Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Niall Horan

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

On this week's episode, Willie sits down with Irish singer-songwriter, Niall Horan. You might know him from his start with One Direction, but he's now continuing his solo success with his second album called, "The Show".  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Very excited to bring my conversation with my guest this week. He is Nile Horan, the platinum-selling superstar of a musician, formerly of One Direction, who was completely broken out on his own to massive success and out with a new album called The Show. Now, I am of the age where it was my young children who were One Direction fans, and they got kind of put the guys in the band into that boy band box. And so when the band broke up seven or eight years ago and everybody kind of spun off to do their own thing,

they were good with some skepticism. Can they stand alone? Are they just boy banders? How good will they be? Obviously, Harry Stiles has gone on to superstardom. And Nile Horan, the Irish singer-songwriter, has just wowed everyone with his talent for writing songs, playing the guitar, the piano. He's a true musician now standing on his own.

for the last several years, had a chance to show that. Also just happens to be one of, I have to say, the nicest and most charming guys I've ever had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with. So even if you weren't a huge One Direction fan, or maybe you don't even know Nile's solo music that well, I think you'll really get some cool insight into songwriting, into what it was like to be inside the bubble

of that one direction phenomenon that took off around the world. A great conversation I think you'll enjoy with Nile Horan right now on the Sunday, Sit Down Podcast. Thanks for doing this, man. Good to see you. Nice to see you. We could talk about golf all day.

We could. But we'll save that for another interview. Exactly. I don't know if this audience would be as interested as we are. I'll come on morning, Joe. Yeah, there you go. We can talk about it. There's plenty to talk about right now, isn't there?

Correct, correct. Let's talk instead, Nile, about the music and the new album, the show. Congratulations. Thank you. It's been a long time coming. You've been working on this since really the part of the pandemic, those dark days of of 2020. The show is the title.

Let's start there. What does that mean? What is the show? It didn't mean anything until I wrote the song, The Show. And the lyric in the song, The Show, is basically me saying how grateful I should feel for everything. Because during the pandemic, we kind of lost all of that control that we like to have as humans. And it was kind of taken away from us. And it was just, it made me sit still for a second and realize, okay, we should be grateful.

for what we have and it's basically saying that and the show then became a metaphor for life in my head like you know the different acts throughout and then straight away once I'd written that song I realized all right well there's a title for a record and now that title provokes thoughts you know that make up the different spokes of the wheel of life and that's kind of where it's started from. It was an easy album title to find. So it's the summer of 2020. Take me back to that time for you and you're trying to put out new music. You've just had your second album come out in March of that year. True. Yeah. And you're getting ready to go on a tour. Of course, everything is canceled, except you don't have your instruments, right? Because they've been locked away in the

trucks or wherever they are. And so what did that mean to? You were sort of forced into a different style of music or a different way of writing music. Is that fair to say? Yeah, I think, I think I'd gotten home. I did some like promotion leading up to the release of the album. We get told you've got 24 hours to leave or stay in America. Wow. And we booked flights and we got home. They locked us down.

And it was kind of then like the rest of us, kind of like just angry at the world. You know, why now, you know, we all have stuff going on in our lives relatively. You know, this is going to be a great year for everyone. For me, I was going to be heading out on tour. promoting the album worldwide, all that kind of good stuff. And then I was just kind of sat still for a second. It was like, it felt like online. Everyone was like, become a creative.

Right, right. Like every time you turn on to social or YouTube or whatever, it was just like everyone was, I'd become a creative. And I was like, I just spent the last year and a half writing a record. I don't think I want to be too creative right now. And I just kind of sat still and realized I haven't sat still for longer than probably a couple of weeks. in 10 years, probably since I was like 15. And then just kind of took that on board.

And as bad as that sounds, you know, and what was a horrific time in the world, you know, I kind of settled with the fact that I didn't have to pack a suitcase for a while. You know, I wasn't getting on any flights, and I was going to just be at home for a second. I'm just kind of settled with that and did everything that everyone else was doing,

cooking, working out, you know, doing all the stuff that everyone else was doing in the apartment. And then, yeah, it came to like, yeah, all the, as you said, all my gear was locked away. We were just about to go on tour in that April. All my guitars had left my house. They were all boxed up and it locked up somewhere ready to go to the first show. And it was just me in the piano and in the house and that's all I had. And then it took a lot of time just kind of sitting down noodling on the piano for a second.

