. Hi, Nile. Thanks very much.

Oh, no, Nile. It's a bit slipping. Imagine what it's like playing golf out of these pine needles. Well done. Rory, let's say. He has bad knees. He has to be careful. Well, he was very careful.

Can we just loop back quickly to this golf league thing? Is this shady? It sounds shady. Is Nile involved in a shady golf scheme? Well, there's a little bit of moral dilemma. If you heard about how Phil Mickelson, we're not going to spend a pot on this, Phil Mickelson, you know, got into some hot water for sort of being the ringleader of this whole thing

and making some comments to a journalist about how he understood the moral dilemma that he was in, but, you know, there was a lot of money. Based on it being located in Saudi Arabia. Yeah, it's really sort of sports washing. It's the Saudi Arabian government spending money, not really for a business, but just throwing money at this golf league to try to, you know, erase the focus on things like human rights abuse violations and to turn the attention more on to golf and sports and, you know, they're investing and all those things. So it has a very highly capitalistic and sports washing intense. And that said, Nile and his golf company are not driving that, but they're not. They are the agent of a number of players who are being recruited to join this thing. Okay. Allegedly.

Allegedly. Allegedly. And so they sit at a very interesting sort of nexus of power in the golf world. And it is very relevant to Nile because he is a huge sports fan. We know that he was big into soccer team. We know that he's hugely into golf. And we also know that he's not really large enough to carry a golf bag. it all comes back to Nile

just being a real lover of the things that he loves I was there in 2015 by the way when he was caddying Did you see him fall over? No, I did not but I was at the par three contest I saw him carrying the bag for Rory

and Tiger Woods is out there it's the year Jordan Spieth broke through and Nile Horan was the biggest star at the par three contest I mean literally Tiger took a picture with him and Rory It's incredible. It was incredible.

It's also, he is such a sports fan because if you go to his Twitter page now, like he's Nile Horrid. He could just be tweeting about himself. Yeah. Most of his Twitter page is just like retweets of Sky Sports about soccer. Yeah.

He wants to be Scott Van Pelt or something. Yeah. He's the best. He's just the best. All right, Nathan, I have an important question for you. Okay. I don't think any of these songs are about Taylor Swift. I don't either.

Are any of these songs about... Ellie Golding? Anyone? Well, I should have saved my One Direction conspiracy theory for this moment. Because I think that this whole album might be the manifestation of his manly bottled up feelings about the breakup of One Direction. I really like where your head is just because it does seem as though if you read between the lines, uh, Nile has not really been in one place at one time for long enough to have,

super long-term established relationships for these songs to be about, I will posit you one conspiracy theory of my own, although it is somewhat backed up by, I won't say fact, but by People magazine reports. Usually fact. Is on the loose about Selena Gomez. Whoa!

She'll jump on the fly to meet you that night. Make you tell. Talk to me. So People Magazine Yes Claims that Nile and our girl Selena were spotted making out

at Jenna Dewan's birthday party after they'd both performed at the Kiss FM Jingle Ball Okay And they've been friends for a long time I think there have been a couple instances where there's been speculation that there might be a romantic relationship there

Usually it seems like that isn't the case like they've definitely been legit friends for a long time. Right. If there is any point in that timeline when they may have crossed over to the romantic side for a little bit, it's around this point. But like, was it romantic or was it just kind of like, you know, the lyrics of on my own? like he's just going to kiss all the women and get punched in the head. Like was it an actual moment?

You think this was like a DFMO? Yeah, I do. I don't think Selena Gomez was really in denial. So this is why I'm saying, this is why I reference on the loose in this category, right? Because I don't think that any of the like deeply felt,

I don't think that this town or too much to ask. And I want to tell you everything. Words I never got to see the first. I'm around Those are not You're going to close my eyes

Do you still think of me sometimes? Those songs are not about Selena Gomez. I'm not sure those songs are about anyone. I think those songs are based on ideas that he was experimenting writing with. But a mysterious and alluring woman out on the town doing interesting things and on the loose, I can see it.

Listen, again, never underestimate Nile Horan. He's in the mix with Selena. He's in the mix with Ellie Golding. Like, he's in some sort of love rombus with Ellie Golding and Ed Sheeran and somebody else. Who knows? Love rumbus. You can't underestimate Nile Horan. You do so at your peril.

He's out on the par three course at the Masters, carrying the bag, falling down. He's just a guy. There ends up being a Haley Steinfield song. wrong direction that may or may not be about our guy Nile and then I like Ed Shearin's don't As a person who can be

ungenerous to Ed Shearin song I like that song That's the first compliment You've ever offered a bed I had a long conversation at dinner recently about Ed Shearant I like quite a few Ed Shearin songs I just like Ed Shearine less than the average person.

