Niall Horan Reveals What He Did When One Direction Went on Hiatus—and When the Band Will Be Back

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Niall Horan has been a busy bee since One Direction went on hiatus.

The "This Town" crooner appeared on The Graham Norton Show Friday and revealed that the first thing he did was to cut his finances in a big way—by backpacking on a budget.

"I went backpacking around the world with my two cousins," Horan said of his post-boy band life. "I wanted to do it properly so we did it on a budget. All of my friends got to do it when I was traveling the world in a different way, so I thought it's only fair that I get to do it, too."

His admission led host Graham Norton to ask Horan if his cousins were disappointed by his decision to travel frugally. "Probably they were, but they would never say it to me!" he joked.

And while he was living the vagabond lifestyle with his cousins, Horan also decided to take the time to focus on some solo music, using his travels and hostel stays to inspire some new tunes. "When I got back from Asia I just started doing acoustic stuff—the stuff I grew up on—and thought, 'Maybe I should release them. They're actually not that bad,'" he said.

He recently released "This Town," a song that definitely has breakup written all over it but also happens to be inspired by his hometown Mullingar, Ireland. Horan was just happy that his fans enjoyed the track. "I am 100 percent relieved that people like it," he said. "I've been sitting on it for so long and keeping it a secret. It was a nerve-wracking time. It's always been a daunting prospect but the reaction has been insane."

Ever since 1D announced its hiatus, however, many have speculated whether it's going to be a permanent split. But Horan told Norton that while they're definitely going their own way for now, a permanent split is not in the works.

"For now we are doing our own thing," Horan shared. "We can't put a date on it but it won't be in fifty years time. It's in the foreseeable future. We've talked about it but for now we'll just play by ear and see what happens."

The Graham Norton Show (featuring guests Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Chris O'Dowd and Niall Horan) premieres Saturday, Oct. 22 at 10:15/9:15c on BBC AMERICA.