“Must Be Love” by Niall Horan

by Amanda London· Published June 11, 2023· Updated June 11, 2023

“Must Be Love” is the final track on the 10-entry playlist of “The Show”, Niall Horan’s third studio album, which finally got around to coming out on 9 June 2023. That is to say that it’s been over three years since its predecessor, 2020’s “Heartbreak Weather”, came out.

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This latest effort has been possible most notably through the efforts of Capitol Records, whom Niall signed with in 2016, i.e. the same year that the ultra-popular boy band he was part of, One Direction, went on indefinite hiatus.

But also backing the project is Horan’s personal brand, Neon Haze Music. And besides for the singer, the other writers of this song are Plested and its producers, TMS (Ben Kohn, Pete Kelleher and Tom Barnes), with John Ryan and Joel Little also getting production credit for “Must Be Love”.

The Lyrics of “Must Be Love”

The verses of this song revolve around the vocalist depicting himself as the “overthinking” type, his own “worst enemy” as he puts in the second verse. In other words, Niall recognizes that he is a self-defeatist, the kind of person who, as inferred, even if he’s on a right path cannot stay committed to it, finding it difficult “to just keep it simple and follow (his) heart”.

But that said, just like the rest of us if you will, he knows love when he feels it. So unlike the verses, the thesis sentiment as presented in the choruses and bridge actually centers on the vocalist celebrating that sensation, currently experiencing what “feels like love”.

So the implication, even though the lyrics don’t go there, is that what he is more specifically celebrating is being in love, having grown to be smitten with a certain someone, and vice versa. And the further implication is that even this self-sabotaging vocalist is going to value this good thing now that he’s found it.