Nicky Byrne has revealed the emotional experiences he and his Westlife bandmates have drawn on to write their new album Wild Dreams.
The group announced the release of their first disc in two years this week, with Nicky, 42, penning a tune about the world returning to post-pandemic life, while Shane Filan, also 42, wrote about the recent heartache of losing both his parents in the space of 10 months.
On the new collection, Nicky exclusively told MailOnline: 'I think the whole album encapsulates the two years of lockdown, for us anyway. The title of one of the songs I wrote is Alive which is about the world coming alive again.
Emotional: Nicky Byrne, 42, has revealed the emotional experiences he and his Westlife bandmates have drawn on to write their new album Wild Dreams (stock image)
'Shane wrote a song on there with Steve from Kodaline which is called Always With Me, which is about Shane’s loss of his mum and dad.
'His mum was just pre-lockdown, about Christmas, just before the pandemic hit, and then his dad during the lockdown, so that’s a ballad called Always With Me, which is quite emotional.'
Shane described the day he lost his beloved mother Mae as 'the saddest day of my life' when she died in December 2019.
Heart wrenching: Nicky (right) penned a tune about the world returning to post-pandemic life while Shane Filan, 42, (left) wrote about the heartache of losing his parents (pictured 2019)
And Shane's father, who he described as the 'most important man in my entire life' died 10 months later in October last year.
However, there is some upbeat material on the album, with Nicky adding: 'The single Starlight, which is out now, that’s a real happy song which is about getting through it.
'It’s just a really, really nice album and the most writing we’ve ever done on any album, and there’s a song on there by Ed Sheeran.
'It kept us busy and it gave us a bit of a focus to get through lockdown, which I think for anybody, no matter what your business is, is important.'
The band - Nicky, Shane, Markus Feehily, 41, Kian Egan, also 41 - recorded Wild Dreams during the pandemic and had a special rig travel to each of their homes so they could lay down their vocals in accordance with Covid guidelines.
And, while Nicky praised the wonders of technology for enabling the world to continue working, he said making the
