Niall Horan Explains Who “This Town” Is About

Have no fear, Niall Horan is here to set the record straight about his debut solo jam. When One Direction’s resident guitar-wielding cutie pie appeared on The Graham Norton Show on Friday, he talked about the boy band’s hiatus (and more or less grabbed a gas can and poured fuel on our reunion hope fire), his travels, and what it's like going back to his hometown of Mullingar, Ireland. He also, of course, chatted with the talk show host about his new song "This Town." In addition to gifting the show with a lovely live performance of the tune, the singer/songwriter also explained who the lyrics are about. Contrary to what some suspected, “This Town” is neither a tribute to One Direction, nor is it about a specific person. Rather, the track was inspired by a place.

“It’s sort of [about Mullingar], but it's got a double meaning,” Horan told Norton. “It's not really about anyone in particular. When I'm writing songs, I write the concepts and then just write the scenario and then write the song around it. I guess with the 'town' part of it, there's a line in the song, 'Everything comes back to you,' and I still go home all the time, and no matter how far you traveled you still get to go home and be yourself. And then it's obviously got that female aspect, too ... I got loads of texts from people from school saying, 'Everyone wants to know who it's about.' It's not about anyone. So, I cleared that up on national television."

There we have it, my fellow Directioners. "This Town" is sort of about Horan’s hometown. And it is sort of about some abstract woman. And it is definitely not about a certain human (or humans).

Now that that's settled, we can get back to wondering when 1D's hiatus will end.