I’m a big fan of a good surprise.
Unless the surprise is a ticket on my windshield or a credit card bill in my mail or a healthy snack amongst all the delicious cavities that are already in my trick-or-treat bag (smh, soccer moms). But things like surprise birthday parties and unexpected letters and having more peanut butter left in the jar than I thought – I can get down with those kinds of surprises.
I can also get down with unannounced record deals. And unannounced song drops. And unannounced solo careers.
(Emotions, meet instability.)
As much as the indefinite hiatus of One Direction still breaks my heart a little bit (and probably yours too), Niall Horan’s unexpected release of “This Town” last Thursday meant that people everywhere fell victim to an international frenzy of I-thought-this-was-over’s and But-who-is-this-guy?’s.
Justifiably so.
Post-hiatus 1D has made Twitter, the radio stations, and the Billboard Hot 100 just a little bit more melancholy, but there’s a reason that “This Town” might be reminding us that the hiatus might not be so disheartening after all.
1. It’s a well-deserved redemption.
The 1D gentlemen always had a bad rap by the doubters, the nay-sayers, and the Directionators alike for being individually untalented. Which means people also thought they would be incapable of success outside of One Direction. If Zayn’s early departure to pursue a solo career wasn’t enough proof against that (see: “Pillowtalk” as only the 25th song ever to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 back in February 2016), “This Town” certainly is. Its Michael-Bublé-slash-John-Mayer-esque sound and that unexplainably dreamy balance of smooth but raspy vocals leaves it right up there with all those other feel-good songs that just make you want to happy cry into a warm blanket by yourself. And what’s more, Niall will never again be undeservingly called “the band’s weakest link”.
2. “This Town” is the first real sign of life for post-hiatus 1D.
Still alive but you’re barely breathing? (Yeah, we know.) Post-hiatus 1D has generated a lot of talk, but not a whole lot of tangibility. Much to the annoyance of curious fans, the 1D boys haven’t seemed to be doing much more than just quietly lurking. Dad Louis is busy changing diapers, Liam signed a record deal but hasn’t actually released anything yet, and Harry is just doing what Harry has always done best (AKA: that lurking thing we talked about, but this time it’s between a recording studio and a movie set – both of which we still know annoyingly little about). And for the longest time, we thought that all Niall was doing was playing golf. We were wrong. Niall was the last one we thought would step up to the solo plate first, but when “This Town” jumped straight to number one on the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart (and stayed there), we were really glad he did.
3. It’s a reason to be optimistic about the future of 1D.
Niall has always been the one promising us that this hiatus would not mark the end of One Direction. We all held onto his words hopefully, but we were prepared to not be disappointed if it wasn’t actually the case. When one of you is in a movie and one is a dad and the other three have their own record deals and successful solo careers, it’s easy to see how “hiatus” could eventually become “termination”. But Niall’s interviews with numerous radio hosts after the release of “This Town” all seem to be laden with bold promises of a 1D reunion at some point in the future. Whether this means one year or four years, or whether it means a whole new album or just one reunion performance, we’re not really sure. But we can hope for the best.
I can’t say much about the lives of celebrities I’ve never met before. But what I can say is that if the whole world was watching (and they are, Niall – trust me, they are), they’d still have no freaking clue that Horan had this up his sleeve the whole time. And yet, reminiscing on the unannounced release of “Drag Me Down” back in 2015, why would we expect anything less? It happens all the time, actually.
Over and over.
The only truth.
Everything comes back to unexpectedly being slapped in the face with world-renowned hit singles.
Thanks, boys. Appreciate it.
(PS: If you’ve been living under a rock for the past week and still haven’t heard “This Town”, don’t worry, you can listen to it here. But have your tear ducts and your blankets ready. Just saying.)
