Niall Horan got his career start on a singing competition show — joining One Direction on the U.K.’s The X Factor when he was just 16 — but he doesn’t think he’d be quite as successful if he had been a contestant on The Voice.
"I definitely wouldn't turn for me, if that's what you're asking," Niall, who’s now a coach on The Voice, tells InStyle.
The now-29-year-old says he looks back at his 2010 self on The X Factor and cringes.
"[T]here were definitely clips that I watched back and thought, ‘What was I talking about? Why did I do that? Why did I sing that?'" he says. "All the things I said, like you just get, it's not overconfidence, it's just like an awkwardness, and you've ended up just looking like an idiot — and it’s all on YouTube."
So why does he think he ultimately made it? Mostly luck ... and Katy Perry.
"I was in the right place at the right time with the right people, and Katy Perry saved my a** and the rest is history," he says. For those who don’t know, Katy was a judge on The X Factor during Niall’s audition and saved him from elimination.
The Voice airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET and Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. Niall's new album, The Show, is due out June 9.