Words: Anna Marie

Released on 12th May 2017, Harry Styles’ self-titled debut is a brilliant album filled with literary and musical references spanning decades. The album reached Number One in both the US and UK, and stayed in the charts for 73 and 75 weeks in each country respectively. On first listen, my only criticism was that with a runtime of just 40 minutes, it was too short, and after four years, that’s probably still my only complaint. HS1’s bright light hasn’t diminished over time, if anything, the album’s longevity outshines its initial success; in February 2021 it re-entered the Top 100 of the US Album Charts and was the fifth best-selling vinyl album in the US (Fine Line was number 2). Presumably, most dedicated fans have a copy by now, if not several, so what about HS1 is the general public gravitating towards now, four years later?

A rock and roll album at it’s heart, with the necessary references to sex and drugs, the tone of HS1 was fairly surprising to the general public, though perhaps less so to his fans, and it’s interesting to see how that evolves over time. Even Harry now says he wasn’t vulnerable enough; ‘I just didn’t want to get it wrong’. That might seem strange at first, seriously, who debuts with a six minute mid-tempo political piano ballad and then says they played it safe? But I can definitely see where he’s coming from, especially when you look at where he ended up going with Fine Line. With some exceptions, the overarching imagery in HS1 is 2 parts sexy, 1 part I was mean and it was your fault. As Harry so delicately put it, ‘I thought I was being so honest, just because there’s one line about having a wank’. 

Of course, Fine Line still had elements like this; the pettiness in ‘Cherry’ and ‘To Be So Lonely’ is sublime, but the emotional depth is a lot more well-rounded. Maybe that’s age, Harry was only 23 when HS1 came out after all, or maybe something was indeed holding him back. Nonetheless, it’s not to say that HS1 is necessarily emotionally-stunted by any means, but it’s interesting, in hindsight, to see what facets of personality and story-telling he was willing and able to share.

Much like the lyrical content, the musical influences in HS1 are a little all over the place, but that’s what makes it such a fun debut. There are songs reminiscent of Jet, Elton John and, of course, Fleetwood Mac. The variety of old school references helped him be taken more seriously by the general public, as well as giving us an idea of his potential for longevity.

With the disjointed tracklist (seriously – ‘Kiwi’ to ‘ESNY’ to ‘Woman’?) Harry created a space where he had ample opportunity to try on all these different musical hats and find what works best for him, which he clearly did with the much more cohesive and successful follow-up Fine Line. In many ways that’s exactly what a debut should do, even if you technically have five incredibly successful albums already under your belt. It’s a time for you to explore and figure out what makes both you and your audience happy, and it’s been a long time since someone did it as openly and triumphantly as Harry.

Harry’s debut solo single was the emotionally-devastating piano ballad ‘Sign of the Times’ which (as well as containing the best use of white noise in a song ever) reached number 1 in the UK and 4 in the US, a particularly impressive feat considering that, much like the rest of the album, the song was not particularly radio-friendly. The follow up singles were ‘Two Ghosts’ and ‘Kiwi’, both of which failed to chart but have since become fan-favourites. Something that will haunt me for the rest of my life is that Harry recorded a music video for ‘Two Ghosts’ and then just never released it…where is the footage? I would like to see it.

HS1 is at its most rockstar in ‘Carolina’, the final song Harry wrote for the album. It came during a writing slump, after Harry had ‘actually been out and done something’. It’s sexy and tongue-in-cheek, not least when Harry name-drops the subject, just six lines into the song. He famously didn’t ask her permission, or even give her a heads up, which is probably a little out of line as Harry definitely knew what sort of online attention he’d be subjecting her to. But there are worse fates than Harry Styles singing your praises. Literally. She’s such a good girl… ‘Carolina’, as well as ‘Ever Since New York’, was debuted on The Today Show, and was watched by the muse’s father who then called her to say ‘I think [Harry Styles] just sang a song about you on TV’. Life goals? absolutely. GDPR compliant? Definitely not.

A song like ‘Carolina’ fuels the idea that, in some ways, this was an album that Harry needed to get out of his system. That’s not to say that it has no value in its own right; HS1 is an incredible album, but it’s also rich with potential and hints of what is yet to come. It’s also worth considering if Harry’s more recent pop endeavours (‘Watermelon Sugar’, ‘Adore You’, etc.) would’ve been so widely accepted by the general public, as opposed to just fangirls, had he not swerved so severely to rock with his debut. Maybe he needed to dive into 70’s rock first so that when he returned to the pop mainstream he was taken seriously as a credible artist, rather than a boybander gone solo.

A real highlight on the album is ‘Only Angel’, a six minute anthem that seems to have everything but the kitchen sink thrown at it, and yet it still works. The minute-long swelling intro, which serves as a perfect beginning to Side B of the album, contains a clip from Charles Bukowski’s 1987 film ‘Barfly’ – ‘I saw this angel / I really saw an angel’ – a literary reference that pops up time and time again. Reading the lyrics of closing track ‘From The Dining Table’ could easily be mistaken as classic Bukowski, even down to the structure. But Harry’s well-documented love for Bukowski is never more apparent than in track eight, ‘Woman’. He references the title of Bukowski’s most famous novel Women and then goes on to paraphrase the poem Old Man, Dead in a Room with the lyrics; ‘This thing upon me / Howls like a beast / You flower you feast’, which were originally ‘this thing upon me / like a flower and a feast’.

As a fan, it’s fascinating to see Harry reference the art that inspires him, even when that art is flawed – Bukowski and Murakami’s work is often rife with misogyny, In Watermelon Sugar is one of the worst books I’ve read in years. But that’s not the point. Fans of Harry Styles are inspired by his art and from there go on to discover more art, whether it’s literature or music, and that’s definitely a thing worth celebrating.

There’s no doubt that Harry is one of the most popular solo artists around right now, and that is easily demonstrated by his critical and chart success, but is perhaps best displayed by the dedication of his fanbase. A group of fans are currently running a campaign to get ‘Only Angel’, ‘Ever Since New York’, ‘Canyon Moon’ and ‘Treat People With Kindness’ to 100 million streams on Spotify, his only songs to have not reached that. If the campaign is successful, he will be the only male solo artist to have every song in his discography reach that incredible milestone. (Since writing this piece only Canyon Moon & TPWK are yet to reach this target)

HS1 has taught us a lot about Harry, who he was then, and who he may be in the future. The album is proving to be as timeless as its influences and his respect for music new and old has won over many critics and fans. Besides, even if HS1 does one day fade into obscurity, it will always have the legacy of the Kiwi Ban.