High atop New York City in the Rockstar Suite at Hard Rock Hotel New York, Niall Horan joined us this week to talk about the making of his 4th studio album, 'Dinner Party,' now available everywhere.

The “Tastes So Good” singer also talks about his experience mentoring artists and how he manages to maintain a private life, during our Audacy Check In hosted by Mike Adam, as Niall opens up about the challenge of balancing high-profile fame with a "normal" life.

“Making the music, promoting it, you know, touring is like one thing and then being at home, just chilling out and walking a dog and doing stuff around the house is kind of the other separate life," he admits.

Early in his career, there was "no off switch," but he has since learned to separate his professional commitments and spending time at home in London. “I've just always tried to be myself no matter what what I'm doing, I suppose, and then I guess people have latched onto that over the years in different ways, whether it be the music or the tours or ‘The Voice’ or I don't know what it is, but people are still coming and I'm forever grateful for that.”

'Dinner Party' is the 4th solo project from Horan, and one that found its “jumping off point” in its title track, despite it coming further into the process. “I'd written quite a few ideas up to that point, but I'd say ‘Dinner Party’ was a couple of months in,” he shares, “and then I was like, ‘alright, well now I'd write the rest of the album around that evening,’ so I didn't have to go much further than that.”

“I also felt like ‘Dinner Party’ sounded like an interesting title, as in like you don't really hear album titles called something like that. So that's where it came from, really.”

To hear more from Niall about his experience on ‘The Voice,’ his songwriting process, and touring with Thomas Rhett, check out the full conversation above.

After 20 years of shredding, Five Finger Death Punch is just as ferocious as ever, proving so on the newly released single, “Eye Of The Storm”

Guitarist Zoltan Bathory linked back up with Abe Kanan recently for an Audacy Check In, discussing Five Finger Death Punch’s upcoming world tour, and the mission while making new music.

Bathory describes their new single, "Eye of the Storm," as a balance between the band's heavier and lighter styles, serving as a representative sample of their upcoming album. “We picked that song because that was one of the first ones that was ready from the batch,” Zoltan says of work on the new LP. “Ivan is actually in the studio right now, still recording vocals.”

“That was kind of the song that we thought that would represent the upcoming album the best,” he reveals. “This is kind of a song in the middle, right? We have heavier stuff and we have a little bit lighter stuff, so that was right in the middle and that's kind of like the idea there that ‘OK, let's pick this one because it is a pretty good indicator of what's coming,’ and it seems like everybody was super excited about it.”

“It's a little bit heavier, a little bit more guitar,” Bathory describes. “We're kind of dipping back into the beginnings, the 1st 2, 3 records, it has a similarity. Of course, you have to always progress, so we're not gonna go back and repeat that, but there is a little bit of that first, you know, 3 records aggression in this one.”

Zoltan also opened up about the band's songwriting process, which relies on a "vault" of riffs and songs accumulated over many years, such as "Wrong Side of Heaven" and "The Bleeding," which were written long before they became hits. Bathory explains that assembling an album is like a puzzle, requiring a balance between heavy tracks and ballads to avoid monotony.

“It has to kind of have the ups and downs,” he says. “It has to have the super heavy stuff and you it has to have a couple of ballads, so that's always been the thing, and sometimes it just simply, you know, ‘OK, we have already 2, 3 slow songs on this record, we have 5 more, but I can't put it on the same record because it's too much,’ right? So that's how it works.”

“Things are coming out of the vault, there are some new things, and then we look at what we have, and then assemble the record that we think is the right one for the times.”

For more from Zoltan Bathory including a tour of his castle, and the band's commitment to charity and helping the US Judo team, check out the full conversation above.

Adam Lambert is out on his own for his latest project, 'ADAM,' due out everywhere on July 10.

The 'American Idol' album and Queen vocalist recently joined us in our Los Angeles studios for an unfiltered conversation about what’s next, his path to becoming a gay icon, his time fronting a Classic Rock behemoth, and much more during an Audacy Check In with Bru.

“The takeaway from the album is it's kind of about looking in the mirror and accepting everything about yourself, the good and the bad,” Lambert admits about his upcoming LP, set to be released independently on his own label. “Two things can be true at once. You can have a good day and a bad day, and it can be the same day, you know what I mean? The separation between positive and negative, it's so tricky, and so sensitive, and I just thought this is a full portrait of who I am in 2026. I'm gonna call it ‘ADAM.’”

“I feel like I haven't introduced myself fully yet,” Adam adds. “I think this project too, I'm doing it myself. I released this on my own label. I'm funding it myself. I've hired all the people working on it. I feel like I have a lot of ownership over this one, and I've had bits of that in the past, but this one in particular, I feel like I'm really driving it as a business thing, and as a creative expression.”

According to Lambert, the sound of 'ADAM' is a departure from traditional Pop, heavily influenced by 90s Electronic and Alternative music, specifically citing Nine Inch Nails, Prince, Muse, and Daft Punk as influences, making more use of synthesizers to replace traditional guitar roles for a "gritty" and "progressive" texture.

“I moved from LA to New York last year. I had been in LA for 25 years, so it's my first time living in New York, making a big life change, big chapter change, and I think New York, just being, I'm on the Lower East Side, it's still a little grungy and gritty. I wanted to get some new flavor, and I do think that some of that energy and texture of the city is in the new music.”

Lambert also reflected on some of his previous chapters, like his iconic decade-long run with Queen, describing the experience as the "biggest honor" and a masterclass in performing on the world's largest stages. He also acknowledged his role as pioneer, being the first gay man some would see on TV during his 'American Idol' season.

“It's incredible how much change has happened,” he says. “When I first came out into the music scene, there weren't really any other gay men doing mainstream Pop music.”

“I'm just really proud of all the progress we've made as a community, And yeah, the pendulum is swinging and there's some ups and some downs and there's some setbacks and obstacles and that's just how it's gonna go. That's life and history, but I think we've done really well.”

“I've met a lot of people over the last decade or so, who come up to me and they're like, ‘you know, you were the first gay person I saw on TV in my family's household, and like whether or not it was a positive reception or not, you were the one that, that prompted the conversation,’ and that's pretty cool and completely terrifying at the same time, because I didn't ever think that that's why I was getting into this,” Adam remembers. “Quickly figuring out what it represented me being in this space, the ripple effect that it had, that's really cool and I'm really honored that it could help anybody. That's why I started getting more and more involved in charitable foundations and I started my own foundation. This is bigger than just my own thing.”

For much more from Adam Lambert, check out the full conversation above.