Lily Holbrook
Released on the 1st April, it didn’t take long for Harry Styles’ shimmering new single to soar to the top of my most played tracks on Spotify.
And it looks like I wasn’t alone: within 24 hours, the song had broken Olivia Rodrigo’s previous record for the highest number of streams in a single day with ‘Drivers License’, amassing a colossal 8.3 million plays on the popular streaming platform in the United States.
Unshackled from the need to be liked, Harry’s sound is at its most raw as he lets go of expectation and pours his soul into a track that leaves you feeling simultaneously nostalgic and euphoric.
Fast-paced, non-consequential, eloquent – the track effortlessly articulates a new era of Styles while all the time maintaining a swirling, vague mystery around the pop icon that dates back to the days of his elusive 1D interviews.
“In this world, it’s just us
You know it’s not the same as it was”
The meaning of the track’s repetitive chorus is not without mystery, but in every sense, the wistful lyrics can be taken to represent a time before the present.
Whether looking back on life before fame, life before love, or life before lockdown, Styles realises that in his pursuit of the truth, things can never go back to the simplicity of before.
Despite complex ambiguity over the premise of what ‘It Was’, the track is not without intense moments of clarity:
“Answer the phone
“Harry, you’re no good alone
Why are you sitting at home on the floor?
What kind of pills are you on?”
The reference to pills has been likened to the timeless Matrix scene where the blue pill represents blissful ignorance while the red pill represents a reality where the brutal truth of life is revealed.
For Harry, choosing the red pill is liberating himself from a life of inauthenticity and choosing to be free.
Filled with punchy lyrics from chorus to bridge, the song is instantly catchy.
With influences of indie infused throughout, it wouldn’t be amiss to liken Harry’s latest musical style to the works of Alfie Templeman, Luke Hemmings (of 5SOS fame), and Dayglow. The latter of these has been the topic of much chatter in recent days: Sloan Struble’s distinct brand of funky indie pop can be found in an alliterative album of almost the same name as Harry’s highly anticipated album number three: Harmony House.
Dayglow (aka Struble) took to Instagram to speak of all the attention surrounding the likeness:
“JUST THE IDEA OF HARRY FREAKING STYLES BEING EVEN REMOTELY INFLUENCED BY ME GETS ME JAZZED SO IM ALL FOR IT
PROBABLY JUST A COINCIDENCE”
Flipping his metaphorical house on its head, the album cover for Harry’s House may be the first indication of a brand new direction for his music.
Perhaps offering the first glimpse of what his new record has to offer, ‘As It Was’ deals with the inevitability of change as we start to navigate further afield. But perhaps inspired by the constraints of his own four walls during a long two years in lockdown, Styles explores the familiar comfort of an inner house (real or metaphorical) to which we can always return.
As Harry himself has described in various interviews, what started as a singular geographical focus for Harry’s House soon became a project that embodied much more than that. Filled with reflections from the time during lockdown we were all forced to stop, the upcoming record documents ‘an internal journey of finding home and peace with oneself’.
Harry’s House. May 20th. pic.twitter.com/gvNJsccEz5
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) March 23, 2022
Returning almost 2 years to the day following the release of his iconic ‘Watermelon Sugar’ video on May 18th 2020 with its aching dedication ‘to touching’, May 20th will bring with it the release of his third studio album: Harry’s House. Whether it’s eating fruit with girls on a beach or tugging on the heartstrings of the masses, one thing is for sure: Harry Styles never fails to touch the hearts and minds of millions.
Who else is ready for a summer of Styles?
You can stream Harry’s brand new single ‘As It Was’ on Spotify here.
Featured image courtesy of Polina Kuzovkova on Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
Lily Holbrook
Lily is passionate about combining her environmental values with her love of music, the natural world and culture.