Niall Horan is motivated by the "thought of failure".

The 26-year-old singer - who is poised to release his second solo album, 'Heartbreak Weather' - has revealed that the fear of failing has fuelled his passion for his new record.

Asked what his career has taught him about the idea of success and failure, Niall shared: "You can sit there and dwell on the idea of failure, you can let it really upset you but it's going to damage your songwriting, which means you will fail. Or you can grab it by the scruff of the neck!

"For this album I've written my best stuff, because I wasn't in the studio every day going, 'Oh, this is going to be a disaster.' The thought of failure drives me to want to outdo myself all the time and be as big as I can.

"I did exams when I was in school and I'd walk in and just go, 'Well, I've already failed this. Is there much point?' And I've walked out of exams after 20 minutes. But there are times when you have to tell yourself the opposite."

Despite the pressures of fame, Niall is determined to live "as a normal life" as possible.

He told Glamour UK magazine: "I'm generally not an overthinker, but if I say it's going to affect me in some way, I'll think about it for a long time and that'd be it for a couple of days. Then it'll just be gone, and I'll be like, 'What was that about?'

"Personally, I try to live as a normal life as I can. I think that's helped. I try and do real normal things - which I know sounds crazy - like I'll go on the bus or the tube or go to the shop.

"That was stuff that I couldn't do before, I'll just hang around with my mates and just be really Irish about it by being quite reserved and keeping myself to myself. I think having the normal life and having the friends that I have I think has been huge for me, big time."

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Niall Horan: I'm motivated by the thought of failure - Herald-Mail Media