“You may remember that only seven years ago, a baby-faced Niall Horan appeared on the UK’s The X Factor, auditioning solo for the panel and ultimately being saved from elimination by one Miss Katy Perry.
In the years that followed, through his time spent with One Direction and into his budding solo career, one thing has remained constant between the two artists — a little friendly teasing.
Over the weekend the pair were in the building at The Voice Australiain Sydney and were snapped in a video for Katy‘s Instagram story which she captioned, “@niallhoran stage 5 clinger” and jokingly accuses him of following her around everywhere. In the video, he agrees.
Post show, Niall was interviewed by Australia’s The Project TV and was asked about that video, as well as another interview in which Katy flat-out says Niall is “always trying to get my number to maybe flirt with me, but, like, ‘I could babysit you. I’m like your mom.’”
Niall once again took the joke in stride, addressing Perry directly while laughing, “Katy, please stop being mean to me.”
“She’s just finding any excuse now to just patronize me and go around spreading rumors about me,” he continued. “I just want to be her friend.”
One of the show’s male host joked, “I get it, Niall. I had the hots for my teacher as well.”
“I mean, she’s talking like she’s about 55-years-old or something,” Niall laughed. “You know what I mean? She’s not that much older than me.”
In case you were wondering, Niall Horan is 23-years-old and Katy Perry is 32.”