Harry Styles
' story
is by no means unique in pop history, as the narrative arc of his career is one of transition from enslaved youth to the freedom of middle age.
At 28, the English idol is a veteran who led the
boy band
One Direction for six years -the last great Anglo-Saxon product for teenagers before the Korean invasion-, and who has dedicated himself in the following six to vindicating himself as an adult artist. , which leads to looking for similarities with previous cases, from
Michael Jackson
to
Taylor Swift
, including
Justin Timberlake
and
Robbie Williams
.
However, the phenomenon Styles brings a unique nuance, as his journey is perhaps more radical than his fans would have anticipated.
Harry Styles
(2017) was an album of continuity, it was still in search of the natural audience of
1D
, loaded with ballads and sentimental lyrics without spines, like an Instagram poem, while
Fine Line
(2019) risked more, with a higher dose of dance songs and ethereal productions.
Styles grew up and searched for an identity that, above all, he found in fashion
, adopting an androgynous style of dress that renewed David Bowie's manual
for generation Z under the umbrella of Gucci.
A few weeks ago, he announced the release on May 20 of his third album,
Harry's House
, and it will surely end up being his decisive work, the one that closes his difficult -although not eventful- journey to the top of unisex pop.
The first single,
As it was
, is based on an effective formula of this time: an epic and melancholic melody with flashing synthesizers and a slight aroma of eighties decadence, close
to The Weeknd 's
Blinding lights
or Dua Lipa 's mid-tempo
Future nostalgia
. .
This does not mean that the entire album should reproduce the same retro air, since one of the characteristics that Styles seeks is fluidity -more in a
queer
sense than in that of
Heraclitus
's texts- , very defined in its premeditated aesthetic: in the promo photos and in the video clip for
As it was
, she insists on the image she began to cultivate in
Fine Line
,
combining embroidered blouses and drug dealer coats two sizes too big
, exaggerated scarves and tight pants, all added to the unprejudiced display of his bare torso, generous in swallow tattoos.
That is to say,
once the aesthetic is established, Styles seeks to shore up his ethics
: one of the most commented points of
As It Was
is its confessional tone: the former teen idol now
talks about issues such as emotional fragility placated by the consumption of antidepressants
, and that vulnerability has raised the song to the first place of its most listened to songs: in just a few days it is already close to 200 million views on Spotify and more than 50 on YouTube.
Bad news for naysayers: If his solo adventure ever seemed dubious, he now knows who he is, what he wants and where he's looking to go.
It is also a single that, in a certain way, humanizes him -which is another way of doing contemporary marketing: the pop idol at your fingertips, someone who could give you a
like-
.
In the intro of the song, a voice message that his goddaughter sent him before going to sleep sounds, and the first exegesis of the lyrics venture theories such as that Styles is depressed, has a broken heart or feels terrified by the dramas of the world. .
The video clip, in fact, has been directed by a Ukrainian filmmaker, Tanu Muino, a circumstance that, only missing, has stood out taking advantage of the situation.
Styles does not stitch without thread.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
Know more
Youtube
Spotify
Instagram
Taylor Swift