Niall Horan Shares How Olivia Rodrigo is Shaping the Future of Pop Songwriting
Just days after achieving her fourth Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper with “Drop Dead,” Olivia Rodrigo has garnered admiration from fellow artist Niall Horan.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone on April 30, the former One Direction member discussed his songwriting process, highlighting the renewed presence of bridges in pop music, which he attributes to Rodrigo’s influence.
“It’s great to hear [bridges]. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers,” said Horan, before singing a bit of the bridge from “Drivers License.” He continued, “What I like about Olivia’s music is [that] you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song. It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing. Whatever [she] and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there. It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Horan elaborated on his upcoming album, Dinner Party, set to release on June 5 via Capitol Records. He has already unveiled two tracks from the album: the title track and “Little More Time,” both co-produced by Afterhrs, John Ryan, and Julian Bunetta. This project will accompany Horan on a 22-date tour across Europe, Ireland, and the U.K., marking the official follow-up to his No. 2 debut album, The Show, which released earlier this year. Horan emphasized the increased rock influences in his new work, attributing this shift to his long-standing admiration for pop-punk bands like Blink-182.
“That drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-’90s, early-2000s punk-rock era,” Horan stated. “Rock’s been a big influence in my life since I was a child. I write pop songs, but dressing them up in a different way sometimes is quite cool. And now, the way my career is going, I’m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There’s only so much sitting on Spotify you can do and reading comments before you actually get an idea of what people actually think. You can see it in the room. The rockier stuff really goes off at the shows.”
In addition to his album, the “Slow Hands” singer is scheduled to perform at two U.S. stadium shows this year. Teaming up with Grammy-nominated country artist Thomas Rhett, Horan will take the stage at GEODIS Park in Nashville on July 9 and Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pa., on July 19. Both shows will feature openers Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts. With all four surviving members of One Direction touring new music this year, Horan expressed excitement about attending performances by his former bandmates.
“I went to Harry’s show a couple of years ago, and that was just wild. Madness going on there,” Horan recalled. “It reminded me of the 1D stadium shows where it was just seas of people jumping up and down. Watching the things going on on the floor, all the fans dancing around, I love that. You feel a sense of pride watching the boys doing what they love to do, and the communities that they’re able to create. I’m going to try and get to a Louis show of some capacity in the next few weeks.”
Horan joins his One Direction peers in releasing new music this year, with Louis Tomlinson’s How Did I Get Here? dropping in January, Harry Styles’ Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March, and ZAYN’s Konnakol launching earlier this month on April 17.