And then one day in August I wrote the song, spoke about and then that's what happened so when you sat down at that piano were you doing that to start to write a new album or was that just something to sort of pass the time and get through this bizarre moment and I'm always kind of just like noodling anyway you know what the with the the want that something would come out of it you know you're just gonna sit down there and play around sing some melodies play some chords and hope for the best and then if it doesn't come it doesn't come that's when I wrote that and sung the first couple of

lines and the lyrics came out and was like, oh, maybe this is the time now, and this is, maybe this is the start of a record. In hindsight, now when I look back and I thought about this only like a couple of days ago, I tend to write my ballads early because it's just me and the instrument, like no producers around, you know, know other people. I tend to like start a record by writing the couple of ballads early doors to kind of set the tone and know that that I'm starting a record. And I wrote that. And I wrote a ballad shortly after that,

a song called Science of the record. And then that was it. It was away. That gets you where you need to be writing the ballads. And then you can write some of the other stuff after that, including songs like Meltdown, the show. You mentioned Heaven. They're amazing tracks on there.

And a lot of them are fast-paced, good on the radio. But it feels to me, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, There's a weightiness or some of the subject matter is heavy despite the sort of some of pop sound to some of it anyway. Is that fair to say? Yeah, I think it's very fair. There's a weightiness to it in a different way than my previous stuff. Like I tend to be the guy that writes the breakup songs and literally my last album was called Heartbreak Weather. And I've tended to been that guy, but when there's no heartbreak, the subject matter changes.

and what was going on in the world. I had just gotten into a new relationship, so that was good. But then there was the other side of things where the weight of the world that was 20-20 and the time I was writing down notes, you know, that's what was going on on on the planet. I tend to try and write with a bit of weight,

but my songs always seem to have some sort of like a silver lining to them. I tend to try and have like as dark as they sound. I try and make them have a bit of uplift and a bit of hope somewhere along the line. You definitely do that. You capture both of those feelings in a single song all the time. No, it does, it works. It's funny you mention your previous album. I'm always curious

if an artist thinks about the last album or the last two albums in your case and tries to do something slightly different. Do you try to keep your sound for your fans? Is that a conscious thing or just the music comes out, however it comes out? I think

on the second album I just kind of was just in there to write the best songs I possibly could, I think. And then I feel like on this album, I went back to what I did in the first album, where it was like, do what you're good at. Like, pick up the guitar and play. And don't try and start with a cool groove or like some weird sound, you know? My first album was written with just like me and a guitar and, you know,

or me and a piano or whatever. and I kind of tended to do that a lot more this time. Yeah, I guess it allows the songs then to grow into something else if they just start with their bare bones, with just you and an instrument. So, yeah, this time it was definitely more considered in terms of how I was going to write. And mostly down to the fact that I didn't have any other instruments around.

Right, which is so interesting. It's probably a new challenge for you. I'm also curious what, it feels like to be on the cusp of this coming out after the three years that you put into it. As we sit here today, it'll be public in 36 hours. It's crazy. People would be going on Spotify at midnight or whenever that comes out. And then it belongs to everyone else.

Is that an exciting feeling? Is it nerve-wracking? What does it feel like to be just before the release? Yeah, I feel like it's the biggest cliche of music that everyone says that they're so nervous when they release music. But there's a reason for that. It's like, I wrote the song, you know, and with friends of my eyes. and producers and and I was there when the first lyrics were written and the first voice note or making the guitar riff or the piano line or whatever it may be so I

know exactly what it's like from from start to finish I love the stuff you know I wouldn't release it if I didn't like it you know we love it in my internal team but how are we to know what the world thinks until we put it out there so there is like a yeah it's like Christmas Eve a scary Christmas Eve. There is, there's an angst to it. Like, excited too, because I now get to go out and travel the world and promote it and see the fans again, but at the same time, you really want it to do well. Like, I always say, you know, people are like, some people are like, why do the artists, like, really promote their stuff? It's like, you don't go to work and, like, try and do the

worst job you possibly can. You know, they're trying to do the worst spreadsheet or, like, do the worst thesis in college or, you know, same when I write it a song, you know, I'm trying to write the best song and then I wanted to do the best they possibly can. So yeah, I am excited and nervous to answer your question, yeah. We'll have a good feeling about how you're going to feel 36 hours from now. Fingers crossed with. Fingers crossed. And accompanying this will be about a year from now, a tour, which has got to be incredibly thrilling. You've booked the biggest arenas in America and around the world. I think a year from next week. You'll be right up the street at Madison Square Garden, June of next year.

