-Our next guest is a talented singer and song writer
you know from both his solo career
and work with One Direction.
His third solo album "The Show"
will be out June and is available for preorder now.
He will also be a coach on the new season of "The Voice,"
which premieres March 6th at 8:00 PM here on NBC.
Let's take a look.
-I nearly hit my button on your first note.
-Long enough for me to actually figure it out before him.
-Please, Kelly, come on. Give me a chance.
You remind me so much of my good friend Maren Morris.
-Oh, my gosh. -I've spent a lot of time
on the stage over the years and become very, very, very
fond of country music,
and country always leads into story telling,
and I tend to do that.
Your voice, the control, it was just unbelievable.
I'm telling you,
we're going to do big things together if you come with me.
[ Cheers and applause ] Please!
-Please welcome to the show Niall Horan, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
I'm so happy you're here, my friend.
-I'm happy to be here. Huge fan of the show.
-We were very lucky to --
I was very lucky, I should say, to work with you 10 years ago.
You fellas were on the show, and we did a sketch.
I was on set for where Paul Rudd was the number one.
There we see Paul. [ Cheers and applause ]
And I have spoken for years about
how you were the nicest group of guys.
And, I mean, you were fairly young at the time.
Was that an exciting thing to do?
-Oh, yeah. It was crazy to be part of "SNL"
on a few occasions is so cool.
But that particular weekend Paul was hosting the show.
And the "Anchorman" crew were there.
-Yeah. -They were promoting
"Anchorman 2." -You got to sing with the --
and this is two of the great casts of all time.
-"Anchorman" being like, no joke,
my favorite movie of all time.
And just be standing there singing "Afternoon Delight"
with that bunch of lunatics
was pretty special. -Yeah.
The other funny thing about the sketch with Paul I remember
we had a great many extras
who also were big One Direction fans.
And it was the least we ever had to give direction
to a group of young girls. -"Applause. Applause. Applause."
They were already screaming. -"When they walk out,
like, lose your minds."
They were like, "I think we can do that."
-Yeah, yeah. "We can sort that out."
-This is very exciting. You have a new single out.
-Yes, I do. -You have a new album coming.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I think a lot of people --
you know, a lot of artists reacted different ways
to the pandemic and what it put them through.
-Yeah. -Did you feel like you wanted to
start working on new music right away?
Did you give yourself a little time?
Because it's been a while since you -- about three years?
-Yeah, exactly.
No, I kind of -- I released an album
the day we were told we were going into lockdown.
Some would say that was great timing.
[ Laughs ]
No, but it was one of those things
where I release an album and then that happened.
And then the tour got cancelled.
So I was thinking like...
I was kind of just angry at the world, like we all were.
-Yeah. -So, then I was sitting around,
waiting for something to happen,
waiting for the creative juices to flow.
Took a while.
And then once it came, it kind of --
it opened the door for what is now a finished product, record.
[ Cheers and applause ] -Very exciting.
I wonder, do you --
I mean, obviously you work on these songs
and a lot of post production on the music
and finally get it to a place where you're happy with it.
And then it gets released to the world.
Are you someone who --
Do you sort of anticipate the reaction to it?
Have you already moved on to the next?
-No, I'm just always so nervous. Like, it's the biggest cliche.
When ever you work on something,
you just obviously want it to do well.
But we have no idea.
Especially these days, it's hard to know --
it's so competitive out there.
But I've got -- as you can hear, I have --
[ Cheers and applause ]
I'm lucky enough to have a strong, solid fan base.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Having said that -- Having said that, you still don't know.
So I'm just, like, after three years of not releasing music,
there's that, like, "Please do good."
-Yeah. -But the reaction to
this single first of all has been ridiculous,
which makes me feel a lot better about the record.
-Well, there you go. Very exciting.
And now this is really exciting, 'cause you talked about
your last tour being cancelled.
You're going on the road this summer
and you're doing a great many festivals,
which is different that
sort of doing more sort of conventional tour.
Are you excited about festival life?
-I think that is the main thing I wanted to do
when I was finishing off the record.
I said to everyone, like, "I would love to just do
a summer of festivals,"
especially having spent so much time away.
It's good to get back in front of people in that way.
You know, I can go all over the world,
and we're doing them all over Europe and Japan
and a couple here in the states.
And, like, it's just going to be good to feel the love.
And I'm a huge festival goer myself.
I've been that drunk guy...
[ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah.
-...standing in my welly boots
in a field going, "Who's that up there?
I like the sound of that."
So I want -- That's why I wanted to do it.
I can get some new fans here, Seth.
-Well, absolutely.
This speaks to the level of difficulty of a festival.
Because obviously, you know, you have a group of people
who are all music fans. -Mm-hmm.
-But, you know, specifically
they might be less there to see you.
Like, they might be there to see the person before you
or after you, so you do have to win them over.
And I think it's really impressive that
you want to take on that challenge.
-Oh, for sure. -You don't necessarily have to,
but I think that will be so exciting.
-No, it's a great way of getting, like, new people.
