Niall Horan to Release First Album in Three Years 'The Show'

Niall Horan's The Show - his third solo album and first since 2020's chart-topping Heartbreak Weather - will be released on June 9 by Capitol Records. Today, as the album pre-order launched, Horan shared the lead single, "Heaven."

He wrote the soulful, shimmering track with John Ryan and Joel Little, who also produced, and Tobias Jesso Jr. (Adele, Sia) during an idyllic trip to Southern California's Mojave Desert. In a striking contrast to its gorgeous convergence of airy harmonies and glistening synth, "Heaven" ultimately delivers a defiant refusal to play along with the arbitrary rules that society imposes.

"There's so much pressure for people to hit certain milestones by a certain age - you get married at this age, buy a house at that age, have kids at some other age," says Horan. "But I've never conformed to those ideas, and so I wanted to write about how we all should just focus on enjoying our lives and doing what feels right, instead of worrying about what might be expected of us."

Fans who pre-order The Show in digital format - available at DSPs and Horan's store - will instantly receive "Heaven." Five vinyl variants of the album, each with their own distinct disc color, cover and back cover, as well as a collector's edition box set, are now available for pre-order HERE.

Horan will pay a visit to "The Kelly Clarkson Show" on Wednesday, February 22, and join "The Voice" as a new coach for Season 23, which premieres on March 6 on NBC. He appeared last night on "The Late Late Show with James Corden." View the interview HERE. Horan will make his festival debut at Boston Calling on May 26. He'll also be performing at summer festivals around the globe, including Pinkpop and Isle of Wight. See below for itinerary.

Throughout The Show, Horan matches the pure emotion of his globally beloved past work with a powerful new element of soul-searching reflection. Built on a lush and radiant form of alt-pop, the album draws much of its mesmerizing power from his use of harmonies - an element inspired by Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne and other members of the '60s/'70s music scene in Laurel Canyon. John Ryan and Joel Little co-executive produced The Show.

A near-lifelong songwriter who taught himself to play guitar as a kid in Ireland - and who names attending an Eagles concert at age four as a pivotal moment in shaping his sensibilities -Horan has sold over 80 million records and toured the globe multiple times as part of the iconic One Direction. In 2017, he made his full-length solo debut with Flicker, a Platinum-certified, chart-topping album featuring the triple-Platinum single "Slow Hands."

2020's Heartbreak Weather took the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Top Album Sales tally and the U.K.'s Official Albums chart and earned praise from the likes of NPR, Rolling Stone and American Songwriter. Now, he enters a new era of his career with The Show, a body of work born of his longtime mission of bringing solace and connection to his globe-spanning community of passionately devoted fans.

Watch the lyric video for the new single here:

To post a comment, you must register and login.