The Voice coach Niall Horan would not have turned his chair around for his teenage self

Niall Horan has problems rejecting candidates The voiceBut there is one singer for whom he would not turn his chair, and for whom he would have no problem: his younger self.

The former One Direction boy band member reveled in the full-circle moment of audition-turned-coach between bites of spicy chicken wings on a new “Hot Ones” segment on Thursday, confessing to host and spice lover Sean Evans that he wouldn’t have turned his chair around for his own career-defining audition in 2010. The x factor.

“That’s the part I struggled with,” Horan said of the rejection process as a mentor. “Because I know what it’s like to be 16 and standing on a stage. I see a famous guy holding your future in his hands. The easy part is to push the red button, turn the chair and say how much you like someone. But when the chair turns and you’re not with the person, how do you give them that rejection feedback?”

He added, “I struggled with that, but it’s come full circle.” Horan “wouldn’t have turned around” at his own audition in 2010 and credited his success to being “right place, right time,” but said he would turn around himself now. “I’ve learned a lot,” the singer said. “I’ve done a few laps already. I would turn around now if I hadn’t turned around then.”

Horan and Chance the Rapper are both first-time coaches in the current season of The voiceThey join veterans Kelly Clarkson and Blake Shelton, who is making his final round this season. Horan rose to prominence after X Factor Judge Simon Cowell grouped him with fellow contestants Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson on the show, and they later formed the band One Direction.

Evans Vestal Ward/NBC Niall Horan on “The Voice”

In another full-circle moment on this week’s episode, contestant Laura Littleton decided to join Team Niall after a performance of Styles’ “Sign of the Times” – much to the dismay of a resigned Clarkson. “I’m not even going to fight it,” she said.

Watch Horan’s “Hot Ones” interview above.

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