As you say, there's a solid group there, but it's --
You know, I'd love to invite more people into the world.
-Do you feel like you get to meet and hang out
with other bands in the festival world?
Is that one of the up sides? -Yeah, no. They're always good.
You meet people that you have no idea
you had anything in common with,
And before you know it's 2:00. [ Laughs ]
It's been a good night. -Yeah?
[ Laughter ] And Europe,
is it buses around Europe when you're doing...?
-Yeah. There's a lot of -- Because they're so far apart,
other countries, you do have to do a lot of flying.
When we're in the states, it's a lot of buses.
-Do you enjoy -- Is bus life --
Because I feel there's something a little romantic about it
maybe for the first three days. -Yeah, exactly.
You're like, you've seen "Spinal Tap" twice
and now you think "Yeah, that's how it's done."
[ Laughs ]
Then it's like 105 degrees in Houston, Texas.
First week of July, and it's sweaty
and you've woken up and air-conditioning is broken.
It's just like, "Maybe not as romantic as I thought."
[ Laughter ]
-Um, one place that's very well air-conditioned,
I've heard, is this studio for "The Voice."
Congratulations on that gig. -It's Baltic.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Is this -- How did this come to pass?
I'm assuming this is a situation
where your phone just rang one day and they reached out?
-Literally. Phone call from the producers, Audrey, Kyra.
And they just said, "Before you even say anything,
just come in and meet us."
And they explained how the show works
and all that good stuff.
And I was like, "Yeah, let's just give it a go.
See what happens."
I've been on a show like that. -Of course, yeah.
-So, I un-- I do...
I understand -- I understand how it works.
But, yeah, it was just a challenge,
something that I wasn't expecting.
-Right. -You know, a great time to do it
before I've got a record coming out.
And you're going to be sick of my faces.
Or sick of my face.
But, yeah, no, it's been so fun.
We were very lucky with the crew of coaches that I'm with.
-Yeah. -It could've been horrific.
You know, you're sitting there every night pretending that
you like the person you're sat next to.
I got very lucky in Blake Shelton alone.
-Yeah. -[ Laughs ]
-Now, I would imagine too
having gone through a show like this, you must have --
because obviously it looks very exciting
what we see on television.
But you obviously are in this situation you can have empathy
with them for what they're going through.
Because I think we all maybe forget how stressful it is
for an unknown artist to --
especially in a room like that
to be in front of four very accomplished,
very famous singers. -Yeah.
-They must feel nice knowing
and being like, "Oh, I know Niall has been on this side."
-Whoo! -I guess that's a part --
Ooh, That was a big one.
[ Laughter ]
No, it is -- It's good...
I think that's how I got half of my team
because they understand that I've got that empathy with them.
I was -- You know, 17-, 18-, 19-year-old people
coming on here, and I was that 16-year-old
just kind of knowing that person there
has got my future in their hands.
And it's -- That's the hardest thing about "The Voice."
It's like I have to make in-game decisions
over two singers that are standing in front of me...
knowing that I have their future in my hands.
And that's the part that I feel like the empathy side of me.
I hope I don't lose it, because I would be heartless
if I did lose that. -Well, I think if you want to
know what it's like to be without empathy,
that feels like probably what Blake Shelton does, right?
-Blake Shelton. There you go.
After 12 years... 12 years and 23 seasons.
-Yeah. -He's stone cold, that man.
-He's stone cold. A man who this is his last season.
Obviously he's done a great amount of success on the show.
When ever he's here,
he is not shy about bragging about his success.
Has he been giving you a hard time?
Because he also seems very good at that.
-That's all he does anywhere, to everyone that will listen to him
or don't want to listen to him. -[ Laughs ]
-He's just constantly just nailing everyone.
-He's a very charismatic and affable bully.
-Yeah. [ Chuckles ] Correct. That's exactly what he is.
But he's an absolute beauty.
And, you know, he's going to be missed around that show.
Like, he is "The Voice" -- probably in his head, too.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-But he's so good to work with.
And, yeah, he'll be missed around there for sure.
-I mean, yeah, I think one of the reasons the show
is so exceptional is the connection
you guys all have together and the chemistry.
Do you feel like -- When he leaves,
do you feel like you'll have a good Blake Shelton impression?
Do you have one yet? -[ As Blake ] I'm Blake Shelton.
Uh... [ Laughter ]
This is my...
[ Normal voice ] I feel like a politician every time I do it.
[ Blake ] This is my last season on "The Voice,"
and I would love if you would be on the last-ever Team Blake.
[ Normal voice ] And he says that to every single person
who comes out -- win, lose or draw.
-I will tell you, I know you said you felt like a politician,
but you said that and looked at me,
I was like, "I want to be on Team Blake."
It totally worked. It was very convincing.
-I need a catch phrase. -You've got to work on it.
Hey, man, what a pleasure to have you here.
I really can't thank you enough.
And congratulations on the new music.
Niall Horan.
His new album "The Show"
is available for preorder now,
and "The Voice" premieres March 6th at 8:00 PM
right here on NBC.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."