See, I think Ed and Nile are kind of birds of a feather. Like, they're both guys who like to be in bars and have fun and hang out with their mates and jump up on the table in a bar with a guitar and they'll do their thing. Like, I think they're kind of maybe the same guy. That's why Ed has to be friends with Harry because he needs to be friends with somebody with, like, slightly different energy. Yeah, both these guys massively outkick their coverage, although Nile's pretty cute. now's a total cutie all right nile is like a nile is a type i will not name names

but a very close friend of mine we tend to not think that same people are attractive but i respect her perspective okay a dear friend of mine really thinks nile is very adorable did anything happen on march 25th related to nile so not really related to nile

uh on march 24th Zane puts out still got time. Yeah. With Party Next Door, he's starting to get into his second album cycle. I think the thing that stands out if we just leave that date aside and check in with the boys is that they're all kind of doing their thing. Because Harry's got his album out. Zane is moving on to album number two and starting to put new music out again. Louis has some songs out.

He's got back to you just like you and miss you. Hmm. If you only knew shit, maybe I miss you. A lot of U's. Well, back to you sounds achingly familiar if you listen to this town,

but yes. And he's judging on the X Factor a little bit too. And Liam's got stripped that down with Cuevo which goes to number 10 on the Hot 100.

No, I used to be in one deep. I'm free. People want me for one thing. So like everybody's kind of swimming, right? Like nobody from one direction at this point is sinking out in the world as a solo artist at all, which in and of itself is incredibly impressive. Yeah, I agree. Well, so who won this album? I'm trying to like galaxy brain my way into anyone other than Nile. But Nile. I'll give you an alternative. Nile gets a part of it. It's the writer. of slow hands. Nile, it's Julian Beneta, it's Ruth Ann Cunningham. We've made fun of these guys for having 10 people write a song. Finally, however many people, Ruth Ann Cunningham,

Alexander is Carido, Tobias Jesso Jr., who wrote Adel's when we were young, Jamie Ryan, who we've seen before, like, this crew got together and made this thing happen. I think they win as the writers of this song. Yeah, that works for me. I'm into it. I just want to give it to Nile because he's so nice. Well, I don't know how... The only other alternative was he would have lost the album. He definitely didn't lose the album.

He didn't lose the album. He did not lose the album. I think Nile is the... Nile wins the album by virtue of having an album that debuted at number one. Exactly. So is there a... God. Is there a swoony part to this?

Like, what's your favorite lyric? I just was thinking about this as best lyrics. I mean, I like the album. F-bomb. I like the F-bomb and too much to ask. I like the F-bomb a lot. I also, I'm into my shadows dancing without you for the first time. I'm not sure I know what it means. Like, I get the vibe. I'm having trouble getting the specific of that, but I'm into it. That's not so important. It's not so important. What about you? Well, again, my job is to

point out the shittiest lyric. I actually really like the chorus of on my own, even though he says, I'll wake up at midday and marry my bed. I'll kiss all the women get punched in the head. I mean, you got to pick aside. There's no middle feeling here. There's a binary outcome.

Yes, no. And I think I'm all in on yes, because I really enjoy the song. My problem with you taking mirrors is there's a lyric in there that is the coffee's cold, he turned around and said, I hope you know you're beautiful. Have you ever been told?

So it was a little bit, you know, can we just get past this already and make our own albums. See, I feel differently because on the loose, there's the line, she'll dance in the dark. Which I think is cute because he covers dancing in the dark. Right, right. Look, at least it's thoughtful. At least it's thoughtful. I'm into it.

For a bonus question. So he did cover, he covered dancing in the dark. He also covered Tom Petty's I Won't Back Down. He covered life in the fast lane. at one point he covered New York State of Mind and then he covered Camille Cabo's crying in the club Yeah And a lot

He played that like frequently Is that your favorite of those covers Are you into the Springsteen? Or do you have a preference there? Because I just think Nile covering I almost want to, I'm adding an impromptu category Which is best Nile Horan cover song because I think he's great at it.

That's so interesting to hear you say because you would have negged him on the X Factor so many years ago. You would have... Oh my gosh, no. You would have tried to talk Katie Perry out of letting him through. I am grateful to...

Look, without Katie Perry, we would not be having this conversation. Mm-hmm. I mean, we owe so much to Katie. Yeah, look, if you're asking me, my favorite cover is his One Direction cover of Drag Me Down. But if that doesn't count, then I'll go crying in the club.

