Pop superstar Niall Horan believes that being Irish is essential to his ability to keep his feet on the ground despite his huge success.
Over the past ten years the Mullingar man found fame on the TV talent show X Factor.
From there he became a member of One Direction and achieved colossal success all around the world.
One Direction had a string of worldwide hits and played several tours in front of millions of fans.
After leaving the band, Horan went out on his own and has released two solo albums, Flicker and Heartbreak Weather that both hit the top 10 in charts across the world.
Despite all his success, the 26-year-old doesn’t get carried away with his achievements – something he puts down to his ‘Irishness’.
Horan said: “It doesn’t happen to me a lot (that I get carried away with fame) but if it does happen, I’d be like ‘Come on Horan, sort yourself out’. I’m lucky.
“There’s definitely an Irishness to being able to figure out the bulls**t. If you say or do something wrong, you know all about it straight away.
“I don’t overthink about it. There’s levels to it. You can’t keep pushing people away either, but you always know who’s good and who’s not.”
Horan’s latest album, Heartbreak Weather, is largely about his breakup with his ex-girlfriend and fellow musician Hailee Steinfeld.
They have both written about the end of their relationship and Horan says that writing helps him to process his feelings.
He said: “Sometimes in song-writing, I’ve had to stop myself and say ‘Should I say that’, can I say that, will they care if I say that?’
“But then it’s fine, I can tell that person if it’s about them and explain what it’s about.
“The press and social media look on it is ‘Who’s that song about, I want to be nosy’.
“My way of getting over something like that is sitting down at that piano or picking up a guitar and writing about it. Once that song is written, it’s kind of moving on for me.”
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling