Music

Every Harry Styles Song, Ranked

He’s built one of the wildest, weirdest songbooks of modern times — from Seventies raunch to epic folk beauty to glam grandeur

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By ROB SHEFFIELDMAURA JOHNSTON

Harry Styles dropped his debut solo single “Sign of the Times” five years ago, in 2017. Since then, he’s built one of the wildest, weirdest songbooks of modern times. A brilliant body of work, from a genius singer, songwriter, and performer. And it’s just about to get bigger, since he’s also an evil angel of chaos who never gets tired of wreaking havoc on our lives.

What a songbook: 41 songs, all of them great, from an artist who already rates with the all-time legends. So let’s break it down: every Harry Styles songs ever, ranked and reviewed. No duds here, just gems from bottom to top, so it’s a tribute to every single song. 

Every fan would pick a different list — that’s the whole fun of it. So your list is guaranteed to be different — hell, our list would change from hour to hour, because as with most fans, our favorite tends to be the one we’re listening to right now. So obviously, don’t sweat the order they’re in — these are all songs to celebrate. The words are the point here, not the numbers.

Let’s face it, there are lots of Harries. He’s a pop star. An actor. A scholar of music history. A fashion icon. A dangerous madman who finds his pleasure in getting under our skin and trashing our expectations and dancing on our madness. And honestly, bless him for that. He’s all these things, but as these songs prove, the realest, truest Harry is the one who puts his heart and soul into this music. 

The list includes everything from all three of his solo albums, right up to Harry’s House. We’re also counting songs he’s made a crucial part of his tours, even if they’re not officially released. Sure, this is totally cheating, but otherwise we’d have to leave “Medicine” off the list, which would be a tragedy.

No One Direction tunes — that would be a totally different list. As the old song says, we don’t want a shadow holding us hostage, right?

So let’s make some noise for all 41 of these songs, and the man who brought them into the world. And here’s to the music he’s got in store for the future. Step into the light.

41. ‘Just a Little Bit of Your Heart’

Lists like this are supposed to start with the duds. However, Styles has refused to release any duds, which is honestly rude. So the list has to begin with a flat-out excellent song. He wrote “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart” for Ariana Grande’s 2014 album My Everything. The only reason it’s here is (1) Ariana already did the famous version, (2) Harry never officially released it himself, and (3) he’s got a few dozen songs that are even better. But it became a staple of his first solo tour, bridging his past and future. As he said, introducing it live, “This one I gave away to somebody else — tonight I want to take it back.” —R.S.

Best line: “I know I’m not your only, but I’ll still be a fool.”

40. ‘Girl Crush’

A clever mellow, stripped-down version of Little Big Town’s 2014 country hit, released as a Spotify Single. Harry lingers over the provocative words, originally a woman obsessing over her ex’s new girlfriend. But he doesn’t change the pronouns — putting a new gender twist on a tune that’s next to “Jolene” in the country lust-triangle department. —R.S. 

Best line: “I wanna taste her lips/Because they taste like you.”

39. ‘Woman’

“Should we just search romantic comedies on Netflix and see what we find?” A great question to kick off a slow jam. “Woman” is one that really thrives in its festive live versions. The studio version has a hook that sounds like a sexually agitated duck, quacking in ecstasy. As Harry told the BBC’s Nick Grimshaw, it’s not a kinky mallard — just his own voice through a filter. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08n8wm5 ] But when he first played his debut for his parents, “The whole album finished, then my stepdad said, ‘I’ve got one question — where did you get the duck from? How did you get a duck in the studio? I was like, ‘That was me, thanks.’” —R.S.

Best line: “You flower, you feast.”

38. ‘The Chain’

As you may have heard, Stevie Nicks and Harry are devoted friends and soulmates, ever since he brought her a birthday cake in 2015. They’re everybody’s favorite rock-star BFFs. He covered this Fleetwood Mac classic on his 2018 tour, a way to honor one of his biggest inspirations while rocking out. He did “The Chain” with the Mac in January 2018, when they were honored as the MusicCares Person of the Year (their final show with Lindsey Buckingham). As Stevie told Rolling Stone in 2019, “He’s Mick [Fleetwood]’s and my love child. When Harry came into our lives, I said, ‘Oh, my God, this is the son I never had.’ So I adopted him.” —R.S.

Best line: “Damn the dark, damn the light.”

37. ‘Wet Dream’

A landmark moment in the history of human wetness. For the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, Harry did a bang-up version of “Wet Dream,” the great 2021 indie single by the U.K. art-punk duo Wet Leg. It’s a heavy-breathing guitar rush of hypersexual come-ons: “I was in your wet dream, driving in the car/What makes you think you’re good enough to think about me/When you’re touching yourself?” Harry should do an entire album of feminist indie-rock sex bangers. (Muna’s “Pink Chiffon”? The Breeders’ “Divine Hammer”? Bang a gong, H.) —R.S.

Best line: “I’ve never seen anything so obscene/It’s enough to make a girl blush.”

36. ‘Only Angel’

A glam-rock guitar rave, chasing an elusive femme fatale with muscle-car riffs and woo-hoo chants, as he sings “I’m happy just getting you stuck between my teeth.” It begins with dialogue from the 1987 film Barfly, starring Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke — written by the poet Charles Bukowski, one of Harry’s literary heroes. —R.S. 

Best line: “Broke a finger knocking on your bedroom door/I got splinters in my knuckles crawling across your floor.”

35. ‘Anna’

A gorgeous showstopper on the 2018 tour, but never officially released, with guitar ripples that jump like the Grateful Dead circa Europe ‘72. He also tips his cap to George Michael, slipping in a quote from “Faith.” —R.S

Best line: “Every time I see your face/There’s only so much I can take.”

34. ‘Treat People With Kindness’

Harry had long used the slogan “Treat People with Kindness” as a personal mantra. So he finally wrote a song to go with it, with a full gospel choir singing along. It’s a departure from any of his other music, with 1970s theater energy. Phoebe Waller-Bridge makes a delightful dance partner in the video — two kindred spirits hitting the floor. As Harry told Rolling Stone, he told producer Jeff Bhasker, “‘I would love to someday write a song called ‘Treat People With Kindness.’ And he was like, ‘Why don’t you just do it?’ It made me uncomfortable at first, because I wasn’t sure what it was — but then I wanted to lean into that. I feel like that song opened something that’s been in my core.” —R.S.

Best line: “Floating up and dreaming/Dropping into the deep end.”

33. “Carolina” (2017)

“I met her once and wrote a song about her.” Give the boy points for honesty. A fantastic upbeat beach groove about a muse who’s got a book for every situation — just his type. (What’s she reading? Murakami? Didion? Emerson?) The music has a bit of a sun-dazed psychedelic vibe, evoking some of the old-school English rock poets of girl worship, like Donovan (circa “Sunshine Superman”) or Marc Bolan (circa “Planet Queen”). The “Oh, yeah” chants evoke a lost classic from one of his fave Hall and Oates songs, “Adult Education” — not one of their famous hits, but one of their steamiest. —R.S. 

Best line: “You better swim before you drown.”

32. ‘Meet Me in the Hallway’

The first cut on his debut, “Meet Me in the Hallway” is a warning: He’s never going to play it safe. Instead of a pop hit, it’s a moody ballad brooding over a distant lover, with a bit of Lennon-Bowie in his voice and a Pink Floyd vibe in the guitars. (One of his lifelong favorites, his intro mix on tour was the 13-minute “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.”) “Meet Me in the Hallway” served notice that after One Direction he was going his own way, even if it led him to dark places like this. —R.S. 

Best line: “I walked the streets all day, running with the thieves.”

31. ‘Daydreaming’

Styles flips a sample from the Brothers Johnsons’ 1978 throwdown “Ain’t We Funkin’ Now” into 2022 soul-pop gold on “Daydreaming,” which feels like it was made for remixing into a late-night party jam at least four times its original three-minute length. Whooping and hollering, he’s the center of its funked-up storm, backed by crisp brass, a thumping beat, and backing vocals that sound like they’re egging him on in real time, even if they were originally recorded four-plus decades ago. —M.J. 

Best line: “You know I’ll be gone for so long/ So give me all of your love, give me something to dream about”

30. ‘Sunflower, Vol. 6’

A trippy dub-wise romance, with flourishes of reggae skank and South African mbaqanga guitar, plus Greg Kurstin’s electric sitar. “Keep it sweet in your memory,” Styles purrs, while kissing in the kitchen like it’s a dance floor. —R.S. 

