Niall Horan has revealed his anxiety over forgetting the lyrics to a major One Direction song while performing live on stage. Last weekend, the Irish singer performed at Wembley Stadium for Capital FM's Summertime Ball with Barclaycard, delighting fans with tracks from his solo career.
First Solo Performance of a One Direction Classic
For the first time since the band's indefinite hiatus in 2016, Niall chose to perform Steal My Girl. Although the track was released in 2014 and he has performed it countless times, the 32-year-old admitted he was nervous about remembering all the words.
During the song, Niall typically only sings a few lines, with his former bandmates—Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, and the late Liam Payne—handling the rest. After his performance, the End of an Era singer confessed he feared he might forget the complete lyrics.
Confession on The Tonight Show
Appearing on US chat show host Jimmy Fallon's program, Niall shared his experience. When asked about performing the track in full, he replied: "That's so funny you say that because I was thinking, as I was singing it, literally as I was singing the first verse, I was like, 'I've never sung this verse before.'"
He added: "I would have only ever sung my part, so I don't think I've ever sung those verses before. And here I was in front of 80,000 people going, 'Oh crap, I better not forget the words here.'"
Fortunately, Niall managed to recall all the lyrics. However, he admitted that if he had faltered, the sold-out crowd would have helped him. "Well, to be honest, even if I did, they probably would have sung it," he joked.
Summertime Ball's Significance
Niall described the annual day festival at Wembley Stadium as "a big part of my career for the last 15 years." He expressed gratitude for being part of such events, noting, "Any opportunity I get to play at Jingle Bell Balls or Summertime Balls, it's always amazing, and there's not many companies that can pull off a gig of this size with the line-up that we have."
New Album Success
With his latest LP, Dinner Party, Niall is on track for his third solo Number One album, following Heartbreak Weather (2020) and The Show (2023). Reflecting on his career, he told the Irish Independent that his solo journey has been a "nice, natural progression" that has allowed him to grow.
Speaking about his album, he said: "I love the album but you're always tentative to be over excited because you don't know what people are going to think. You sit with these songs, you spend so much time working on them and it's up to the fans to grab a hold of them and make it their own."
He added: "You just hope they like the music and feel the need to come and watch it in concert, put their hands in their pocket to come and watch it." Over the past five years, Niall acknowledges he has "grown" and often takes time to reflect on his success and this new chapter of his life.
