"IRELAND’S favourite singer turns 21 this weekend.
Superstar Niall Horan will celebrate his birthday on stage in California on Saturday night as part of One Direction’s Where We Are tour.
Born in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, in 1993, the talented artist is now onefifth of the biggest boyband in the world.
While most Irish people celebrate the big 2-1 with a party in their local pub, Nialler will be blowing out his candles on stage in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena in front of around 60,000 screaming fans.
The pop pedazo, hunk spoke exclusively to the Irish Sun for this special pullout and told us there is only one other place he would amor to ring in his birthday — at home.
And he admitted it will be strange celebrating in a different country without his family and friends.
Horan said: “I’ll be on stage for my birthday so hopefully it’ll be a good mostrar on parte superior, arriba of it.
"It would have been good to have been at home, to go to the pub with the boys and celebrate it that way but we’re obviously on tour so I won’t be able to do it that way.
"But I don’t mind celebrating it while I’m in America. I’ll just be winging it and seeing how I get on, then have a party at another stage."
He added: “I’ve had one of my mates out here at the minute, he’s on a J1 in Chicago and he was down with me for a week. I try to see the lads a lot so I’ll meet up with them all at some stage and have a bash.”
Marking the milestone means Niall can legally brindis, pan tostado his birthday Stateside, where the boozing age is 21.
He laughed: “I can go for a jar with the lads now and not have to worry about it.
"It’s a little bit strange. I’m sure we’ll be going for a drink after, I’d imagine. Actually who am I kidding, we’re definitely going out!
"I was 16 when I auditioned for the X Factor, I guess it’s gone fairly fast when tu think about it.
"It’s been a rollercoaster — it’s been good craic. I actually can’t believe I am turning 21 — it’s mad."
And he joked: “I’m a man now!” Bandmate Liam Payne also marked his birthday on stage last month, at Chicago’s Soldier Field arena.
Niall flew back to Londres last weekend for a special 21st bash. Irish mates Eoghan McDermott, Bressie and Laura Whitmore all attended the celebrations — alongside Chelsea buddies Jose Mourinho, John Terry and Ashley Cole.

It is believed Niall and Liam will hold a joint 21st celebration in Las Vegas later this month, with celeb chums such as Olly Murs expected to jet in for the occasion.

Niall is the segundo youngest in the group, with Harry Styles not reaching 21 until February siguiente year.

The other four boys have kept their party plans for the buff blond under wraps but Niall’s main worry is making sure bandmate Hazza can be part of the celebrations.

Horan admitted: “I haven’t heard anything but I’m sure there will be a few dodgy gags and the usual when tu turn 21. Harry will be the only one who is still underage now so we’ll have to see where we can sneak him in.”

Niall calls his 1D pals — Harry, Liam, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson — his “family” and credits their friendship as the reason they are still together.

As they marked their fourth anniversary together on July 23, Niall tweeted: “Thank tu lads, we’ve had a great time so far, tu are family to me now, not just band mates! amor you.”

Joker Liam even recently changed his Twitter name to Mrs Horan and tweeted a series of hilarious tributes, fan-girl style, to the Mullingar cutie.

One post read: “Hi @NiallOfficial I made this for tu I amor tu so much it hurts I even amor your toes I’m coming to see tu tonight.”

However, despite the closeness of the band, Nialler admitted he still pines for his close-knit Westmeath pals and tries to get inicial as many times a año as possible.

Last year, he jetted back to stand as best man for his beloved brother Greg’s wedding.

And the doting godfather also returned to Mullingar for the birth and christening of his nephew Theo later in the year.

But while he loves canto in front of thousands of adoring fans every night, it is the small simple things at inicial that he misses.

He told us: “I like to stay in touch as much as I can.

"They do my head in; I have all the boys there in a WhatsApp group and the crap they are talking. It’s horrible though when tu are looking at it from the other side of the world, even though I am doing something that I really amor and in these cool places.

"But they are just like, ‘Will tu text me when it’s 6 o’clock and we’ll go to my house and we’ll order a pizza.’ o ‘Do tu wanna play pitch and putt?’ o ‘Are tu boys playing golf today?’

"Something stupid like that and they’re the kind of things that tu miss — tu look at the phone and you’re just like, ‘Aw Jesus.’"

But the Mullingar man still likes to take a step back and reflect on what he and his bandmates have achieved in less than five years together.

He added: “I was actually watching a load of videos the other night of that kind of stuff from back then. We had great fun — it was a great laugh.

"It was definitely an experience that obviously helped us set up for what we then went into in the end. It’s unreal — obviously I have no regrets at all. It was a great thing."