You'll be getting ready to play. I just got goosebumps, but June 14, I think it is. Yeah, something like that. You'll be getting ready to play the garden a year from now. That's got to be exciting to get back in front of your fans. And on this scale, to be doing arenas. You've done theaters, obviously the One Direction phenomenon was something else. But you standing on the stage at the garden, it's got to be thrilling.

Yeah, it's amazing. You know, I really push the boat out on the types of venues that I wanted to do this time. really with my fingers crossed as hard as I possibly could, hoping that we'd, you know, fill them. And Kenna just said to my agent, I was like, can we try do Madison Square Garden and see what happens? I got the shock of my life when the tickets went on sale and it was effectively nearly sold out within the first day.

And it was like, mind-blowing. Like I played the garden with the boys and I played it at different things over the years. But it is the world's most famous arena for ever. a reason and the fact that my fans were able to get behind me and buy tickets and we're going to have, first of all, an amazing year worldwide, but the fact that I get to say that in a year from now we'll be playing Madison Square Garden is nuts. And just you, right? Just you standing on the stage.

Look around, the boys aren't there. That's nuts. I would be able to put this show that I wanted to put on for a while. Obviously, they didn't get the tour of the last record, so now I've got three records to play with, put on the show that I wanted to put on for arenas. and see the fans again. I haven't toured since last show was September 2018. Wow, yeah.

So that's like, by then it'll be six years. And that's way too long. Load up those trucks with their guitars again. Yeah, keep them in the boxes. Exactly. We're going. Exactly. Just keep them there.

Do you have songs that you're already excited to play live off the new album? I mean, like when you write a song, do you say, oh, this is going to be fun when I go on stage? I feel like a lot of the time I've always kind of. written with live in mind, like the way we produce the records and stuff like that. I feel like this is one of those albums that will sound better live. Like that feeling of standing in the middle of a room, you know, with them singing it back to you and stuff like that.

They're definitely songs like On a Night, like Tonight and Science and you could start a cult and all of these ones will have amazing moments in the show. Then, as we said, I didn't tour the last record, so that's basically brand new to them as well in terms of live. Yeah, so it's an exciting time. It's going to be fun. You have to wait a year, but it's going to be exciting. Sorry.

Don't tell me when I had to calm me down just a little bit. I wish we were going now. Now, you actually had your first gig of the tour in my eyes when you played the Eastern of the White House on St. Patrick's Day. It's got to be wild. I was looking at the video and the President of the United States is this close to you. Literally, by the way. You're just looking down at him.

What was that experience like? insane. Like to get invited to effectively represent your country as the most famous house on the planet with one of the most powerful people on the planet is just insane, first of all, to be at the White House, to walk the halls,

you know, to see the corridor of the First Ladies and their portraits and then I think our green room was like where they kept all the presidents China from Washington onwards. Like it was, Being in the Oval Office, getting the tour of it was just like mind-blowing. And then met the president just before I performed, just he and I in this room.

And he was just like such a nice man. Like that was my big takeaway from it. Very hard to be starstruck around a man that's like that sweet and that nice. He felt very Irish to me. Yeah. I know he's like he's got a special place in his heart for Ireland. He looked like he had fun in Ireland when he was just there recently. Yeah.

It's been well documented of his Irish lineage and stuff. But he felt really Irish to speak to. And that probably sounds weird. But like when I was speaking to him and the way he would tell a story and the way he shook my hand and things like that, it felt very Irish to me and made me feel very comfortable. But needless to say, I was bricking it. When I got on stage in front of like the vice president and her husband,

I forgot his like, like, His title made a meal of that. They just started laughing at me because they knew how nervous I was. The second gentleman. Second gentleman, I just couldn't not get my head around it. I was like, I've got too much to do here and think of titles. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Oh, no, no.

Madam, Vice President, Sir, second gentleman. I was just like, ah. But that was just the whole day. It was just incredible. Just standing over at Guinness at the White House, watching the president take off on the, on the helicopter that just came down, like, you know, came down to South Lawn was just incredibly, yeah.

