Niall Horan: 'I won't have an album ready until at least 2018'

One Direction star Niall Horan has urged fans not to get excited about a new solo album following the surprise release of his debut single - because he hasn't even finished writing songs for it yet.

The Irish singer stunned fans on Thursday (29Sep16) when he became the first current member of the boy band to release a solo track, but he insists This Town is just a teaser for fans who were wondering how he was spending his hiatus from the group.

He's thrilled by the immediate feedback, telling Australian DJ Kent 'Smallzy' Small the new song has been received "how I wanted it to be received", but there won't be a follow-up album anytime soon.

"The album's nowhere near done yet," he says. "I haven't even finished writing it yet."

"I just wanted to let people know what I'm doing... I wouldn't be expecting it (album) this year and I wouldn't expect to hear it next year."

And he insists his One Direction bandmates are "happy" for him, revealing he desperately wanted to play his new song to pal Louis Tomlinson the last time the two pop stars met up, but he didn't have "an actual version of it" and he was too nervous to perform the track acoustically.

His bandmates reacted to the surprise release on Thursday, with singer Harry Styles tweeting: "@NiallOfficial Ahhh, a lovely tune my friend. Congratulations", while Liam Payne confessed he was "proud" of his bandmate, and Tomlinson added: "Feeling super proud @NiallOfficial. You sound great!"