Niall Horan has been exchanging messages with reality TV star Marnie Simpson.

Niall Horan

Niall Horan

The 23-year-old singer, who has previously been romantically linked with the likes of Selena Gomez, and fellow pop star James Arthur have both apparently been messaging the reality TV babe, who recently split from her boyfriend Lewis Bloor in acrimonious circumstances.

The 'Geordie Shore' star told The Sun newspaper: "I've been speaking to them. We've said hello and I've spoken over DMs with both of them.

"It's just friendly - they're both big fans of the show."

Niall released his first single as a solo artist, 'This Town', in September 2016, and admitted around that time he had been too busy concentrating on his music career to find love.

In fact, Niall said his love life was "non-existent", because he was focusing so much of his time on making new music and establishing himself as a solo star.

He shared: "I've been busy sitting in studios, so I haven't had time for that."

And Niall also refused to close the door on a possible reunion with his One Direction bandmates, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne, whose pop star girlfriend Cheryl gave birth to a baby boy on March 22.

Niall suggested that while all of the band members are currently happy doing their solo projects, they could easily reunite at some point in the future.

He explained: "For the foreseeable, you know, we're just taking a break and kind of doing our own thing.

"But I definitely won't rule that out because it's the best thing that One Direction has allowed us to do things like this, and I definitely won't rule it out. Our lives wouldn't be the same."