By Genevieve Presley
Columnist
On Mar. 28, Niall Horan released a five-year anniversary edition of his second solo album, “Heartbreak Weather,” which was originally released on March 13, 2020. The album includes nine bonus tracks, such as “Nothing,” “Dress,” and “Nice To Meet Ya (stripped),” to name a few.
As a long-time fan of Niall since his One Direction days, I have loved “Heartbreak Weather” since its release, so I was really excited for this special edition to come out. I was especially looking forward to hearing the bonus tracks, and I was not disappointed. Listening to each new track made me love the album more than I already did. These added songs provided a really good twist on this delightful project five years later. I was especially captivated by the live and stripped versions.
For this reason, my favorite was “Black And White (Stripped).” “Black And White” is a song about eternal devotion and love. This is evident through lyrics like, “I see us in black and white” and “I promise that I’ll love you for the rest of my life.” Since it is a slower song, the stripped version fits it perfectly, and I prefer it over the original.
One cannot possibly discuss the album without mentioning “Nothing” and “Dress.” These two bonus tracks were written by Horan between Oct 2018 and Jan 2020. Though they appeared on an exclusive CD, they had never been officially released on streaming until now. I loved both of these songs, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would definitely be “Nothing.” The lyrics and tune are upbeat and uplifting; Niall’s vocals throughout the song were amazing. In it, he sings about how love is the only thing keeping him going in a way that is so heartfelt.
As of Mar. 29, this special edition of “Heartbreak Weather” currently has 73,534,577 streams on Spotify, with the most popular song being “Nice To Meet Ya” with 357,291,104 streams. Overall, I rate the fifth anniversary edition of “Heartbreak Weather” a ten out of ten, and I cannot wait to see what Niall decides to release next.
Leave a Reply