On Oct. 4, Niall Horan released his newest single, “Nice to Meet Ya,” along with a brand new, easter egg filled music video. This is Horan’s first single off of his upcoming new album, which has not yet been named or announced a release date.

The song and video are about Horan meeting a woman and being interested in her, but she keeps leaving before he can do anything about it. With lyrics like, “I like the way you talk/I like the things you wear/I want your number tattooed on my arm in ink, I swear,” his feelings are pretty obviously stated. The lyrics, however, are not the strong point of the song. The actual music behind Horan mixed with his unique voice give the song the catchy appeal.

“Nice to Meet Ya” gives off very different vibes than most of the tracks on his first solo album, “Flicker,” which was more of a folk-pop hybrid. He had many slow ballads and songs with some upbeat pop anthems sprinkled in, but nothing like “Nice to Meet Ya.”

The best way to describe the song would probably be a mix between a song off of One Direction’s albums “Four” or “Made in the A.M.” but with Horan’s signature deep, effortless voice and melodies. The song has the catchiness of a One Direction song, but a lot more mature. He even takes a slight rock take on the song, which is pretty new for Horan.

In the music video, Horan hinted at the other tracks coming up on his second album. At the end of the music video, the woman who Horan is chasing after writes down her phone number on a napkin, and it is shown on the screen. When fans dialed the number, they were led to a voicemail by Horan himself, where he explains a little bit about the filming process and his thoughts about the track and his album. He wraps up the voicemail by telling fans that he hid four song names from the album in the music video, and challenges fans to find them all.

The song titles “Small Talk,” “Still,”  “Heartbreak Weather” and “No Judgement” were scattered along the background of the video as things like band posters, graffiti, and in the case of “Small Talk,” as an advertisement on top of a taxi with another phone number. When fans called, they were greeted with another voicemail from Horan, telling them his inspiration for the upcoming song. He said it reminded him of his hit “Slow Hands” from his previous album, “Flicker,” about two years ago. He gave fans a preview of the song, and it seems to be a lot more pop-like than most of his other material. The interactive elements to the music video were definitely an interesting touch and new for Horan, who has never done a video like this in his solo career or career with One Direction.

Looking towards the new album, it seems Horan is straying from his folk-pop origins and going back to a more pop-rock vibe, like some of his later songs with One Direction, “No Control” or “Temporary Fix.” But, both songs seem to have a more mature and refined style to them.

Image from Niall Horan via YouTube