Flicker (album) explained

Flicker
Type:studio
Artist:Niall Horan
Cover:Niall Horan Flicker.png
Genre:
Length:35:54
Label:Capitol
Next Title:Heartbreak Weather
Next Year:2020

Flicker is the debut solo studio album by Irish singer-songwriter Niall Horan. It was released on 20 October 2017 by Capitol Records. "This Town" was released on 29 September 2016 as the album's lead single, followed by "Slow Hands", "Too Much to Ask", "On the Loose", and "Seeing Blind".

Flicker debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number one selling 152,000 units in the U.S., Horan's first number one album in the U.S. as a solo artist.

Background

In September 2016, it was announced that Horan had signed a solo deal with Capitol Records.[7] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Horan said the album was inspired by classic rock acts including Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles. "Whenever I would pick up a guitar, I would always naturally play chords like that, and finger pick a lot and play that folky kind of style." He also described the collection as having a "folk-with-pop feel to it".[8]

In August 2017, Horan debuted several songs from the album during a live show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London.[9] He revealed that he had contacted Maren Morris asking her to contribute to his song "Seeing Blind".[10] On 15 September 2017, Horan announced the album on his social media accounts, revealing the album's title, cover art, and release date[11] as well as the release of the third single from the album, "Too Much to Ask".[12] The track list was unveiled on 22 September 2017.[13] Horan told Zane Lowe on his Beats 1 radio show that the album's title track, "Flicker", meant the most to him and "was a very poignant moment in the recording process", to the extent that "it changed the way I recorded the rest of the album".[14] He also expressed in his op-ed for The Independent that the album O by Damien Rice had inspired the production of the aforementioned track and "Paper Houses".[15]

Promotion

Singles

The album's lead single, "This Town" was released with an accompanying music video of a live performance on 29 September 2016. It was Horan's first single outside of the boy band One Direction.[16] It peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart,[17] and number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[18] The second single, "Slow Hands", was released on 4 May 2017.[19] After it was released it received favourable reviews from critics, with Billboard describing the song as a "R&B-inflected rock tune".[20] The single charted within the top 10 in a number of countries and reached number 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

"Too Much to Ask" was released as the third single on 15 September 2017. The music video was uploaded to YouTube on 21 September 2017. "On the Loose" was announced as the album's fourth single on 5 February 2018.[21] It was playing on US Mainstream Top 40 radio on 20 February 2018.[22] "Seeing Blind" was the fifth single in June 2018.[23] An official acoustic video clip was released on 4 June 2018.[24]

Tour

See main article: Flicker Sessions and Flicker World Tour. Horan embarked on his first headlining concert tour, Flicker Sessions to promote the album.[25] The concert series was announced on 10 July 2017 on Horan's social media accounts and website. It began on 29 August 2017 at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.[26] Later Horan embarked on his second tour in support of the album, the Flicker World Tour.[27]

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 64 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 5 reviews.

Nick Levine of NME was positive about the album, calling its content "appealingly simple and straightforward", noting Horan's influences of Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles, concluding his review by praising it as a "promising" and "well-pitched" debut.[28] Neil Yeung of AllMusic was similarly positive, noting Horan's "big first step" into musical maturity, finding his "own voice".[29] Andy Gill, for The Independent, wrote that "it would have been easy for the One Direction heartthrob to trot out a collection of ersatz R&B crowd-pleasers", but instead "he keeps faith with the West Coast influences that first drew him into music", while also noting Fleetwood Mac's influence and complimenting "the formula of fat, warm bass and drums anchoring light guitars".[30] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph commented that "the songs are immediately distinctive" and called the album as a whole "tasteful", adding that "chord changes are sweetly satisfying, melodies spill gently forth with singing that is soft, tuneful and emotionally understated" while comparing the album's sounds to those of Fleetwood Mac and The Eagles.[31] Writers for Rolling Stone named Flicker one of the top albums of the year, writing that Horan "turns on the soft-rock charm on his solo debut" and that the album allows "Horan to winkingly flaunt his fully grown status" while calling "Slow Hands" "not so secretly one of the best solo singles from a former 1D member to hit radio this year".[32] Ed Power of The Irish Examiner praised the album's authenticity and the "level of tepid craftsmanship, from which it rarely departs" while calling Horan "unquestionably an accomplished musician and vocalist".[33]

Some reviews were more mixed, with Alexis Petridis of The Guardian calling it "middle of the road" and stating that "none of it is terribly exciting". While adding that it may be "easy to mock", he later contrasted its content and potential positively against that of Horan's past bandmates, Harry Styles and Zayn Malik.[34] Louise Bruton of The Irish Times gave the album a two-star review (out of five), commenting that "it reeks of nostalgia for Don Henley’s Hotel California". Craig Jenkins of Vulture wrote that "the album loads all of its best material up front" while describing the latter part of the album as full of "delicate, drippy acoustic tunes" that "are perfectly pleasant" but "don’t ask much of the singer". Jenkins ended his review by saying the album "is a good start" although it "often smolders but it never really catches fire".[35]