I won't forget that. Probably won't get invited back. I don't know. It looked like it went pretty well. He might be a regular gig for you. Yes. I don't know how the next president whenever he or she takes office feels. But, yeah, one of his advisors once said he's never happier than when he's on a trip to

Ireland. He feels like he's home. So I think he felt a bit of home with you there as well. I'm glad. I'm glad I was a part of it. Hey guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Nile Horan right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Nile Horan.

With this new music coming out, it's a good time to stop and think about how well your solo career has gone. And that was not assured, not just for you, but for anyone who leaves a band as big as one direction and sells out stadiums international phenomenon. on. I'm curious how you thought about your solo career when One Direction sort of disbanded or took a break or whatever you all called it in 2016. Did you just stop and breathe for a little bit or did you say, uh-oh, I better get going on my own path? What was the sort of, what's that like? It was kind of like a, there was a bit of both going on. I remember thinking, right, I've just been through the craziest thing that could possibly happen to someone. And, and, and you know, travel the world

done all these great things. And I remember thinking like before, as it was coming to a close at the end of that year, I remember saying, I need to go like traveling or something. I need to like go back. I literally went backpacking around Southeast Asia

for three months with two of my cousins. Literally stuck a rucksack in my back and stayed in hostels all over Southeast Asia and did it that way. Because I remember thinking, this to what I've been through is just so abnormal. Like I've just been around going around on jets and staying in five-star hotels

and like that's just not. not who I am where I've come from. I'm going to, like, bring it back down for a second before I restart. And I want to keep making music. I need to take a bit of time to have a debrief and, you know, chill out for a second. Did people recognize you in the hostels? Did they go, hey? Yeah, but it was kind of cool.

They were kind of like, what are you doing here? And actually, fair play for wanting to do this when I explained it. So they actually kind of got left alone a little bit. It was kind of nice. And then with a minute that was finished, I went back to London and I just had to trust that I guess the biggest thing for me was

I knew I could write a song how good was the next question and I just I had a fan base that if I was to release something there was a fan base there to receive in some shape or form some people would hang on to it and some people

wouldn't whatever it may be I just had to kind of trust that I could write a song and that if I was to release something some people would be there to take on how long it was going to last again we don't we never know and I just had to trust in myself and just and just keep going and sat down and as I said earlier write the stuff that just comes the most naturally to me so when I release my first song this town I kind of nearly like nearly didn't release it as a single I just kind of put it out there one night and was like I'm making music just to let you know I don't know when it's going to be

out but this is the first thing I've written have that and then it kind of took off. Scary prospect, obviously, coming off the back of the band, as you say. But I just had to keep it going. I wanted to make music and just had to trust it. You had the advantage of a built-in fan base, as you said, but also it seems to me the challenge of

some people wanting to just put you in that box and say, they're boy banders. That was a moment in time. You had to prove yourself. So when you put that first music out, people are waiting, maybe skeptically. Oh, he can sing alone. He can play his guitar.

He can write a song. Did you feel like you kind of had to prove yourself standing alone away from the voice? Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think there's always a level of trying to prove yourself. Like, it's so competitive out there. It's not easy to just go and write a song, release it, and just be convinced that it's just going to do well. That's never a guarantee, ever. It's still not.

But there's definitely an element, though, right? I'm going to put my best foot forward here, try and give everything. a can in performance is be myself in interviews. And then the rest is just like up to the people. It's the great thing about music these days is that power is in people's hands. They'll make the decisions on whether you stick around or not. And then hopefully you write a good song here and there. And there's a bit of longevity to it.

I've been doing it for, what is it, 14 years now. I really hope it doesn't stop anytime soon. No, I think you're in good shape, my friend. I think it's, yeah. Well, you've been doing it for more than 14 years by my math because is it true that you, did you start playing the guitar at the age of like four or five or something like that or at least messing around with it?

Yeah, there was guitars around, yeah. I probably didn't properly start playing until, it was probably 10, 11 maybe. It was a guitar in the house that I was given as a gift to someone and they never played it. So it was like this little nylon stringed, kind of Spanish-y type. guitar and it was just sitting around and I would like was at the start of like the broadband dial

up connection so when everyone was not using the landline I was like sitting on YouTube and I never still to this day I never had a guitar lesson or anything like this but I would sit on YouTube watch songs that I liked like guys playing covers on them on YouTube and like pause when they'd like set their fingers really on the frets wow and it's like see where their fingers were so to day I couldn't tell you more than about six chords. So that modem fires up, it's making that sound, and a star is being born. That's incredible. Yeah, I just fell in love with it.