Best line: “My eyes want you more than a melody.”

29. ‘To Be So Lonely’

One of those late-night drunk phone confessions that turns out to be a terrible idea in the morning. In “To Be So Lonely,” nothing can console Harry except maybe the guitar of Mitch Rowland, demonstrating his tender and twangful touch. (It’s one of those tracks where you can hear Rowland’s taste for pickers like Bert Jansch and John Renbourn.) It was written on a guitalele — a ukelele with six strings, which Harry took on a journey to Japan. “‘To Be So Lonely’ is just really like the articulation of Mitch’s brain,” Styles said. “Even when Mitch plays to himself, he’s got the swing.” —R.S.

Best line: “I’m just an arrogant son of a bitch/Can’t admit that he’s sorry.”

28. ‘From the Dining Table’

Like so many songs on the debut, “From the Dining Table” is a guy waking up alone in his posh hotel room and wondering how it all went so wrong. With 1D, Harry might’ve been an outspoken advocate of causing trouble up in hotel rooms. But this is definitely not the glamorous life: “Played with myself, where are you/Fell back asleep and was drunk by noon/I’ve never felt less cool.” —R.S.

Best line: “Comfortable silence is so overrated.”

27. ‘Canyon Moon’

Harry wilds out on the dulcimer, dreaming about wide-open West Coast skies. “Canyon Moon” is a song about going home, but also a song about making a home in your memories, taking your loved ones with you every time you go away. Harry got so obsessed with his idol Joni Mitchell (“I was in a pretty big Joni hole”), he and Kid Harpoon tracked down Joellen Lapidus, the woman who built Mitchell’s dulcimer for Blue. She not only made one for Harry, she gave him and Kid Harpoon their first dulcimer lesson at her house. His next album, Harry’s House, shares a title with a 1975 Mitchell song. Harry tagged “Canyon Moon” as “Crosby, Stills, and Nash on steroids” — no wonder it was Stevie Nicks’ fave song on Fine Line. —R.S.

Best line: “She plays songs I’ve never heard/An old lover’s hippie music, pretends not to know the words.”

26. ‘Little Freak’

This hazy, slow-burning ballad is full of vivid images — Halloween parties, kitchen counters — while guitar arpeggios push for resolution with a lover who’s hard to pin down, although that elusiveness might be for the best. The acoustic chorus is pure pop candy, with Styles’ crooning “I’m just thinkin’ about you/Just thinkin’ about you” in a way that’s guaranteed to make hearts melt. —M.J.  


Best line: “I disrespected you/Jumped in feet first and I landed too hard/A broken ankle, karma rules”

25. ‘Love of My Life’

Harry’s House closes with this regret-soaked ballad, where Styles summons the full brunt of his voice to recall good times with an ex. Blown-out synth hits and spun-up backing vocals add to the gravity, while the singsong melody of its refrain gives his thoughts the feeling of being constantly present, like a memory that refuses to fade no matter how fervent the effort. —M.J.


Best line: “Maybe you don’t know what’s lost till you find it”

24. “Adore You”

In April 2019, when he thought Fine Line was nearly done, he got a blaze of inspiration and came up with three crucial songs in the final week: “Adore You,” “Lights Up,” and “Treat People With Kindness.” (Hey, the Beatles wrote half of Rubber Soul in a week.) “Adore You” seduced pop radio so fast, it’s easy to overlook how radical it is musically — a Top 10 hit with a guitar solo? It wasn’t done at the time, until this guy did it. The Rosalía-narrated video is one of his most touching, starring Harry as a peculiar boy bringing love to the fish of Eroda.
 —R.S.

Best line: “Walk in your rainbow paradise/Strawberry lipstick state of mind.”

23. ‘Grapejuice’

A midtempo track with a gentle swagger that places Styles’ falsetto front and center on its loose-limbed chorus, “Grapejuice” finds him grappling with the gravity of romance while he kills a bottle of wine (the good stuff, since he can afford that these days). The grunged-up bass line and simply elegant countermelodies give “Grapejuice” the vibe of a late-in-the-day garden meetup, where sun and drink bring big thoughts into the picture. —M.J.

