--- title: One Direction's Niall Horan Released His First Solo Track description: The Irish singer surprise-dropped his first solo song since the band went on a hiatus. Titled "This Town," it's a heartbreaker of a ballad. canonical: https://time.com/4513314/niall-horan-new-music/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-29T17:30:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:37:10.452Z og:title: One Direction's Niall Horan Released His First Solo Track og:description: In a surprise move, the Irish crooner has bestowed us a new song, "This Town." og:url: https://time.com/4513314/niall-horan-new-music/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: One Direction's Niall Horan Released His First Solo Track twitter:description: In a surprise move, the Irish crooner has bestowed us a new song, "This Town." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # One Direction's Niall Horan Just Released an Emotional Solo Track > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 29, 2016 5:30 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Sep 29, 2016 5:30 PM UTC Niall Horan may not be the most recognizable member of now-defunct [One Direction](http://time.com/4368542/zayn-malik-one-direction-taylor-swift/), but the 23-year-old Irish singer has beat his former bandmates Harry [and Liam to the punch](http://time.com/4417442/one-direction-liam-payne-solo/?iid=sr-link3) in his solo music career, releasing a surprise single on Thursday to the [absolute delight](https://twitter.com/NiallOfficial/status/781507948447236096) of devoted Directioners. “This Town” is a lush, guitar-forward ballad in the vein of the band’s earlier tearjerkers (“Little Things,” anyone?), with hints of Ed Sheeran in the small-town storytelling of the lyrics. “Because if the whole world was watching I’d still dance with you / Drive highways and byways to be there with you,” Horan croons sincerely, and a legion of fans fall at his feet. Now we await his next move: just last night, fellow teen heartthrob Shawn Mendes [confirmed the two were working on](http://time.com/4513023/shawn-mendes-james-corden/) a collaboration. 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