When Justin Bieber gives you songwriting advice, you take it, and that's exactly what Niall Horan did when the pop singer shared with him a lesson he learned from the making of Purpose.

In a new cover story for Billboard, Horan opens up about the life he's made for himself in Los Angeles as he's settling into his career post-One Direction hiatus. There are so many amazing anecdotes here: He's super happy for Harry Styles's recent success with his own solo album; he hangs with Louis Tomlinson and is basically the cool uncle to his baby son, Freddie; he thinks pal Selena Gomez is "the ­perfect role model for young girls;" Shawn Mendes says that he's the picture of "calm and chill" — Horan comes across as your favorite famous person's favorite person, and one who beams with positivity, too.

But save for his time with the One Direction dudes, Bieber's wisdom seemed to have a the formidable impact on Horan as "Slow Hands" and the rest of his new work started to come together, and a simple bit of advice really struck Horan when he was in the midst of recording his own album.

"Bieber told me that you never really know when you’re finished [with making an album]," Horan told Billboard. "He thought he was done [with Purpose] and then got 'Love Yourself' at the last minute. I thought my album was finished, and then I went on a bit of a run 'cause I was writin' crap stuff up until then."

We highly doubt he was writing crap, but Bieber's advice to marinate on musical thoughts and refrain from calling something complete before it's ready seems like it's paid off, as Horan is definitely good to go for that solo spotlight.