\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tElizabeth Weinberg<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tWhose dinner party was it?\u00a0<\/strong> \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n \n\tThere\u2019s this line in the song, \u201cI\u2019m done looking for somebody.\u201d<\/strong> \n\tThis is your second album in a row that is deeply rooted in love and romance. How does that feel for you as a songwriter, in contrast to writing about heartbreak?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cI always try, even in the doubtful songs, to have a happier ending.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tYou do still manage to find a level of grit and conflict, even in that. There\u2019s this awareness that something could go wrong.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tWhat makes a great pop record for you?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tWe\u2019re seeing bridges come back, too. Pop has really been missing them for a while.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tThe rock influences are here on this album, too \u2014 \u201cTastes So Good\u201d is reminiscent of Blink-182.\u00a0<\/strong> \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tElizabeth Weinberg<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tYour tour for The Show <\/em>felt like a homecoming after the album before that, Heartbreak Weather,<\/em> arrived at the worst possible time, in March 2020. You and Lewis Capaldi were supposed to go on the road together, then that all faded away.<\/strong> \n\tYou went from these intimate shows at amphitheaters on the Flicker<\/em> tour in 2018 to headlining Madison Square Garden.<\/strong> \n\tThere were these postcards at the show with an old tweet from a fan saying you could sell out MSG. This is becoming a recurring thing, where you\u2019re referencing things your fans say. That was the starting point for \u201cFlowers,\u201d too.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tSome artists are very insular \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear anything else.\u201d But you\u2019re the opposite of that.\u00a0<\/strong> \n\t<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about trying to get as many catchy bits into a song as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n\tWhat\u2019s your dinner-party playlist when you\u2019re hosting?\u00a0<\/strong> \n\tThat\u2019s essentially the premise of \u201cLittle More Time,\u201d just wanting to be in that home space for a little longer.
It was mine. It wasn\u2019t much of a dinner party. To be honest, it was more Uber Eats than it was me over a stove. But a few people were over having food, and that was pretty much it, really.<\/p>\n\n
You always have it in your head, don\u2019t you? You\u2019d like the idea of settling down and doing the whole thing, but you\u2019re also kind of doing a bit of both. You\u2019re not thinking about it, and you are thinking about it. It\u2019s never a switch that\u2019s completely turned off. So I guess you\u2019re in the waiting room, hoping that the doctor walks in.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s very different stuff to write. If I have to go into the studio and make something up, then it\u2019s harder. Sometimes I do write observational-type music, where I look at other people\u2019s scenarios or other people\u2019s relationships or things I might have seen on the street. But when it comes to love or heartbreak, I find if you\u2019re going through them, you can write about them a lot easier. These last two albums have definitely been more on the romantic side, because that\u2019s where I\u2019m at.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If it was all rosy, it wouldn\u2019t be a great listen. All of my favorite songs have a bit of doubt to them. And if there\u2019s no doubt, you\u2019re lying to yourself. When I\u2019m trying to put pen to paper, there has to be a bit of both in there for me. I always try, even in the doubtful songs, to have a happier ending. When I did \u201cWhat a Time\u201d with Julia [Michaels], I remember listening to that song for the first time and the whole thing was \u201cWhat a time, what a time, what a time.\u201d And at the very end, she went, \u201cWhat a lie, what a lie, what a lie.\u201d And I was just like, \u201cThat\u2019s where it\u2019s at.\u201d I liked flipping the song on its head and making it something different. \u201cBetter Man\u201d on this album, I did it in that. There\u2019s a bit of bad dream and doubt, and a bit of songwriting tips and tricks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s all about hookiness and trying to get as many catchy bits into a song as you possibly can. The great pop records of all time have got great hooks in them, whether that be musical or a little melody thing that repeats. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve got so many choruses in \u201cDinner Party,\u201d because I felt like it was the best part of the song.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s great to hear them. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers. \u201cRed lights, stop signs \u2026\u201d \u2014 she does that a lot. What I like about Olivia\u2019s music is you feel like you\u2019re 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 her and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they\u2019ve got going there. It\u2019s definitely influencing people, including myself.<\/p>\n
Blink, obviously, that drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-Nineties, early-2000s punk-rock era. Rock\u2019s 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\u2019m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/162A9446-2-copy2.jpg\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>
I\u2019m still getting over that. That was terrible. The album came out and we were meant to tour, and then obviously Covid happened, so that didn\u2019t happen. I\u2019m kind of glad it didn\u2019t, because we would have just drank for six weeks. But, yeah, no, because that tour was missed and I hadn\u2019t toured since 2018, there was a long gap of five or six years. The fans were ready to go [by 2024], waiting in the wings more than ever. Even having those conversations with my agents about booking tours and they were talking about arenas, I was just like, \u201cAre you really sure about this? Because I don\u2019t want it to be embarrassing.\u201d It was the craziest year ever. We played to, like, 1.5 million people or something nuts like that around the world.<\/p>\n
Driving down and seeing your face on the side of Madison Square Garden is pretty crazy. If I never did it again, that was a box ticked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not a serial scroller. But when I do, I\u2019ll see the odd thing that stands out. It\u2019s like, \u201cNiall, follow me.\u201d \u201cNiall, I love you.\u201d \u201cI hate you.\u201d \u201cYour eyes could grow flowers.\u201d That\u2019s all the tweet said. I was like, \u201cThat\u2019s interesting.\u201d I was sat next to Amy Allen, we were in Texas in between the two weekends of Austin City Limits. We were sat on the couch, just thinking about what we were going to do next, and that comment came up. It\u2019s like this person is just so powerful in the small things that they do, their personality, and the way they make people feel. They\u2019re so powerful that their eyes could grow flowers. It makes your ears perk up.<\/p>\n
My first-ever singer-songwriter I heard was Paul Simon, which gave me Damien Rice. Or the first rock band I heard was the Eagles, and that gave me Bruce [Springsteen] and gave me Fleetwood [Mac]. You\u2019re constantly just picking up new stuff. It\u2019s nearly impossible not to these days, being around people and listening to what they\u2019re listening to. Or going on Spotify or Apple [Music] and going through the different playlists. You can\u2019t help but pick up different influences, whether they\u2019re conscious or subconscious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I feel like you always have this concept of \u201cOh, it\u2019s going to be chilled,\u201d and then it ends up with everyone hammered. But that would usually start with an early Billy Joel album or O,<\/em> by Damien Rice, which turns into Fleetwood Mac. And then before you know it, you\u2019re listening to anything. To be honest, I\u2019ll listen to most types of music. After a few drinks, whatever makes you get up and dance.<\/p>\n
<\/strong>I still get that rush from the second we wrote it in Nashville. It just made me feel really good. The lyrics happened really fast, because it\u2019s something that I think about all the time. Last year, for instance, I was going back and forth between L.A. and London every 12 days or something like that. There were periods where I literally didn\u2019t unpack the suitcase. I would just leave it in the hallway. I would pick out of it and wash stuff and put it back in, pick out of it again. Then before I knew it, I was taking off again. It got to the point where it was annoying me. Usually, I\u2019m all right with it. I\u2019ve traveled enough. I\u2019ve got enough British Airways points. But I just got to a period where I was just like, \u201cOh, no, I just want to stay here now and be at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/RSI-Hub-interstitial.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/162A9539-2-copy.jpg?w=819\")
<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>