Flicker (album)

* SARM Music Village, The Music Shed (London)
* Echo Studio, EastWest Studios (Los Angeles, California)
* Blackbird Studio, The LBT (Nashville)
 Genre | * Soft rock
* folk
* folk-pop
 Producer | * Julian Bunetta
* Greg Kurstin
* Jacquire King
* AFTERHRS
* Mark "Spike" Stent

1. "This Town"Released: 29 September 2016
2. "Slow Hands"Released: 4 May 2017
3. "Too Much to Ask"Released: 15 September 2017
4. "On the Loose"Released: 20 February 2018
5. "Seeing Blind"Released: 1 June 2018

***Flicker*** is the debut studio album by Irish singer Niall Horan. It was released on 20 October 2017 by Neon Haze Music and 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 sellling 152,000 units in the U.S., Horan's first number one album in the U.S. as a solo artist.

## Background

In June 2016, Horan confirmed that he was working on his first studio album, saying, "I've been in the studio writing bits and pieces. It's just for fun at the moment. I've made relationships with different writers up and down the years so I'm putting them into action now." In September 2016, it was announced that Horan had signed a solo deal with Capitol Records. Talking to the *Daily Star* Horan said, "I have been working on [the album] since March 2016. It has been a year and a half in the making and it is finally time for people to hear it." 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".

In August 2017, Horan debuted several songs from the album during a live show at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. He revealed that he had contacted Maren Morris asking her to contribute to his song "Seeing Blind". On 15 September 2017, Horan announced the album on his social media accounts, revealing the album's title, cover art, and release date as well as the release of the third single from the album, "Too Much to Ask". The track list was unveiled on 22 September 2017. 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". 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".

## 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. It peaked at number nine on the UK Singles Chart, and number 20 on the US *Billboard* Hot 100. The second single, "Slow Hands", was released on 4 May 2017. After it was released it received favourable reviews from critics, with *Billboard* describing the song as a "R&B-inflected rock tune". 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. It was playing on US Mainstream Top 40 radio on 20 February 2018. "Seeing Blind" was the fifth single in June 2018. An official acoustic video clip was released on 4 June 2018.

### Tour

Horan embarked on his first headlining concert tour, Flicker Sessions to promote the album. 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. Later Horan embarked on his second tour in support of the album, the Flicker World Tour.

## 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. Neil Yeung of AllMusic was similarly positive, noting Horan's "big first step" into musical maturity, finding his "own voice". 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". 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. 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". 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".

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. 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".

## 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, tying One Direction with the Beatles for the most members (three) with a solo US number-one album. 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. Elsewhere the album debuted at number two in Australia and Italy while opening at number three in New Zealand, Scotland, and the United Kingdom.

## Track listing

* Ed Drewett
* Tom Barnes
* Peter Kelleher
* Ben Kohn
* Scott
* Needle
* Bryer
* Afterhrs
* Bunetta
* Ryan

**Notes**

* (a) signifies an additional producer

## Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of *Flicker*.

### Personnel and musicians

* Niall Horan – lead vocals, guitar (1, 3-4, 6, 8-9, 11-13)
* Maren Morris – featured artist (3)
* AFTERHRS – synthesizer (4)
* Vern Asbury – guitars (11)
* Tom Barnes – drums (11), percussion (11)
* Alisha Bauer – cello (8, 13)
* Eli Beaird – bass guitar (10)
* Daniel Bryer – background vocals (12)
* Julian Bunetta – background vocals (1, 4, 9), percussion (1), drums (9, 12), piano (9), bass guitar (12), guitar (12), keyboards (12)
* Ann Marie Calhoun – violin (2)
* Matt Chamberlain – drums (1)
* Daphne Chen – string quartet (8), violin (8, 13)
* Irina Chirkova – cello (2)
* Ruth-Anne Cunningham – background vocals (9, 10)
* Eric Darken – percussion (3, 6, 10, 13)
* Dave Emery – keyboards (4)
* Ian Fitchuk – drums (10), piano (10)
* Ian Franzino – bass guitar (12), drums (12), guitar (12), keyboards (12)
* Ilona Geller – viola (2)
* Mark Goldenberg – guitar (1, 4)
* Eric Gorfain – violin (8, 13)
* Andrew Haas – bass guitar (12), drums (12), guitar (12), keyboards (12)
* Jedd Hughes – electric guitar (10)
* John Joseph – bass guitar (3, 6, 8, 13)
* Leah Katz – string quarter (8), viola (8, 13)
* Peter Kelleher – organ (11)
* Tommy King – keyboards (1), organ (4)
* Sam Klempner – background vocals (11), bass guitar (11)
* Ben Kohn – claps (11), bells (11)
* Greg Kurstin – acoustic guitar (2, 7), bass guitar (2, 5, 7), drums (2, 5, 7), guitar (2, 5), piano (2, 5, 7), keyboards (5), electric guitar (7), synthesizers (7)
* Greg Leisz – acoustic guitar (2)
* Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar (10)
* Val McCallum – guitar (1)
* Mike Needle – background vocals (12)
* Zac Rae – piano (3, 6, 8, 13), synthesizers (3, 6, 8, 13)
* John Ryan – background vocals (9), guitar (4), bass (9)
* Bridget Sarai – background vocals (7)
* Jamie Scott – background vocals (5, 12)
* Aaron Sterling – drums (3, 6, 8, 13), percussion (3, 6, 8, 13)
* Chris Stills – background vocals (6)
* Spencer Thomson – acoustic guitar (3, 6, 8, 13), electric guitar (3, 6, 8, 13), guitar (10)
* Leah Zeger – violin (2)