I was lucky I was brought up on some great music. Yeah, I love that too about your influences, which are Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, and I mean, you've got a whole list of really cool music from a different time that might surprise people that that was your foundation. What were your favorites? My first ever concert, I was four years old. It was 97. The Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour.

My dad, my mother and father, actually, both 70s American rock fans more than what was going on in the UK, weirdly enough. And there were huge Eagles fans, and I remember being brought to a gig in Dublin and just being like, this is what music is, is it? And like, all right, I want a bit of this. And just watching them line up there, you know, four in a row doing the same stroke. And to this day, it's still my favorite band, seen them a thousand times. And that was my introduction to music. And not a bad place to start, I would say. I was going to say, your parents set the bar high.

They have good taste. I saw Jackson Brown, Crosby Stills and Nash. Parents had really good taste in music. Yeah, I think it was that, like Laurel Canyon. In the 70s, any of that, Johnny Mitchell, Crosby Stills, Jackson Brown, the Eagles, they were all living in each other's pockets up there in L.A., doing all sorts of stuff, but making great music while they were doing it. So what's the first time now when it feels like you may be having a little talent for this?

And this is something that you could pursue, you didn't know it was a career because you're a teenager, but something that you should spend some time developing. Yeah, I think it's just like it's a, you know, I was sporty as well. I played a lot like soccer and like Gaelic football and stuff in Ireland. But music was like always there, was in the house. It was vinyl everywhere. There was guitars. And I just fell in love with it and just found myself practicing all the time doing the thing.

And then I had a teacher, Miss Caulfield was her name. I always still speak to now. And she just was like, she led like the choir at school for like Christmas. carols and school plays and things like that. And she just kind of was like, I think you could, you should keep this up, you know, keep singing, and I'll put you in the places that you need to be. And I played Oliver when I was seven in a school play.

And that was kind of where it started from. And then people would say, you know, you're a good singer. And I would like playing a talent show in my hometown or played a couple of little acoustic sets in the corners of pubs on stages like this. And that was it, really. It's all I ever knew, I suppose. I love here.

Isn't it amazing what one person can do? She changed your life just by saying you're good at this. Stay with it, man. It is crazy, and I still say it to her now. And I also then had a teacher. In high school, my French teacher, she, like, filled out my X-Factor form, you know, my application form for the X-Factor. Still speak to her now.

because she was like, you're doing it. You wouldn't have done it without her. I watched the show every year, but I never thought to put myself in that position. She was like, you're doing it. She filled out the form for me. Wow. So for people don't know, the story, X Factor was the first big break where you made some noise, got some attention, the guys, you were solo artists

and then sort of got put together as a band. I think you finished third. Did that right? Third place. I wonder who were first and second, I'd love to know. Yeah. But that obviously changed your life in terms of meeting the people you met there, the guys and Simon Cowell and everybody else.

And was the birthplace of One Direction. So you do well there. One Direction becomes a band. Put out your first single in the fall, first single in the fall of 2011, right? That's what makes you beautiful. Right. And was it immediate? Did you feel the explosion in your life right away?

Yeah, I remember, like, you come off a TV show like that, you're like, okay, well, whoever watch the TV show knows who you are, but does the rest of the country care, first of all? And I went, like, what makes you beautiful? Went number one, first week. And then there was a bit of noise around Europe, and we went over to Europe, and it was, like, thousands of screaming girls in the streets of Amsterdam and Milan and, you know, Berlin and place like this. And it was like, what's going on? We were just on a network TV show a couple of weeks ago.

And then it started, a bit of noise started coming from over here. And then we were just thinking, this is for us, from our net, from where we're from, America is like the thing, you know, crack America. And we came here and then it just snowballed. And it snowballed very fast. And the rest is history, I suppose. Yeah. So how does a teenage boy, and you were boys, how do you begin to wrap your head around what's happening? You come from a humble place, you've got your family and friends who mean so much to you, and all of a sudden, the streets are filled with people screaming your name. How do you begin to cope with that? I think youth had a lot to play. I think being that young and just being like deer in the headlights, being like effectively high school kids just in.

the most abnormal spot you could ever be in and just enjoying it. Everyone was just in a state of shock the whole time. Like, looking at the first billboard in Times Square, you're like, Time Square. I've seen that in the movies, you know? There's always a bit of like, where are we? How do we do this? And I think that was the best, I think that was what was attracted to a lot of people to the band.

