While
Niall Horan
is thankful that
One Direction
paved the way for his successful solo career, the Irish singer confessed there were times being in the band made him feel helpless.
Appearing recently on the
People, Just People
podcast
, Niall was asked if he ever felt like a “prisoner” while touring with the group alongside
Harry Styles
,
Zayn Malik
,
Liam Payne
and
Louis Tomlinson
.
Niall admitted, “A couple of times.”
The “Slow Hands” singer explained that the moments where he felt particularly powerless was when he had to deal with overzealous fans — citing incidents where people would sneak into his hotel room or follow him to his vehicle.
“We were 17, 18, 19 for the first few years,” Niall recalled of his band’s early days. “I struggled with it…I have to be doing something all the time. And the thought of closing my curtains in my hotel room was madness to me.”
One incident, Horan recalled, took place during the South American leg of their stadium world tour, when they flew into Lima, Peru in the very early morning hours. He singer explained he and his bandmates noticed a cool-looking shopping center they wanted to check out later on, but when it came time to leave their hotel, they saw, to their dismay, that “there were 10,000 people in the street” surrounding the building.
“I struggled with the idea of, ‘Why won’t you just let us out? We just want to go for a walk,'” Nial recalled.”You can’t get inside the brain of a fan, and now I completely get it. But, at the time, you’re like, ‘You’re our age! Just let us out! We just want to walk down the street. You must understand!'”
By Megan Stone
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