Best line: “You’re always there, so don’t ovеrthink/I’m so over whites and pinks”

22. “Watermelon Sugar”

“Watermelon Sugar” blew up into his first Number One hit, a playful summer guitar groove that moves like Bill Withers sipping a mushroom milkshake, flirting with every item in the food-and-produce aisle. Not bad for a song so eccentric it almost got cut from the album. “That one we reworked a bunch of times, and it died a couple times,” Harry told Rolling Stone in 2019. “Then it just kept coming back. We fully killed it a few times, but it kept coming back in. So I thought, ‘There’s a reason it’s surviving.’” As co-writer and sidekick Kid Harpoon put it, “To break through with a song called ‘Watermelon Sugar,’ about oral sex, is awesome and kind of fun.” —R.S.

Best line: “Tastes like strawberries on a summer evening/And it sounds just like a song.”

21. ‘Two Ghosts’

A beautiful soft-rock heartache ballad — and a turning point for his songwriting. “‘Two Ghosts’ I wrote for the band, for Made in the A.M.,” he said in 2019. “But the story was just a bit too personal.” This is the song where he realized he needed to tell these stories by himself. In “Two Ghosts,” he’s dancing by the refrigerator light with a lover with red lips, blue eyes, white shirt. (But did they move the furniture so they could dance?)

Note: Bob Dylan is conspicuously absent from Harry’s pantheon of classic-rock idols — like many, he just can’t get past the voice. But in the Behind the Scenes documentary, he does a hilariously precise imitation of Dylan wheezing “Two Ghosts” (around the 13:45 mark). It’s one of the funniest damn scenes in the film. —R.S.

Best line: “We’re just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me/Trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat.”

20. ‘Late Night Talking’

“Late Night Talking” is a suave turn-your-love-around moonwalk through Eighties R&B, perfect for roller skating, about how intimacy warps your mind and alters your life. Harry makes a Carole King-style pledge of devotion, vowing, “I’d follow you to any place/ If it’s Hollywood or Bishopsgate/I’m coming too.” In other words, where you lead. (The theme of cross-country romance fits right in with “As It Was,” where he sings, “Leave America, two kids, follow her.”) —R.S. 

Best line: “There’s a haze on the horizon, babe.”

19. ‘Ever Since New York’

Weird as it seems now, a lot of people just weren’t ready to hear Styles do a straight-from-the-heart confession as great as “Ever Since New York.” (People were so fixated on 1D as a cultural phenomenon, they slept on the group’s musical brilliance on “Stockholm Syndrome” or “Story of My Life” or “Fireproof.” Crazy, right?) “Ever Since New York” sounds hushed but intense, with so much empty space in the music, just Mitch Rowland’s guitar strums and Harry pleading, “Tell me something I don’t already know.” He feels lost in his room, not sure whether he’s praying or just talking to the walls. But he knows he’s disconnected from where he wants to be. —R.S.

Best line: “Brooklyn saw me, empty at the news/There’s no water inside this swimming pool.”

18. ‘Music for a Sushi Restaurant’

The opening track for Styles’ third album is — appropriately enough — an inviting slice of pop funk, bringing listeners into Harry’s House with promises of rubbery bass lines and Styles fully owning his grown-and-sexy mode. He tosses off surrealistic food metaphors and carefree scatting with a winking élan, orbited by a party that’s already in full swing and that shows no signs of stopping. —M.J.

Best line: “If the stars were edible/And our hearts were never full/Could we live with just a taste?”

17. ‘Boyfriends’

Harry has turned this ballad into a Love on Tour harmony showcase, starring his fab bandmates Ny Oh, Elin Sandberg, and Sarah Jones. (You just know there’ll be a night when they get extra harmonies from Stevie Nicks. Guaranteed to happen, right?) The folksy guitar evokes the Paul Simon of “I Am a Rock” or “Armistice Day.” Since Harry grew up in a pub hearing Simon and Garfunkel constantly, he knows this turf well. “Boyfriends — are they just pretending?” is an unfortunately timeless question. —R.S.

Best line: “You love a fool who knows just how to get under your skin/You still open the door.”

16. ‘Sweet Creature’

A massively quiet song that still seems to silence any room where you hear it. “Sweet Creature” is just a boy and a guitar pondering the dilemma of two hearts figuring out how to fit together. It’s a meditation on the concept of home, and how home is something you make up as you go along — themes he was exploring long before Harry’s House. But his voice packs enough emotion to pierce your heart. “Sweet Creature” sounds fragile, yet you gasp out loud when he hits that chorus: “When I run out of road/You bring me home.” —R.S. 