Commercial performance

In Ireland and the Netherlands, Flicker debuted at number one. With 152,000 album-equivalent units and 128,000 copies sold in the United States, it also opened atop the Billboard 200,[36] tying One Direction with the Beatles for the most members (three) with a solo US number-one album.[37] Horan also became the group's third member to top the Canadian Albums Chart when the record entered at the summit with over 16,000 consumption units in the nation.[38] Elsewhere the album debuted at number two in Australia[39] and Italy while opening at number three in New Zealand, Scotland, and the United Kingdom.[40]

Track listing

Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Flicker.[41]

Personnel and musicians

Production

Design

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Flicker
Chart (2017)Peak
position
Greek Albums (IFPI Greece)[42] 10
Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)2
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[43] 1

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Flicker
Chart (2017)Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[44] 54
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[45] 112
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[46] 84
Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)[47] 74
UK Albums (OCC)[48] 96
US Billboard 200[49] 179
Chart (2018)Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[50] 156
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[51] 92
Irish Albums (IRMA)[52] 22
US Billboard 200[53] 170

Notes and References

  1. 20 Best Pop Albums of 2017. Rolling Stone. Maura. Johnston. Maura Johnston . 12 December 2017. 13 April 2020.
  2. Web site: Nialler Horan. Stereogum. Chris. DeVille. 19 October 2017. 13 April 2020.
  3. News: Niall Horan: Flicker review: dripping with country-style nostalgia. The Irish Times. Louise. Bruton. 20 October 2017. 13 April 2020.
  4. Web site: Niall Horan Essentials. Apple Music. 13 April 2020.
  5. Web site: One Direction's Niall Horan flexes his folk muscles in solo album. ABC News. Allan. Raible. 20 October 2017. 13 April 2020.
  6. News: Levine. Nick. Niall Horan – 'Flicker' Review. 22 October 2017. NME. 20 October 2017.
  7. Web site: Ruby. Jennifer. Niall Horan 'signs solo record deal' with Universal instead of Simon Cowell's Syco. London Evening Standard. 5 September 2016. 25 September 2017.
  8. Bacle. Ariana. Niall Horan gets funky on new track, 'Slow Hands'. Entertainment Weekly. 4 May 2017. 25 September 2017.
  9. News: Katie. Baillie. Niall Horan thanks fans for their birthday wishes with his solo album release date and new single. Metro. 15 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
  10. Web site: Halperin. Shirley. Niall Horan Debuts Duet With Maren Morris, Sam Smith Reveals New Album Details at Capitol Congress. Variety. 9 August 2017. 25 September 2017.
  11. Bryan. Rolli. Niall Horan Reveals Solo Album Title, Art & Release Date. Billboard. 14 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
  12. News: Chidirim. Ndeche. One Direction's Horan Releases New Solo Album. The Guardian. 16 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
    - News: Ross. McNeilage. Niall Horan Releases 'Too Much To Ask' and Reveals 'Flicker' Release Date. MTV News. 15 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
  13. Gil. Kaufman. Niall Horan Uncovers Track List for 'Flicker' Solo Album. Billboard. 22 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
    - News: Scott. Sterling. Niall Horan Reveals 'Flicker' Tracklist. CBS Radio. 22 September 2017. 25 September 2017. 18 February 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180218090506/http://news.radio.com/2017/09/22/niall-horan-flicker-tracklist/. dead.
    - News: Mike. Wass. Niall Horan Reveals The Tracklist Of Debut LP, 'Flicker'. Idolator. 22 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
  14. News: Johnni. Macke. Niall Horan Reveals The Song Off 'Flicker' That Left Everyone Speechless. People's Choice. 22 September 2017. 25 September 2017.
  15. Web site: Niall Horan on Damien Rice's O: 'His approach to recording is beaten into my subconscious' . . 4 November 2022 . 15 May 2020.
  16. Web site: One Direction's Niall Horan Releases First Solo Single, 'This Town'. EW. 29 October 2020.
  17. Web site: Official Singles Chart Top 100 – 7 October 2016 – 13 October 2016. UK Singles Chart. 25 September 2017.
  18. Trust. Gary. Rae Sremmurd Returns to No. 1 on Hot 100, Migos Soars to Top 10. Billboard. 1 March 2017. 25 September 2017.
