Niall Horan has said that One Direction are still close, believing so because the band "never believed the hype."

The Irish singer, who has just released his third solo album The Show, parted from world famous boy band One Direction when they split back in 2016.

The boys, however – Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik – still remain close, according to Westmeath native Horan.

"I just think we never believed the hype," Horan said in a new interview with Sunday TODAY, after host Willie Geist pointed out how the boy band avoided the "fire" that has damaged other groups in the past.

"As I said, the state of shock was always there," he continued. "You have to remember, it was us, our team, our bubble around us, and we just went from place to place worldwide and kind of went along with it. If you’re looking in, it must have looked crazy, and everybody’s going, ‘You’re in the biggest band!’ We were just having a great time. We always used to say we’re normal people doing an abnormal job, which is a good outlook to have."

The singer also remembered the name of their 2014 stadium tour 'Where We Are’, "because we always used to be like, 'Look where we are!'"

"Every now and then you catch yourself just like looking at each other going, 'This is nuts.'" The Mullingar man said that "thankfully" that feeling has never gotten old. "I love it."

Horan also said in another recent interview that he sometimes sends his solo music to his former bandmates for feedback.

"Not every time, but if I feel like I need an opinion, I always send it out," he told Esquire. "This time I sent it [The Show] to Louis, and he gave me his honest opinion on it, which is always handy."