Tag: Harry Styles

Harry Styles – Adore You

“I’d like to present a new (and very strong) contender for Most Bizarre Video.”

Tim: We’re getting to the end of the decade and there’s a number of chart things going around; I’d like to present a new (and very strong) contender for Most Bizarre Video.

Tom: I only know of this because of the disappointed nerd outcry when a brand new exciting alternate reality game turned out to be… an ad for a Harry Styles song.

Tim: Ha, I’d completely missed that – though the December 2nd update made me laugh a lot reading it. ANYWAY, there’s a lot of pre-amble, but summary: the village doesn’t like Harry, he’s basically decided to leave, then he found a fish that has been similarly exiled. And then…

Tim: …he puts it in a cafetière, nicks a rucksack when it outgrows that, spies on a beardy guy, buys a massive fish tank which the fish then explodes out of because it is horrified by the fish market, which is somehow the part of the video that makes most sense.

Tom: Mm. Yes, I can see why the folks hopeful for an ARG were disappointed.

Tim: As for the song – it’s alright. It helps that it’s a strong chorus, because there’s basically nothing else to it, and I guess if you don’t like that main hook then you’ve probably not got much love for the song as a whole.

Tom: It’s not bad. It’s a perfectly servicable song. And I’ll admit I can at least sing some of the chorus after listening once. Well, one line of it, anyway.

Tim: On the other hand, is this whole thing really about the song? Or is it just a long-winded way of telling us he’s binned off girls and is going for fish now?

Harry Styles – Sign of the Times

“It’s Oasis with a falsetto, isn’t it?”

Tim: Zayn’s debut was pretty good, modern R’n’B; Louis’s took a while to get going but turned to good dance; Niall’s is best not mentioned. Fourth out is Harry, and you might want to strap in because you’ll be here a while.

Tim: Now, I didn’t hear it when it was first broadcast on Friday, but I did observe the Twitter reaction, which from my corner was distinctly unimpressed. And having heard it, it’s not hard to see why: it’s a good sixty per cent longer than it needs to be, it’s very slow and a bit dreary, and just isn’t the upbeat pop that we previously loved. And so I was quite surprised to discover that actually: I like this a lot.

Tom: I can’t believe I’m agreeing with you here. I’m sure I’ve heard parts of this in other tracks, too, but honestly I don’t mind, because when the guitar kicked in and it went in for the big chorus, I actually sat up straight and thought “oh, wow”. It’s really good.

Tim: Isn’t it? One big thing going for it is that somehow it doesn’t feel five and a half minutes long – it feels right. Yes, it’s slow, and maybe if someone sped it up by 30% many people would be a lot happier; on the other hand, I wouldn’t be. What it put me in mind of, actually, and perhaps weirdly, is old Oasis – it doesn’t sound particularly like it, mind, but in terms of feeling, style and general mood, this could sit right on Be Here Now (average track length 6:19).

Tom: Huh. That is a weird comparison, but you’re right: those guitar slides sound a lot more familiar when you put it like that. And those guitar noodlings. And… actually, yeah, it’s Oasis with a falsetto, isn’t it? And that’s apparently okay.

Tim: There’s a relaxed feel to it, but also a defiant “this is my sound, I don’t care if you don’t like it.” It does, after all, take guts to bring out a track from 1997 in 2017, but I say good luck to him – after all, it may even make him “credible”.