I think it was very clear that it was five working class blue-collar kids. kids who were just the deer in the headlights and are now like these world-wide known people. We always just kind of looked in a state of shock and I think people were kind of attracted to that. As you look back on it now these years later, does it feel like a dream or something? Or how do you look at it now as a... I think I've been able to... I think that was what was important about the pandemic for me too. As I said, it was the first time I sat still.

With that comes reflection. and like just actually sitting and just going like what's just happened for the last 10 years this is the first time I've actually had to like think about the achievements and the tours and the fact that I can say that we played like two years of stadiums is just nuts, not many people can say that at all in the most humble way I say that

so having that period to just like sit back and be like oh my God it does if it nearly It really feels like it's like a separate life now that I'm like a bit older and a bit, you know, I've solved the world now, I'm so mature now. You're a wise man. Yeah. Well, I definitely have a wiser, like in a good outlook on things looking back. I didn't lose the plot along the way.

I'm not a Hollywood horror story. Right. Right. And I just look back at it with great affection and it's an unbelievable time in my life. I mean, you scared me to death with a photo before we came on. of me with your daughter. Five years old. She's about to be 16 next week.

That makes me feel violently ill. But you look great. Well, we're holding up. Yeah, we're holding up. Okay. Yeah, it has to be a crazy thing. And as you, like I say, you're in a different place now as a solo artist. You keep up with the fellas.

I love that you root for each other. You guys keep up and, like, they're excited for you. for the music and it feels like for the most part you guys really did make it through that fire that could have consumed you right yeah it could have very easily done it's been it's been seen multiple occasions sadly but um i just think we never believe the hype we were all as i said the state of shock was always there um you know people we have to remember we it was us our team our bubble around us and we just kind of went from place to place worldwide and just kind of went along with it. If you're looking in, it must have looked crazy. And everyone's going, you're the

biggest band. We were just kind of still having a great time and just, we always used to say, like, normal people doing an abnormal job, which is a good outlook to have. Remember one of the stadium tours was called Where We Are Tour, because we always used to be like, look where we are. It was literally named because we were just always like, what the hell is day. And every now and then you catch yourself just like looking at each other just going, is it nuts? Like on stage it like the MetLife or the garden or, you know, you'd have a moment every now and then. It was just like, is it nuts?

Thankfully, that's never gotten old. I love it. You keep that wonder about you. Anybody who knows you says you're obviously an extraordinary artist, but you've kept you're a normal guy. You know, you can sit and have a pint and jump in there and sing karaoke. Is that just your foundation, your family, your friend, just keeping grounded in all of that? Yeah, it's nice of them to say so. Yeah, I think so.

I think from where I'm from, we're a very self-deprecated nation, very, you know, the whole country is very working class and it's very, very humble kind of country. I think this is the least humble thing you could say we're a humble country. But I think you get it. And I think getting to 15 before I became famous in inverted commas, I think you learn,

you have enough character to get to, you know, you learn enough, you know, enough to get you to a certain point. And then you just have to have the right people around you and keep friends and family close and don't let any infiltrations

or anything like that happen. And then just, yeah, just be yourself. I think people can see through the BS sometimes. One of those people who says good things about you is our mutual friend, Carson Daly. Oh. So, Mr. Daly. You've got to ask you about the voice. Yes.

You're back this fall. You're coming back for another season. How much fun has that been for you? Oh, it's been great. I was nervous going into it, you know, having come from a show like that. Right. I was like, do I want to go back into it, something like that? I've never mentored anyone before

but it was the best decision I made it's so much fun like it just I got very lucky I will say with the coaches that I did my first season with Chancellor Rapper Kelly Clarkson the cowboy himself, Mr. Shelton we just hit it off off camera from minute one

and I like just had a great time with them and then working with the artists and winning the thing. Yeah, you won. First time out. Yeah. I got a very gifted singer, as I will say,

and very nice people. And Gina, the girl, Gina Miles, who won it, she's an insane talent. I bet you have incredible empathy for the people on that side of it having been there before. For sure, yeah.

