So, I’ve delved into it on multiple occasions and mutliple times that I was painfully late to the Take That party. While I was almost as late in joining the Westlife bandwagon, but turns out it’s a great time to be following the former members of the Irish boyband (read: super-group). Shane, Kian, Markus and Nicky have all released albums in the last two years, and they are doing stellar work.

Nicky Byrne is the latest member of Westlife to release a solo album. The record, which is titled Sunlight after its’ debut single, came on the heels of an unfortunately far too short trip to Stockholm as Ireland’s entry for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. There was no reason Ireland shouldn’t have made the final, dangit!

I remember the days before iTunes and EBay as a little baby fangirl, when I called around to every record store in hopes of finding the album I was looking for (in that instance… Michael Ball). Things have changed so much… And for the better too! I may or may not have squeed with delight when I discovered that Sunlight was readily available for download on iTunes, and I didn’t have to pay the usually rough Amazon UK shipping costs. (Not to mention testing my pitiful math skills with the pound to dollar conversion…) I love it when musicians do that!

Sunlight is a fun, pop album and an awesome debut solo record. Byrne brings a diverse and varied sound, ranging from the upbeat Sunglight, to the slow and dreamy Still the One. Byrne is not only incredibly likable (he plays to the rafters every time I’ve seen him perform), but he brings a interesting an unique sound to his music. The comparison my uneducated musical ear draws is to a performer like Take That’s Mark Owen. The music has a layered sound, with Byrne’s voice allowing him to tackle everything from pop songs to jazzy ballads.

While this is just a short write-up, if you’re anything like myself and a fan of pop (with a guilty pleasure leaning towards boy-bands), check out Nicky Byrne’s debut album Sunlight (American listeners, head to iTunes). It’s an excellent entrance into the world as a solo artist, and is yet another brilliant solo debut by one of the Westlife boys.