Best line: “We don’t know where we’re going, but we know where we belong.”

15. ‘Daylight’

Bedheaded and besotted, “Daylight” is a snapshot of a long-distance relationship’s highs and lows, with Styles ruminating on his obsessive tendencies and day-to-day routines. With grinding guitars at its base and honey-sweet “ooh oohs” in its upper altitudes, “Daylight” is a synth-swathed study in romance’s contradictions. —M.J.


Best line: “If I was a bluebird, I would fly to you/You’d be the spoon/Dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you”

14. “Golden”

The beatific opener for Fine Line, with wave upon wave of Seventies AM-radio mellow gold. But under all the sunshine, there’s a sense of loss, as Harry begs, “I don’t wanna be alone.” “Golden” was the first song written for the album, on the second day of the sessions. As he said, “That was just always going to be Track One.” “Golden” has one of the most exhilarating climaxes in his music: The perfect moment when everything stops dead, Harry declares “I know that you’re scared because I’m so open,” and it rips into that pleading guitar break. —R.S. 

Best line: “I’m hopeless, broken, so you wait for me in the sky.”

13. “Lights Up”

“Lights Up” was the first taste of the Fine Line era — a sashay into the pop future, going for head-spinning disco late-night bliss. On one level, it’s a love song to his fans and how they helped him find his way after the demise of 1D. But “Lights Up” captures the moment when you step into the light and finally recognize your true self, even if the light is just coming from the glittering mirror ball in your heart. “I think ‘Lights Up’ came at the end of a long period of self-reflection, self-acceptance,” he told Rolling Stone. “I just had the conversations with myself that you don’t always have. And I just feel more comfortable being myself.” “Lights Up” is full of doubt and fear, yet it’s also an exuberant pop celebration. —R.S.

Best line: “Lights up and they know who you are/Do you know who you are?”

12. ‘Fine Line’

The epic finale of his second album, building over six minutes, from folky strums to horns and strings. “Fine Line” has the introspective power of the final scene of Fleabag, where Phoebe Waller-Bridge takes one last look before taking off on her long, cold solitary walk home in the dark. (A fan did a brilliant video syncing the scene with this song — it keeps getting pulled off YouTube, but try it.) —R.S.

Best line: “I don’t wanna fight you and I don’t wanna sleep in the dirt.”

11. ‘Cinema’

One of those songs that illustrates the ways carnal pleasures summon wild front-of-mind utterances, “Cinema” is a sinuous pop-funk cut with lyrics that balance the sublime and the ridiculous. “I just think you’re cool/I dig your cinema,” an abashed Styles wails on the chorus, an admission of his facade being shattered that almost — almost! — excuses the rhyming of “cinema” and “intimate” on the song’s spaced-out chorus. —M.J.  


Best line: “Do you think I’m cool, too?/Or am I too into you?”

10. ‘Medicine’

Harry at his lustiest, glammiest, raunchiest, and just plain best. “Medicine” has been one of his most fiercely beloved fan faves since his early shows — a depraved, sex-crazed Stones-y rock & roll strut. But somehow he’s never released it officially. So “Medicine” is a song that fans light candles and pray for. When he pulled it out of his clown suit at the HarryWeen bash in New York last October, for the first time in years, the crowd exploded at just the sound of drum goddess Sarah Jones counting in. The climactic hook is when he yells: “The boys and the girls are in/I mess around with them/And I’m OK with it!” The official lyric is “them,” but most ears hear it as “him,” including mine, and obviously he relishes the ambiguity, so nobody’s wrong — may the debate rage forever. A great way to see the song evolve: this fan-made mastercut of every time Harry sang the line “And I’m OK with it” on tour. —R.S.

Best line: “I had a few, got drunk on you, and now I’m wasted/And when I sleep I’m gonna dream of how you tasted!”

9. ‘She’

Love — the most psychedelic of drugs. “She” is a deranged six-minute space-sex trip that feels like Prince jamming with Pink Floyd. It’s Harry and his crew at their most unhinged — which is probably why he loves this song so much. The highlight: Mitch Rowland steps out into the stratosphere for a cosmic guitar voyage. Fun fact: Mitch invented guitar solos.