I know exactly what it's like to stand there and, like, have your future in some famous bloke's hand, you know? Yeah. And I'm the famous dude with the future in the hand. which was a scary prospect when you were making decisions sending people home in the early stages of the competition.

I found that very – had a couple of sleepless nights over some playoff decisions and battles and things like that. And even like down to when we went live on TV and Carson was reading out the names of the people who were going through one by one, I remember literally I had a moment where I went back and I was stood on the X Factor stage in my head. And I was looking at the host of the show and his mouth moving. And from team night, you know, like his mouth reading it out with the crowd screaming and the energy in the room, like it really took me back. But I'm looking forward to doing it again. Different, completely different coaches now. Yeah.

Gwen, Stefani, the other side of the Charlton marriage. You can't get rid of him. No, he'll be around. I know he will. Shown abuse at everyone. How is your Blake Shelton impersonation these days? Blake Shelton. I don't know, man.

I said, Blake, what are you going to do? I don't know. Head back to the ranch. I don't know. Get on a tractor. Do some weeding. I got a new steamroller. You should come back.

He's got big plans laid out, doesn't he? He's doing nothing. I can tell you, you know, if anyone's wondering what Blake Shantan's doing now, it's a zero. This wasn't like a big career leap. He just wanted to go home to the ranch. Yeah, yeah. He's wearing a pair of walking boots, a pair of jeans that are stacked. He's got a camouflage shirt on, a camouflage hat.

He's got some sort of a metal cup in his hand. Always, right? It's a good life he's carved out for himself, is it? He's having a good time. He deserves it. That's great. Well, you're great on the show. It's been a great addition.

And you can tell you're having a good time doing it as well. No, thanks. It's been fun. Can I ask you about your golf company? Because I think that's so cool that you're an excellent golfer, by the way. That's the other word on you. I'm okay. How did you come to that as a business?

I've always been a huge fan of golf, Like being Irish, it just comes with it. Yeah, you know, it comes with the thing. We've got a lot of great Irish golfers over the years. Played since I was very young and just always like seen it as, especially when it was in the band, like it was a great escape. Like myself and Harry would like head off in behind the gates of a golf club when the madness was ensuing outside the hotel.

We would be just like off playing golf and it was a nice way to get away from things. And then, yeah, it became a great escape and something that I just fell in love with even more as I got old. or had a lot of, you know, been lucky to meet a lot of great golfers over the years, Rory and Justin Rose is a really close friend of mine. And then with that comes, you know, connections and people you know in golf and being around golf. And I've just seen a lot of, like, young people on the driving range

at tournaments, just like just turning pro, no idea where they're going to play their next tournament. And it just felt very alien to me because you come from a world of music where you're very well looked after and everything is planned out for you and you're taken care of and it just seemed quite loose to me.

So I've seen it as like an opportunity to help young people turning pro, getting opportunities to play where they possibly can. And then obviously with the selfish thought of if we get someone and they go on to win, that would be such a really cool feeling to say I could like help their career.

And up to now, it's called Modest Golf. And up to now we've just had our 23rd worldwide win. That's awesome. Yeah, we've got players from the PGA tour to the DP World Tour to LPGA, we've got disability tour golfers. And it's been a really cool like side hustle, but with a really, yeah, a nice feeling behind it too. And something you love to do, which is the added benefit of being that as well.

being that as well. Exactly, yeah. I know enough about golf to be involved in it. Well, I got tired just listing all the things you're doing right now, so you must be exhausted as well. There's a lot going on. I don't know how you make it all work in a single work week, but you do. Congratulations on the show.

Cannot wait to see the tour. You got the garden in one year, so start getting ready, man. Start getting ready. I'll see you there. Thanks, man. Great to see you. Appreciate it. Pleasure.

Stick around for more of my. conversation with Nile Horan right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Nile Horan. Now that you've finished your karaoke, yeah, take you up to the record shop. It didn't make the edit. We didn't think we wanted that out publicly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It didn't, we did too much screaming. Speed metal. Yeah, yeah. Not good for karaoke, is it? Oh, look at this. Isn't this cool? this is really cool that's a love a record shot I love them

you're a big vinyl guy yeah yeah I think it's because of all I grew up on yeah like there was always like a vinyl player in the house I remember seeing like my first like seven inch of like all night long oh Lion Richie yeah it was like the first thing I remember ever seeing and yeah some of the records that we had in the house

that I have to say my mother had a great record collection even when I look back now at home recently going through all the boxes You know, the old things with a clip on the front. Yeah, yeah. I remember looking, just going through it, she said, wow. And this is like, she was like queuing up to buy these, you know, when they were coming out releases and she's posters from record stores and stuff. She's like, they had it good in the 70s, didn't it?

