Niall Horan believes not enough people give One Direction praise for their songwriting abilities and their hands-on approach in the studio.

The singer, who has now gone solo following the boyband's decision to go on a break at the end of 2015, told the Mirror that he feels the group's writing credits have gone largely unnoticed by the general public.

He said: "I don't think anyone really gives One Direction enough credit you know – in terms of what we we're like in the studio. They think 'Here we go, another manufactured lot that don't really write their own stuff', but people would be wrong if they thought that."

Speaking about working on his own solo music, Horan added: "This time around it was me working closely with producers and knowing what they like in terms of sound and being inspired by different artists and how they would write and in different ways writing songs.

"On our first album we were all sh** scared of the prospect of going into the studio as we had never done it before. But over time you become confident and know what you are good at. Over the last five years I've become a good guitarist and I love to play the piano. You learn a lot so it makes it easier this time around."

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Watch Niall Horan in action below: