Niall Horan - Dinner Party

Niall Horan pulls up a chair and pours another glass on Dinner Party, his fourth studio album and the warmest, most relaxed record of his solo career.

The title track carries the album's origin story: Horan wrote it about meeting his long-time partner at a friend's dinner party, and that easy, candlelit intimacy runs through the whole set. Following The Show from 2023, this one trades big-stage gloss for something closer to the kitchen table, with Damien Rice named as a guiding influence.

Julian Bunetta and John Ryan steer the project as executive producers, with Afterhrs and Matt Zara also among the producers, and the result is mid-tempo pop with room to breathe. Little More Time arrived as one of the singles, while Die If I Don't brings accordion, bouzouki, bodhrán and fiddle into the mix, a proud nod to his Irish roots. Tastes So Good and Monochromatic show how comfortably he now sits in melodic pop that never forces the hook.

The emotional centre is End of an Era, rewritten after the loss of former One Direction bandmate Liam Payne and widely heard as a tribute to him. It closes the record with real tenderness.

On vinyl, Dinner Party plays like a long evening with an old friend: generous, unhurried and quietly moving by the final song.