getting cozy in Harry's House with new single "As It Was"
by Gabriela Margarone
Harry Styles is entering his Harry’s House Era, and leaving the iconic Fine Line era behind. His fans, known as "Harries", have finally gotten the lead single “As It Was” from his third and upcoming album. “As It Was” follows a common theme of Styles's songs; happy sounding songs with sad lyrics. It makes you want to get up and break into dance like his new music video for his song, but also makes you think a little bit deeper into what he’s actually telling us.
The song starts with Styles’s goddaughter cheerfully going “Come on Harry, we wanna say goodnight to you!” but as the beat kicks in, Styles comes in melancholy to an otherwise upbeat track. It’s vulnerable, which seems to be a common theme for Styles’s lead singles. “Sign of the Times” was his first ever release as a solo artist, but “As It Was” is his most vulnerable and ambitious track yet. “In this world, it's just us / You know it's not the same as it was.” The song explores vulnerability within a relationship and realizing that your relationship with your significant other has changed. It’s about feeling alone and isolated; even getting to a point where you are isolating yourself from the people you love most. “Answer the phone / 'Harry, you're no good alone / Why are you sitting at home on the floor? / What kinda pills are you on?'." There seems to be a common theme with Harry, where he will take sad lyrics and put them on a happy track, such as his song "Golden" off album Fine Line. The track has an overall 80s synth vibe, and I’m convinced that there isn’t a single genre that Styles can’t take on.
The music video, directed by Taru Muino, depicts Styles running in circles and breaking out into contemporary dance. As expected with Styles, he’s wearing a sparkly red jumpsuit (Can I borrow it, Harry?) as he dances and chases after his love interest throughout the video. Styles wrote the song with Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon, who he has been longtime collaborators with. He has paired his upcoming album release with other visuals such as a Twitter account and Discord server, which provides cozy sentiments such as “find a moment of calm / colour it in” and these accounts have sent his fandom into a whirlwind of theories and reactions, and understandably so. Fans are also speculating that the Twitter account is tweeting upcoming lyrics, and that was confirmed with the release of “As It Was.” Styles is not only an incredible musical artist, but provides amazing visuals and experiences along with his music releases. Styles is among artists who take their music and turn it into an event. Throughout his different eras, he has given us different looks and trends that his fandom can follow. It makes me eager to see the different looks and outfits that he is going to inspire within his listeners with Harry’s House. His Fine Line era brought us Love On Tour, and ultimately established Styles as a true rockstar.
As a huge Harry Styles fan, I’m very excited to see where this new era will take him. It is inspiring to see Styles grow and change as an artist throughout the years. Despite this being his third album, I feel like he’s only getting started. Ever since One Direction has gone on hiatus and he has been releasing solo music, he has grown more comfortable in himself both stylistically and in his music within the themes that he explores. He is at his most vulnerable with this song; finally peeling back the layers and showing us who he really is. I’m eagerly awaiting the release of Harry’s House in May. This is Harry’s House, and we’re just living in it.
Harry’s House releases May 20th. You can preorder the album here and grab some merch on his website.