Hear Niall Horan’s Sexy New Funk-Pop Song ‘Slow Hands’
Niall Horan has unveiled a new single from his forthcoming debut solo album, which will be released via Capitol. It’s the second song he released since One Direction announced their hiatus in 2015.
On “Slow Hands,” Horan takes a turn from the more reflective, slowed down “This Town” and goes for a more muted sound. Above a stomp-and-clap beat and muted guitar, Horan allows his lower register to showcase his more seductive side on the track which is reminiscent of early Aughts hits from Jack Johnson and John Mayer.
Prior to his new single’s release, the singer discussed the track in an interview with Mikey Piff on Sirius XM Hits 1 on Wednesday. Horan told Piff that after listening to some of the material he had, he wanted to add a bit more grit, funk and heavier bass. At the time he was listening to late Seventies and early Eighties music, like Don Henley. “When he went solo in the early Eighties, he just kinda had this funky kind of feel to it – heavy bass, heavy guitar – so I just thought, ‘Let’s give this a crack,'” he said of making “Slow Hands.”
Horan added that the song was off-the-cuff. “I wanted it to be a little bit cheeky with the lyric,” he explained. “And we wrote this concept.” He said that it’s set in a bar and the song’s theme changes up stereotypical roles. “The first line is ‘As long as we should take this back to my place’ – and usually that’s what the guy would say, but we flipped it that the girl would say that, and that’s what she said right to my face.
“‘Cause with the song, like before we even wrote lyrics, we had all this big track and it sounded kind of sexy,” he continued. “So we thought this concept would match the vibe of the song, and I think we might have been right.”