Why Some ‘SNL’ Viewers Are Ripping Niall Horan’s Performance

Niall Horan is gathering all kinds of reactions to his Saturday Night Live performance that aired this weekend. However, not all the reactions are positive. After the former One Direction member’s first performance of the evening, which saw him play a guitar while singing his new song “Nice to Meet Ya,” music fans realized he reminded them of another notable act from across the pond. Notably, viewers thought the song sounded a lot like the Arctic Monkeys, with Horan’s voice sounding a lot like vocalist Alex Turner.

The Arctic Monkeys are an English rock band who are best known for songs like “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” “Do I Wanna Know?” “Florescent Adolescent” and “R U Mine?” They’ve been one of alternative rock’s buzziest groups since they made their mainstream debut in 2006 and even have a classic SNL performance of their own.

Many online critics decried Horan’s SNL performance as a less-stellar version of Turner and company, including The Needle Drop’s Anthony Fantano. Many of Fantano’s followers and other onlookers online shared similar critiques of the segment.

“Why does this Niall Horan song feel like a very off brand Arctic Monkey’s song,” one user wrote.

Another wrote, “He is plagiarising Alex Turner’s voice.”

A third wrote, “His entire career is a weak Alex Turner impression.”

Yet another user wrote, “Niall Horan out here doing a terrible Alex Turner impression.”

However, many did not see the similarities to Turner as a bad thing. Some SNL viewers loved the vibe Horan was going for, regardless of how it compared to the Arctic Monkeys.

“Niall Horan is kind of doing Robbie Williams meets Arctic Monkeys and I don’t hate it,” one fan wrote.

“[Niall] channeling his inner [Arctic Monkeys] and Alex Turner. And I like it,” wrote one fan.

“Talk about channeling [Arctic Monkeys] on [SNL] last night! Nice one [Niall],” a third added.

A fourth user wrote: “okay so niall sounded exactly like alex turner on snl last night and i’m just here for it all.”

Regardless of what side of the critique music fans were on, some didn’t care and took the performance on its own merits.

As another Twitter user put it: “if i see one more person compare niall horan to alex turner i won’t have any brain cells left.”

Photo Credit: Will Heath/NBC