### Production

* AFTERHRS – production (12), recording (12), additional production (4), programming (4)
* Chris Bishop – additional vocal engineering (11)
* Daniel Bryer – additional programming (12)
* Julian Bunetta – production (1, 4, 9, 12), recording (1, 4, 9, 12), programming (12), additional recording (4)
* Julian Burg – recording (2, 5, 7)
* Nathan Dantzler – mastering
* Eric Darken – drum programming (3, 6, 10, 13)
* Brendan Dekora – recording assistant (3, 6, 8, 13)
* Dave Emery – programming (4)
* Ian Franzino – programming (12)
* Michael Freeman – mixing assistant
* Eric Gorfain – string arrangement (8, 13)
* Eric Greedy – additional recording (4)
* Andrew Haas – programming (12)
* Martin Hannah – recording (12)
* Jacquire King – production (3, 6, 8, 10, 13), recording (3, 6, 8, 10, 13), programming (3, 6, 8, 10, 13), session conductor (3, 6, 8, 13)
* Sam Klempner – additional engineering (11)
* Greg Kurstin – production (2, 5, 7), recording (2, 5, 7), string arrangement (2), drum programming (7)
* Kolton Lee – vocal editing (3, 6, 8, 13)
* Alex Pasco – recording (2, 5, 7)
* John Rausch – recording (3, 6, 8, 10, 13)
* Jamie Scott – recording (12), additional programming (12)
* Mark "Spike" Stent – additional production (4), mixing, programming (4)
* Spencer Thomson – programming (3, 6, 10, 13)
* TMS – production (11), recording (11)

### Design

* Conor McDonnell – interior gatefold photo
* David Needleman – photography
* Nick Steinhardt – design

### Weekly charts

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 South Korean Albums (Gaon) | 1

### Year-end charts

 US *Billboard* 200 | 179

 US *Billboard* 200 | 170

## Certifications

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## References

1. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
2. ↑ DeVille, Chris (19 October 2017). Nialler Horan.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Bruton, Louise (20 October 2017). "Niall Horan: Flicker review: dripping with country-style nostalgia". *The Irish Times*. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
4. ↑ Niall Horan Essentials.
5. ↑ Raible, Allan (20 October 2017). One Direction's Niall Horan flexes his folk muscles in solo album.
6. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Levine, Nick (20 October 2017). "Niall Horan – 'Flicker' Review". *NME*. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
7. ↑ Hardwick, Jack (2 June 2016). Niall Horan reveals solo plans: 'I've been in the studio with various producers'. *Daily Star*.
8. ↑ Ruby, Jennifer (5 September 2016). Niall Horan 'signs solo record deal' with Universal instead of Simon Cowell's Syco. *London Evening Standard*.
9. ↑ Hardwick, Jack (1 September 2017). Niall Horan confirms solo album Flicker: 'It has been a year and a half in the making'. *Daily Star*.
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12. ↑ Halperin, Shirley (9 August 2017). Niall Horan Debuts Duet With Maren Morris, Sam Smith Reveals New Album Details at Capitol Congress. *Variety*.
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14. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Chidirim, Ndeche (16 September 2017). "One Direction's Horan Releases New Solo Album". *The Guardian*. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
- <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Ross, McNeilage (15 September 2017). "Niall Horan Releases 'Too Much To Ask' and Reveals 'Flicker' Release Date". *MTV News*. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
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- <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Scott, Sterling (22 September 2017). "Niall Horan Reveals 'Flicker' Tracklist". *CBS Radio*. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
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34. ↑ Gill, Andy (19 October 2017). Album reviews: Niall Horan - Flicker, Pink - Beautiful Trauma, Destroyer - Ken. *The Independent*.
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>Bruton, Louise (20 October 2017). "Is Niall Horan's album any good? The verdict on Flicker". *The Irish Times*. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
36. ↑ NME (20 October 2017). Niall Horan – 'Flicker' Review.
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38. ↑ Niall Horan - 'Flicker' Album Review - NME (20 October 2017).
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41. ↑ <templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>McCormick, Neil (20 October 2017). "Niall Horan, Flicker, review: homespun MOR from One Direction's dark horse". *The Daily Telegraph*. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
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56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 Various concerning the release history of *Flicker*:

	* *Flicker* by Niall Horan on iTunes.
	* *Flicker* (Deluxe) by Niall Horan on iTunes.
	* Niall Horan – *Flicker* – Amazon.com Music.
	* Niall Horan – *Flicker* [Deluxe Edition – Amazon.com Music].
	* Niall Horan – *Flicker* [Regular Edition [Japan Bonus Track]].
	* Niall Horan – *Flicker* (Target Exclusive).Template:Dead link
	* Niall Horan – *Flicker* (Deluxe Edition) [w/ DVD, Limited Edition [Japan Bonus Track]].
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61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 Los más vendidos 2017 (es). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas.
62. ↑ 2017년 42주차 Album Chart (ko). Gaon Music Chart.
63. ↑ ARIA End of Year Albums 2017. Australian Recording Industry Association.
64. ↑ Jaaroverzichten 2017 (nl). Ultratop.
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