Niall Horan treats us to a love letter of an album.

THREE YEARS ON

Three years on from his hit album The Show, Niall Horan is back with his fourth studio album Dinner Party. The album bears twelve tracks discussing themes of relationships and nostalgia focusing on the more personal moments of his life. Given the album title, it’s as if we have been invited to Niall’s Dinner Party; I truly believe this album is a whole new era for Horan given its more personal feel.

DINNER PARTY

The first released track is the title track – a romantic, pop ballad with soft acoustic guitar and gentle drums, with a beat that reflects a romantic, laid-back dinner party. Lyrically, it’s as if Horan is telling us a story. The song reminisces on the first night Horan and his now girlfriend Amelia Woolley met, at an actual dinner party. He sings ‘”icking up boxes with our teeth / Playing games we’ve never played before.” which Horan himself said was an activity he did at the dinner party. The chorus, “Crashing lights when you first saw me / Yeah, I met you at a dinner party / Chandeliers, 2 a.m. coffee / Yeah, I met you at a dinner party,”  reflect the giddy, exciting feeling you feel when meeting someone you really like. It’s a sweet and light-hearted track, inviting listeners in to a personal moment of Horan’s life.

THE ALBUM

The album is full of feel good tracks, with themes of reflection, love and, nostalgia. Lead track Taste So Good kicks off with smooth electric guitar and prominent drums, I just know this will sound insane live. Flowers is a peaceful track comparing physical beauty to the beauty of nature. Horan sings “Swear your eyes (eyes) / Could grow flowers (flowers) / Wander around (around) / Them for hours / Swear your eyes (eyes) / Could grow flowers (flowers).” Boys Are Fun is an upbeat, poppy song with a catchy chorus. The guitar is lively providing a feel good and joyful vibe across the whole song.

END OF AN ERA

Concluding the album is End Of An Era. The track is all about reflection, nostalgia and, the sadness that comes with it. In an interview with “And The Writer Is…”, Horan reveals that the song is about former band mate Liam Payne.

Horan states, “Me and Julian or Julian actually said it. He was like, “This is this song is about Liam. We just don’t know it yet…looking back at the the good times of growing up together and doing all the things that we’ve spoke about for the last hour of making records together and growing up together in a mad industry and being all over the world and traveling and all the small moments that we had in hotel rooms and, you know, and being on stage and looking at each other on stage and like all of those things come flooding back in in this song along with the sadness.”

Fans also pointed out at the end of the song, Horan sings “The end of an era,” five times. Fans associated this with One Direction and that each “end of an era” Horan sings, is for each of his former bandmates.

DINNER PARTY: LIVE ON TOUR

As an album, Dinner Party feels like a new era for Niall Horan. It’s full of reflection and nostalgia while also looking towards the future, making it feel like a love letter to every version of himself. In my opinion, I think it’s his most personal and vulnerable album to date. As well as the album, Horan has treated us to Dinner Party Live On Tour. Spanning the UK and Europe, it kicks off in September with Birmingham and concludes in Belfast in the November. It’s the first leg of tour to be announced with Horan hinting at more to come. Be sure to grab tickets as this is a tour you won’t want to miss.

For now, I will leave you with my favourite track off the album End Of An Era.

Niall Horan: Website

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