Pop
Niall Horan steers clear of One Direction songs his bandmates perform — and hates hearing his own music in public
Niall Horan says he avoids performing the same One Direction tracks as his former bandmates on tour.
Niall Horan says he deliberately avoids performing the same One Direction songs as his former bandmates during his solo shows.
Speaking to NME, he explained: “I could do, yeah, but I feel like I’d be doing the band a disservice because there’s some great [One Direction] songs… I’ve played Drag Me Down, Fool’s Gold, Night Changes.”
When the interviewer noted he often performs Stockholm Syndrome, he said: “Yeah, I was putting that in and out on the last tour… I’ll just play my favourites.
"And I try and stay away from a song if the lads are doing it.
"If Harry’s touring and he’s playing What Makes You Beautiful every night, it’d be a bit stupid for me to do the same song at the same time.
"Or Louis did Drag Me Down on his first tour, so I kept away from that at first, then I did it on the next tour.
"Also, what kind of vibe matches? What’s next? What’s either side of the song? I try and think about it that way, too.”
Elsewhere, Niall admitted he hates hearing his own music in public and will leave a restaurant or bar if it comes on — with one exception.
Asked about the strangest place he’s heard his songs, he recalled an Indian restaurant near his old home on Gloucester Road: “The first time I ever went in there, the manager just started playing my music.
"And I was like, ‘No. What makes him think that I want this?’ If you’re a restaurant or bar owner, please don’t play my music while we walk in because it makes me want to leave! But the food was so good that I kept going back.
"And he actually ended up being a nice man.”
He also remembered hearing deep‑cut One Direction track Never Enough in a beach shack on the island of El Nido in the Philippines, calling it “really random,” and once had This Town play during a facial: “They had an acoustic playlist on, and This Town came on as I was sitting there in my goggles under an LED light.”