  19. Web site: Lockett. Dee. Harry Styles and Niall Horan's New Solo Careers Are Starting to Rival Each Other. Vulture. 4 May 2017. 25 September 2017.
  20. Martins. Chris. Niall Horan Braces for Stardom Outside One Direction, With Advice From Justin Bieber & The Eagles. Billboard. 25 May 2017. 25 September 2017.
  21. Niall Horan. NiallOfficial. 960560524042780672. 5 February 2018. The next single from Flicker will be 'On The Loose' ! : kylermartz. 6 February 2018.
  22. https://web.archive.org/web/20180208013533/http://fmqb.name/chr-available-for-airplay/. CHR Available For Airplay. 8 February 2018. 7 February 2018. FMQB.
  23. Web site: THE PURGE #336. auspOp. 5 June 2018. 6 June 2018. 12 June 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180612142435/https://www.auspop.com.au/2018/06/the-purge-336/. dead.
  24. Web site: Niall Horan, Maren Morris - Seeing Blind (Acoustic). YouTube. 4 June 2018. 6 June 2018.
  25. Reed. Ryan. Niall Horan Plots Intimate 'Flicker Sessions 2017' World Tour. Rolling Stone. 10 July 2017. 25 September 2017.
  26. Bell. Sadie. Niall Horan Announces Worldwide Tour. Billboard. 10 July 2017. 25 September 2017.
  27. Niall Horan Announces 2018 North American Tour With Maren Morris. Tatiana. Tenreyro. 15 September 2017. Billboard. 16 July 2018.
  28. Web site: Niall Horan - 'Flicker' Album Review - NME. NME. 20 October 2017. 29 October 2020.
  29. Web site: Flicker - Niall Horan. 29 October 2020. AllMusic.
  30. Web site: Album reviews: Niall Horan, Pink, Destroyer and more. 19 October 2017. The Independent. 29 October 2020.
  31. News: Niall Horan, Flicker, review: homespun MOR from One Direction's dark horse. Neil. McCormick. The Daily Telegraph. 20 October 2017. 29 October 2020.
  32. 20 Best Pop Albums of 2017. Brittany Spanos . Brittany Spanos . et al . Rolling Stone. 12 December 2017. 29 October 2020.
  33. Web site: Album review: Niall Horan, Flicker. 28 October 2017. Irish Examiner. 29 October 2020.
  34. Web site: Niall Horan: Flicker review – awwww-inspiring Radio 2 filler. 19 October 2017. the Guardian. 29 October 2020.
  35. Web site: Niall Horan, the Heart of One Direction, Treads Water on Flicker. Craig. Jenkins. 20 October 2017. Vulture. 29 October 2020.
  36. Niall Horan's 'Flicker' Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart. Billboard. Caulfield. Keith. 29 October 2017. 30 October 2017.
  37. One Direction Matches The Beatles as Only Groups With Three Members With Solo No. 1 Albums. Billboard. Caulfield. Keith. 29 October 2017. 30 October 2017.
  38. Web site: Tragically Hip Still Dominate Top 200 Albums Chart. FYIMusicNews. 29 October 2017. 30 October 2017.
  39. Web site: P!nk holds #1 for second week with Beautiful Trauma. Australian Recording Industry Association. 28 October 2017. 28 October 2017.
  40. Web site: Myers. Justin. George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice back at Number 1 after 27 years. Official Charts Company. 27 October 2017.
  41. Flicker. Niall Horan. 2017. Neon Haze Music / Capitol Records.
  42. Web site: Top-75 Albums Sales Chart Week: 50/2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171229235652/http://www.ifpi.gr/charts_el.html . 29 December 2017 . . 27 August 2018 . dead.
  43. Web site: 2017년 42주차 Album Chart . ko . Gaon Music Chart. 30 October 2017.
  44. Web site: ARIA End of Year Albums 2017. Australian Recording Industry Association. 5 January 2018.
  45. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2017. Ultratop. nl. 21 December 2017.
  46. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Album 2017. Hung Medien. 23 December 2017.
  47. Web site: Los más vendidos 2017. 5 February 2018. es. Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. https://web.archive.org/web/20180620231923/http://centrodedesarrollodigital.com/amprofonanual/100.php. 20 June 2018.
  48. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2017. Official Charts Company. 10 January 2018.
  49. Web site: Year-Eend Charts: Billboard 200 Albums (2017). Billboard. 12 December 2017.
  50. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2018. Ultratop. 22 July 2020.
  51. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Album 2018. MegaCharts. nl. 5 January 2019.
  52. Web site: Ireland's Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018. Official Charts Company. White. Jack. 4 January 2019. 13 January 2019.
  53. Web site: Year-End Charts: Billboard 200 Albums (2018). Billboard. 5 December 2018.

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