Niall Horan values Sir Elton John’s "criticism" of his songwriting.
The 26-year-old singer – who has just released his second solo album, ‘Heartbreak Weather’ – has revealed he occasionally leans on some of his musical heroes for advice about writing hit songs.
Speaking to the BBC, he shared: "Elton John’s really supportive of my songwriting. He’s great [for] constructive criticism or just straight up criticism. You get actual feedback.
"And Don Henley [of The Eagles], I send him bits and pieces and he’ll absolutely, no problem, tell me if there’s something wrong with them.
"But that’s what you need. I mean, there’s a reason I’m asking for help – because I’m expecting a bad answer. And if Don Henley has an idea to make the song better I’m like, ‘Well, you wrote ‘Hotel California’ so I believe you.’"
Earlier this week, Niall admitted he is motivated by the "thought of failure".
Asked what his career has taught him about the ideas of success and failure, Niall shared: "You can sit there and dwell on the idea of failure, you can let it really upset you but it’s going to damage your songwriting, which means you will fail. Or you can grab it by the scruff of the neck!
"For this album I’ve written my best stuff, because I wasn’t in the studio every day going, ‘Oh, this is going to be a disaster.’ The thought of failure drives me to want to outdo myself all the time and be as big as I can.
"I did exams when I was in school and I’d walk in and just go, ‘Well, I’ve already failed this. Is there much point?’ And I’ve walked out of exams after 20 minutes. But there are times when you have to tell yourself the opposite."
Niall Horan appreciates Sir Elton John’s ‘criticism’
