My first post is going to be about Harry Styles. Recently, with the new release of his album Harry’s House, I have been listening to his album a lot and listening to the interviews he has done. Of course, I feel there is such a stigma around guys liking Harry Styles’ music since all teenage girls are in love with him and constantly are posting about him and hanging posters in their room. As a result, men are programmed in the society we live in to reject this figure who doesn’t dress like a “typical” man or doesn’t have this macho-man type of personality. He is someone who attracts a female audience due to his looks and as a result, men are not supposed to like him.
I have felt this pressure up in college, when I say I like Harry Styles. Girls are surprised and then jump into conversation with me about his music. Men in college say they don’t listen to him and don’t really like his music. This pressure and sheepishness I have felt to say I support and really love Harry Styles is tough when I know society’s reaction will put me on the defensive. As a music nerd, his new album is incredible!
Whenever artists come out with an amazing album, I love listening to interviews and doing a deep dive on where their artistic, creativeness comes from. Harry’s House was created during quarantine, and Styles was mixing and mastering the project when he started going on tour for Fine Line, his previous album. As a result, he tells Zane Lowe, the person who interviewed Styles, that he had this secret the entire time he was on tour for Fine Line that the audience had no idea about at the time. This evolution of Fine Line being more of a rough, dating-like album with heartbreak and sadness to now Harry’s House being a more joyful, stepping into maturity, type of album is the release to Fine Line’s tension.
When listening to the album, the first part of the album is about heartbreak, different relationships with people. As It Was has a great drumbeat and people dance to it, yet when listening to the lyrics and Styles’ tone of voice, it seems somewhat melancholy and he is exclaiming that his life has changed. People have tried to label his actions, he has developed as an individual, and things are no longer the same as it was. This can be interpreted as being positive, yet it is really hard to tell. Once again, this shows the power of music as a mechanism to move and change people’s mood. If Styles had sung As It Was in the same tone and tempo, yet was placed to a slow, melancholy piano, the song would be interpreted by people completely differently. That is why music is such a powerful vehicle in today’s world. It provides emotion to visuals in movies. Finally, it allows people to take it and connect it to something in their life, making it part of their story and no longer connected to Harry Styles’ album/life.
Matilda serves as the shift in the album, being sad, yet impactful. Matilda no longer has to serve in the wake of her family. She can start fresh, knowing that she will always have that pain but can use that as fuel to provide love and support to the family she creates and nurtures.
After this, Cinema, Daydreaming and Keep Driving is all about being in love, the honeymoon stage of relationships and it is so fun! Daydreaming, I think, samples the song Biana by Barbatuques and uses it as the back up, consistent vocals.
Overall, I love the album and everyday I choose a new favorite song. So far, Daydreaming, Cinema, Keep Driving, and Daylight are my go to’s as they just make me feel good. And with this sunshine and warmth that I have had at home, Styles’ songs are continuing this feeling of positivity and comfort!
Comentarios