“Heartbreak Weather,” the second studio album by Irish singer Niall Horan, was released on March 13 to positive reception from critics and fans.
The release was preceded by four singles: “Nice to Meet Ya,” “Put a Little Love on Me,” “No Judgement” and its title track.
A collection of breakup songs for the digital age, “Heartbreak Weather” is a diverse and interesting album that doesn’t just stick to a single angle of breakups, adding sleek production and melancholy lyrical content to convey Horan’s message.
Highlights
1. “Heartbreak Weather”
The album opener, this track gives off a strong tropical house vibe with synthesizer to spare. I love the way the instrumental compliments the lyrics, and it all weaves together well.
2. “Small Talk”
The bass in this track gives it a nice flair as the first chorus kicks everything into high gear, and the build up is nice to a pounding synth-heavy anthem about skipping unnecessary conversation and just letting loose.
3. “Cross Your Mind”
Once again, the bass guitar and synth complement each other well here, with a poppy chorus that is guaranteed to get stuck in the listener’s head. It has a really nice groove to it and might be my favorite song on the record.
Background
Horan rose to fame by competing in “The X Factor” in 2010.
Though he was eliminated as a solo performer, he was placed in a group with Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson to form the boy band One Direction. The group finished in third place overall, signing with Syco Entertainment and releasing five studio albums.
After the release of their final album, “Made In The AM,” the band went on a permanent hiatus, with each member releasing their own music as a solo artist.
Horan signed with Capitol Records as a solo performer in September 2016, later releasing two singles, “Slow Hands” and “This Town,” from his debut album, “Flicker.”
“Nice to Meet Ya,” was made available in October 2019, about a month after Horan first stated that he had been working on the album.
“Put A Little Love On Me” was released in December of that year, with the announcement of the album’s title joining the third single, “No Judgement,” three months later.
In an Instagram post, Horan advised fans to listen through the album start to finish in order to feel the full story.
“With Heartbreak Weather, I wanted to tell the story that was in my head, hopefully lead people down the storytelling lane of an album track listing,” he continued.
“I was trying to think how I could write a different album than the usual. I wanted to write songs from different sides or from someone else looking in.”
I would say that Horan pulled the multiple perspectives off rather well with “Heartbreak Weather.”
Most of the songs on this album sound like they could be on the radio at any given moment, which is great for a young artist like him. Nothing here seems random or out of place; every song on this record has its purpose, and they fulfill that purpose with enthusiasm.
It will be interesting to see what musical paths he follows in future projects now that he’s spent some time as a solo artist. I’m excited to see where he goes next.
