Niall Horan announces album and drops third single
Niall Horan has finally announced the upcoming release of his debut album. The One Direction star kicked off his solo career about a year ago with the successful acoustic guitar pop single ‘This Town’, which he followed up in May this year with the seductive pop tune ‘Slow Hands’. Both tracks reached top 10 in the UK and did reasonably well in the US, so now it is time for something new. On the 20th of October, Niall will drop the album Flicker and now we get to hear the third single, ‘Too Much To Ask’.

In comparison to his previous two singles, ‘Too Much To Ask’ is sonically closer to ‘This Town’. It is a gentle ballad about trying to deal with a breakup while still being heartbroken. “Tell me there are things that you regret, ’cause if I’m being honest I ain’t over you yet. It’s all I’m asking, is it too much to ask?”, he begs from his former lover. The chorus has a beautiful melody that will work well on radio and it does settle in your brain surprisingly quick. The vocal production here is a bit less convincing, as Niall’s voice sounds forced, which is usually not a great sign for a studio version. Personally I’d say this single is a bit too beige to lead into the album, but in a world where James Arthur and Ed Sheeran have some of the biggest hits in recent memory, ‘Too Much To Ask’ does stand a chance.