About This Town

"This Town" is the debut solo single by Irish singer Niall Horan, released on 29 September 2016 by Capitol Records as the lead single from debut solo album Flicker (2017). An accompanying music video of a live performance was released the same day. The song was written by Horan, Jamie Scott, Mike Needle, Daniel Bryer, Ruairi Sheridan, Aodhán Dorrian and produced by Greg Kurstin. It is Horan's first solo single, as well as the second solo single released by any of One Direction's remaining members (the first being Zayn Malik's Pillowtalk earlier that year), following the hiatus of the band, which was announced earlier in 2016. It peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart, earning it his second highest-charting single as a lead artist to date, behind "Slow Hands". It also peaked at number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Harriet Gibsone from The Guardian thought Horan's "This Town" "promotes his guise as an acoustic balladeer," while the video is "reinforcing the authenticity of his future career as a credible artist with skills beyond being adorable." She concluded "The modern music world can be discombobulating for those opposed to gender fluid pop stars or auto-tuned trap." Entertainment Weekly editor Madison Vain wrote "the song shows growth thanks to its nuance in storytelling. He’s burdened by all the things he never got to say—and it sounds believable." Vain also thought "Horan has said he’s mining the sound of some of his biggest influences: Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. But with collaborator Greg Kurstin behind the boards, “This Town” skews more towards the modern, folk-influenced songwriting of Vance Joy and Ed Sheeran." For Raisa Bruner of Time is a "lush, guitar-forward ballad in the vein of the band’s earlier tearjerkers, with hints of Sheeran in the small-town storytelling of the lyrics." For Noisey, Sarah Sahim was critical of the track, noting the song was "nothing special", but its saccharine sweetness gives it all the makings of a decent hit.