I think the crying in the club is great. I love when he does Dancing in the Dark. I think he sounds great doing that. I also, this wasn't on tour, but he does Julia Michaels' issues. And that's great. I got issues. You got them too. Give him all to me and I'll get mine to you.

Mm-hmm. Well, he doesn't. I'm just bringing all this. step up so that producer kaya can just pump it chock full of sound and it's going to be awesome and we're going to get to hear from nile yeah speaking of dropping the f bomb she just did that six times through the course of that little segment from you nora nathan how do you grade this thing yeah it's a really good question this is hard to grade because are you grading based on improvement, how unexpectedly good something is.

Or are you really grading it in the same way that we would, you know, hold up the heavy hitters work? I had to go back and restate my grades from the first two one-D albums because of this same problem. It's hard because it is such a journey. It's just, I mean, that's part of what strikes me about that, the Post Malone cover is just, this dude didn't use to sound like this.

Right. I gave it a B plus. Hmm. Slow hands is an A plus plus plus plus plus plus plus plus. Yes. Slow hands is, yes. Slow hands is Atlas carrying the globe on its shoulders. Totally. There's an A.

EP in the front half of this. Yes. With on my own on it. I think later on it gets not that much weaker. but it just gets a little bit repetitive. And there are songs that I think are pleasant, but not all that much more than pleasant. They're paper houses, Nora.

They're paper houses. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. And I pay for houses reach the star. I want them to be better. I keep waiting for them to grab me and take off. They just are a little too soft. So we're back into our sort of standard. I gave it a B.

But to your point, like, if he had just released the EP, it's an A. There just wasn't quite enough that grabbed you and kept you going. And that is the danger in releasing a soft rock album. Is that after the six songs,

it's like people start going to the bathroom at the concert when they play the, like, ballad or the new song, right? And so if it's not something that's really going to hold people in and keep the energy up, you're going to lose attention. And that happens a little bit

at the back part of this album, unless you're listening to this sort of extended version and then you get on my own. You're like, wow, okay, there's something here, and to your point, Mirrors has some energy. And that's, I don't want to dock him too much for that because I do absolutely believe

that this is the album that he wanted to make, right? And we love so much that Nile is such a fan of the things that he's a fan of, and I would not want him to deny that impulse because I think it's a good impulse. Yeah. So I was trying to separate, okay, how much am I docking this thing because I don't necessarily, unless it's really, really superlative, want to listen to this much soft rock? No.

And I think it's inevitably a little bit of a part of why some of this stuff doesn't make my heart sore. Yeah. But this is still a shockingly good album, and the best moments on it are really, really, really wonderful. So I didn't want to be too harsh on that front. Well, what we should say is, you know, you got to give credit to Simon Cowell and maybe Nicole Scherzinger, if she was really the one, who saw it from the beginning. He saw it. And to Katie Perry. They knew that it was in there and that it just was going to take.

time. And then that the grit and just the like Irish going to make it happen that exists in this guy. And his love of, he loves being on stage. He loves being famous. He loves being a star. And there was a chance that he was going to go the way of, you know, insert fifth member of boy band that we haven't heard from since here. But he- What's Joey Fatone up to? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I do feel like Joey's kind of, Joey's more than some of the other fifth guys in the, you know, anyway. Nile is not. Nile is a guy.

He's a real guy with his own career. And he's got thousands of bands. Yeah. And I think that in and of itself is a revelation that you probably, in the same way that, you know, as we talk about Louis and Liam, that those are some of the underappreciated parts of the band. and there's that scene in the documentary on them where they're out in the woods and they're around the fire and they've been trying to build up the fire

and somebody says, oh, good job, Payneau or whatever, as the whole thing collapses or whatever. But there's a moment where they said, somebody asked the question, like, do you think we'd be as big if it wasn't all the five of us? And in my head at the time,

I was like, fuck yeah, you would. As long as you got Harry and Zane, you'd be fine. But I think the more that we get away from that in time and see what was behind it and see some of the writing skill that was clearly in the band and some of just the way in which Nile clearly was able to put his thumbprint on this band, the more I sort of appreciate how special all five of them together was and concede that it was probably important that they each brought enough to the table that you couldn't have just interchanged some other. little leprechaun and had one DB as big as they were. Very cool. This has been every single album, Nile Horan. As always, I'm Nora Prince-Iotti. He's Nathan Hubbard. We will be back on Thursday, breaking down Harry Styles' second album, Fine Line. As always, thank you to Kaya McMullen for her expert production support on this episode, and we will talk to you soon.