Niall Horan got his career start on a singing competition show — joining One Direction on the U.K.’s The X Factor when he was just 16 — but he doesn’t think he’d be quite as successful if he had been a contestant on The Voice.
“I definitely wouldn’t turn for me, if that’s what you’re asking,” Niall, who’s now a coach on The Voice, tells InStyle.
The now-29-year-old says he looks back at his 2010 self on The X Factor and cringes.
“[T]here were definitely clips that I watched back and thought, ‘What was I talking about? Why did I do that? Why did I sing that?'” he says. “All the things I said, like you just get, it’s not overconfidence, it’s just like an awkwardness, and you’ve ended up just looking like an idiot — and it’s all on YouTube.”
So why does he think he ultimately made it? Mostly luck … and Katy Perry.
“I was in the right place at the right time with the right people, and Katy Perry saved my a** and the rest is history,” he says. For those who don’t know, Katy was a judge on The X Factor during Niall’s audition and saved him from elimination.
The Voice airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Niall’s new album, The Show, is due out June 9.
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