Niall Horan says his backpacking trip made him feel normal again

Niall was slightly nervous that he would be recognised wherever he went but just by donning a hat and wearing sunglasses he was able to go incognito and enjoy the experience like any other tourist and parts of the trip have inspired the solo songs he has been working on.

In an interview on 'The Zach Sang Show' on US radio station Power 103, he shared: "Backpacking trip kind of normalised my life, I supposed. I didn't get asked for photos anywhere. When you're in tourist spots, no one expects you to be there. So it was kind of like, I kept my hat on, kept my sunglasses on, kept my head down, did all the usual tourist stuff in Southeast Asia with a rucksack on my back. I definitely learned a lot on that trip."

Niall shocked fans by dropping his debut solo single 'This Town' on streaming services, VEVO and Apple Music and iTunes on Thursday (29.09.16) and the track was one of the first tunes he wrote after returning from his trip.

The song is a taster of what is to come from his album and he has been working hard in the studio with long-time 1D collaborators Jamie Scott, Mike Needle and Daniel Bryer and Adele's producer Greg Kurstin and has very much been taking a hands-on approach.

The 23-year-old singer said: "I don't think anyone really gave 1D enough credit in terms of what we were like in the studio. I think people just thought, 'Oh another manufactured lot who don't really write their own stuff,' but people would be wrong if they thought that. So this time around it was me working closely with producers and knowing what I like in terms of sound and being inspired by different artists and how they would write and different ways of writing songs and stuff like that."

Niall is the first of the four remaining One Direction boys to release a song on his own, and it is known that Harry Styles and Liam Payne are both working on material and Louis Tomlinson is expected to do the same.

Zayn Malik has already released a solo album after quitting the boy band in March 2015 claiming he wanted to be a "normal 22 year old".

However, the Irish hunk has assured any Directioners worried they will never see 1D together again on stage that it is "inevitable" that they will reunite.

He said: "For the foreseeable it's our own projects but I definitely would not rule out and won't let anyone rule out the return of One Direction, because it's inevitable."