Singer and musician Niall Horan has come a long way since his appearance on The X Factor in 2010.

In the past ten years, Horan has climbed charts and toured with the former band One Direction, and began his own solo career with his first studio album “Flicker” in 2017. Horan released his sophomore album “Heartbreak Weather” on March 13, shooting to the No. 1 spot on charts such as iTunes and Billboard in several countries.

“Heartbreak Weather” follows the concept of growth that comes from the storms of heartbreak. Horan pulled inspiration from many different genres to create an album that views heartbreak from multiple angles. 

In an interview with Apple Music, Horan said that while he was writing tracks for his album, he tried to match “the weather part to the feelings that you feel when you go through a breakup,” and the album does just that. It tells a story from start to finish, including the highs and lows of growth as seen through different perspectives.

The pop album has 14 tracks. I consider most of the songs to have upbeat instrumentals, with five of the tracks being more similar to ballads. However, even though the songs might have a happy tone, the majority of the lyrics are sad, shifting from feelings of bliss to disconnection and missing someone as the album flows from beginning to end. 

The album leads with songs ‘Heartbreak Weather’ and ‘Black and White’, both hopeful sounding songs with lighthearted lyrics about what the future might hold for a relationship. Horan has said that the making of ‘Black and White’ was the most fun, and he considers it a song about marriage, with black and white being the colors of the bride and groom’s clothes. 

After those initial two tracks, the album takes a turn and starts pulling at more heartstrings. Ballads such as ‘Dear Patience’ and ‘Put A Little Love On Me’ flood listeners with feelings of loneliness, isolation, and growing apart from someone who you love without control. 

Each song appeals to listeners for different reasons, whether it be the depth of the lyrics or the use of certain instrumentals. My personal favorite song from the album is track 14, ‘Still.’ It is the finale to the album, with lyrics voicing the struggles of overthinking a situation and not being able to revert back to the way things used to be. “Let’s just go back to basics,” Horan sings. “Forget about what’s come and gone.”

‘Still’ concludes the album by tying together a wide range of emotions, and shows the growth of the album well. I love the song because of the way the instrumentals build throughout it, with percussion and piano adding on to the soft guitar at the beginning of the song. 

Track four, ‘Bend The Rules,’ is my least favorite song from “Heartbreak Weather.” The song has a slower tempo and doesn’t stand out from the other songs. Its somewhat melancholy impression is already similar to other tracks, and can feel sluggish. 

Horan planned his second world tour, the ‘Nice To Meet Ya’ tour, for 2020 because of the international success of his album, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the performance dates got canceled, and new tour dates in 2021 have yet to be announced. 

I recommend “Heartbreak Weather” to anyone who enjoys the pop genre, is in need of a breakup song, or is a former One Direction fan. The album takes the difficult emotions of loss, longing, and nostalgia and blends it into a range of music that compels to you to dance or to cry, and maybe even both.

Overall rating: 8/10