Ever since One Direction called it quits (for now, at least), everybody wondered which member would be the first to come out with new tunes. Today, Niall Horan has emerged as the winner, as the singer released his debut solo single, “This Town.”
Fans of One Direction will feel right at home with the somber acoustic number. Horan’s voice is as recognizable as ever as he sings over simple guitar chords in the song about losing a loved one to someone else. If the track sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because it was written with a team featuring Jamie Scott and Mike Needle – both were responsible for writing One Direction songs back in the day.
Though Horan’s first solo offering isn’t particularly bad, the only criticism is that it does truly sound like it could have been a One Direction song. The point of their hiatus is to explore new avenues musically, so working with the same writers to craft the same songs as before doesn’t make the most sense.
Besides the studio version, Niall Horan also premiered a black and white “1 Mic 1 Take” video for the song, which can be seen above. In the future, hopefully he decides to expand his horizons a bit to maximize his true potential, or else fans will just look forward to what the other ex-One Direction guys will come out with instead.