Niall Horan Quotes

Every artist has a moment where they think about quitting music for a moment because it's scary.

The success of Torn was a bit too much for me. I took a year off and was still scared to start the second album.

I struggled with the pressure of having the successful record after the first record. Second album syndrome. I'm living proof; it's very real.

I was afraid of the sophomore slump even before our first record came out. It was a very real fear because I'd watched so many bands I'd loved in the past not deliver. I knew it was a very real thing. I didn't know why it happens, but I'd been thinking about it a lot.

The second album is the hardest to write. It's nothing like the first album.

After my first No. 1 song back in 2006, I worried I may never have another one.

My film directorial career has been nothing but repetition of one failure after another!

I did not want to write one of those sequels that famous first-book authors get into where everybody says, 'Oh yeah.'

I'll probably never put out another album because I'm a tough critic of my work, and I don't think I could come up to those standards any more.

I was aware that there is an expectation that writers inevitably falter at this stage, that they fail to live up to the promise of their first successful book, that the next book never pleases the way the prior one did. It simply increased my sense of being challenged.

Especially when the expectations become so high of you, you always remember the last record that might have been really successful, and you're trying to outdo that or trying to make something that does not sound like the last record.

I think that there's the self-imposed pressure to come up with something that's good. For guys like us, that's much more important than any external pressure could really be.

I think one of the pitfalls of doing your own music is that sometimes you can never be satisfied with it: you're afraid to say that it's done, and you keep reworking it or re-recording it or re-writing it.

It's the worst feeling, going into your record label when you haven't got a hit. It was like: 'Maybe you've lost it.' And, once you're done, that's it. There's no support, or anyone to help you.

I think, for every artist, the second album is the most terrifying one to put out because it can either boost your career, and everybody can't wait until your third album, or the second one is terrible, and 'He probably hit a plateau on his first one.'

Moving from a first to a second album is an incredibly transitional time for any band because you never get to make one in a vacuum like you did with your debut.

I don't ever feel like I'm being an actor.

I just feel like this guy who's visiting the music business over the weekend. Every time I write a song, I feel like it's never going to happen again.

I often see only my mistakes. I always feel I could have done better. Every artist goes through it.

During those years with the Iron Maidens, I felt I had to be great and really prove myself at every single show.

In 1997, I thought I'd never make another record.

Success can be destructive to the creative process. I say it all the time: success is as dangerous as total failure.

When you're doing so much, there's so much on your mind. The bigger the artist you become, you have to think a lot more. I'm trying not to overthink everything!

Each time you take a good picture, you have the wonderful feeling of exhilaration... and almost instantly, the flip side. You have this terrible, terrible anxiety that you've just taken your last good picture.

Ever since I can remember, over-expectation and pressure have been my worst enemies.