About Slow Hands

"Slow Hands" is a song recorded by Irish singer and songwriter Niall Horan, released as a single on 4 May 2017 by Capitol Records. The song was written by Horan, Alexander Izquierdo, John Ryan, Julian Bunetta, Ruth Anne Cunningham and Tobias Jesso Jr., while the production was handled by Bunetta. It was serviced to US contemporary hit radio on 9 May 2017 as the second single from Horan's debut solo album Flicker (2017). "Slow Hands" peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart and number eleven on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Horan's highest-charting single in those countries.

Prior to its release, Horan discussed the song in an interview with Mikey Piff on Sirius XM. The singer said that after listening to some of the material he had recorded for his debut album, he wanted to add "a bit more grit, funk and heavier bass." At the time he was listening to late 1970s and early 1980s music. "When Don Henley went solo in the early eighties, he just kinda had this funky kind of feel to it – heavy bass, heavy guitar – so I just thought, 'Let's give this a crack,'" Horan said of making the track. "I wanted it to be a little bit cheeky with the lyric." About the concept, he explained it is set in a bar and the song's theme changes up stereotypical roles. "The first line is...'we should take this back to my place' – and usually that's what the guy would say, but we flipped it that the girl would say that, and that's what she said right to my face." "Slow Hands" is a bass-heavy funk-pop, pop and folk-pop song, with Horan singing in a lower register. A Billboard writer described it as an "R&B-inflected rock tune." It is written in the key of C major at a tempo of 88 beats per minute.