Yeah, yeah, I mean, some of these guys right here. You were a queen fan, right? Love queen. Love queen, love Pink Floyd, of course. What else is here? Here's the E, come on. Oh, my God, look at this. This is the one.

This is it, right? This is it. That's the greatest hits. Yeah, that's an amazing one. The long run. Long run again, Eagles Live. Hell freezes over. There it is.

That's the one. That's the tour, right? That changed your life. That was the one I seen for the first time. Did you ever cover any of their songs? Do you ever cover any of the Eagles song? Yeah, I did, on my last tour, I did Life in the Fast Lane. Yeah.

Yeah, I've done, I'm thinking about doing Take It Easy at some point as well. That'd be amazing. I love that song. Now, that's a moment, right? Let's go back. You're four years old. you go to the Eagles show, turns you on to music, and now you are filling arenas

and you get to sing their songs. It's insane. Yeah, it is nuts. I ended up getting to know Don Henley quite well, which is this, like, wow. It still baffles me. He calls me son.

I call him Pops. It's a strange one when I think back to all those gigs that I went to when I was younger. Pretty cool to have. A good harsh critic. Oh, is he? He's brilliant. I love his revoke.

ruthlessness. So you can play a song. Yeah, they'll play him stuff. And he'd be like, yeah, they sound, just like, I get it. I get it. But it's an amazing thing to have, you know, to be like, I talk to Don Henley.

Yeah. The reason I started playing music. Right. I got notes on my music from Don Henley. Tough notes, but notes. Yeah, notes. Notes, they are notes. A little fleet of Mac, of course.

Bit of the Mac. Rumors, come on. It has to be. Come on. I think Hotel California is the highest selling album of all time. Pretty short. That's close, isn't it? And if this isn't, it's definitely the best,

it's definitely the best mixed album of all time. And the collection of songs on it is just secondhand news, dreams, never go back again, don't stop, go your own way. Songbird, come on. The chain, you make love and fun. I don't want to know. Oh, Daddy, Gold Dust Woman. No skips.

I remember going to a Fleet with Mac show about four years ago at Wembley Stadium, and they just basically opened the show with about seven or eight bangers in a row. And I was like, I've never seen it. There's no band that could just pull out this many bangers for an hour and a half. It's insane. Right, right. It's like a show of force. Yeah, it's crazy. Oh, look at this.

What do we have here? Eagles, Sweetwood Mac, and of course. The show. The show. It fits in well, isn't it? Like, it goes with the aesthetic here with the beautiful wood. Yes. The cover looks good.

It is. You design it for a record shop. Yeah. It's crazy. There it is. Yeah, how it came around. This is an advanced copy, I think. It's not even out yet.

That's true, yeah. As we speak, this hasn't even been seen to the world. So, yeah, it's in here. Maybe we should hide some of these and leave some here. We should. Little Easter eggs. Yeah. Come and find them.

What's doing? There's the other one? The last one? I didn't. Yeah. March of 2020. March of 2020. Never forget.

Timing is everything, man. I remember I was on, I did a week at the late show with Gordon. And like we were on there every day and we shot two shows on the Wednesday afternoon. And in the gap between them, James and I were sat in his dressing room. And on TV, it was literally like, I don't know, maybe like Fauci or someone like that saying, you've got 24 hours to leave or stay when I was like oh this is really happening is it so the fist bumps

are and the masks and the masks and things is real and then that was the start of it yeah but I'm glad I got some people through some for sure some crazy times yeah it's a strange time to release music on your side of it but on the other hand people had the music with them stuck in their

houses for months on end it's the takeaway that I take from it yeah like at least at least it affected some people in a good way, in a dark, weird time. Well, congratulations on the show, man. Thanks very much to talk with you. Great chance.

Thanks very much. I appreciate it. My big thanks again to Nile for a great conversation. You can check out his album, The Show, wherever you stream your music. And my thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of my conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC.

I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sitdown podcast.