“Mitch played that guitar when he was a little, ah, influenced,” Styles said. “Well, he was on mushrooms, we all were.” They forgot about “She” until they went back to the tapes later. “But Mitch had no idea what he did on guitar that night, so he had to learn it all over from the track.” “She” is the kind of fucked-up beauty you can only get from making music with trusted friends — Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson, Jeff Bhasker, Rowland — instead of hired guns. And throwing the rulebook out the damn window. —R.S.

Best line: “A woman who’s just in his head/And she sleeps in his bed/While he plays pretend.”

8.“Falling”

Harry, you’re no good alone. “Falling” is the gorgeously bereft piano ballad from Fine Line, chronicling the afterlife of a broken relationship, asking, “What am I now? What if I’m someone I don’t want around?” He returns to places haunted by memories — “The coffee’s out at the Beechwood Cafe” — but it’s not the same. If this song doesn’t make a mess out of you, are you even there? —R.S.

Best line: “I’m well aware I write too many songs about you.”

7. ‘Keep Driving’

A gentle comedown that arrives on Harry’s House after the all-night bacchanal of “Daydreaming,” this brief interlude finds the thrill of romance in the details, with Styles recounting memory fragments — including blissful moments of connection and silly party happenings — over smoothly percolating synths. —M.J..  

Best line: “Maple syrup, coffee/Pancakes for two/Hash brown, egg yolk/ I will always love you”

6. ‘Satellite’

“Satellite” starts off terse, as Styles recounts an awkward encounter with a figure from his past over spectral keyboards and adamant guitars; with each successive chorus where Styles sings of “Waiting for ya/To pull me in,” though, the song builds, until it reaches a frenzy of longing that peaks on a fireworks-worthy bridge full of careening drums and space-borne synths. —M.J.

    
Best line: “I’m in an L.A. mood/I don’t wanna talk to you”

5. ‘Kiwi’

Harry’s got a taste for soul-searching, reflective tunes. This is not one of them. “Kiwi” is a glam-punk body-slam guitar blast from his debut, inspired by a chic actress who’s “hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect.” It’s driven by sex, adrenaline, pounding guitars, and the ridiculous chorus “I’m having your baby/It’s none of your business!” When Harry busts out “Kiwi” at the end of a live show, it always brings down the walls of Jericho. Let’s just say the Merriam-Webster Dictionary has used this moment as the definition of “euphoria.”  —R.S. 

Best line: “New York, baby, always jacked up/Holland Tunnel for a nose, it’s always backed up.”

4. “Cherry”

The most powerful moment on Fine Line, a raw confession of grief and jealousy after a broken romance. Harry tells the story with dry wit, aiming his barbs at himself, even when the pain is real. (“I can tell that you are at your best/I’m selfish so I’m hating it” is really twisting the knife.) In the studio, engineer Sammy Witte was playing an acoustic guitar riff that Harry overheard and loved — so close to John Lennon on the White Album — resulting in this song. “Cherry” ends with a voice note of his ex-girlfriend, Camille Rowe, speaking French on the phone. A heart-wrenching song that nonetheless soars to the sun. —R.S.

Best line: “I still miss your accent and your friends/Did you know I still talk to them?”

3. ‘Matilda’

The emotional core of Harry’s House is a tenderly sung note to a friend who’s still sorting through the psychic wreckage of childhood neglect. Styles, backed by a spectral choir and not much else, comforts his friend (whose stand-in is the titular character from the Roald Dahl fantasy novel), guiding her into the light where she can be her own person and bathe in much-deserved appreciation from those who now surround her. —M.J.

Best line: “You showed me a power that is strong еnough to bring sun to the darkest days/It’s none of my business, but it’s just been on my mind.”

2. “As It Was”

The first taste of his third album, Harry’s House, and an instant Number One hit. “As It Was” is a seductive dance-floor synth-pop bop — yet it’s also the most nakedly vulnerable tune he’s ever done. It opens with the voice of his goddaughter, angry about a missed call. (“Come on Harry, we wanna say good night to you!”) But even when he feels down and out, the breathy intimacy in his voice makes it feel like this is a shared story between two people. The ecstatic chimes ringing at the end are Harry playing “tubular bells.” Total genius, done and dusted in three minutes. What a way to kick off the Harry’s House era, almost exactly five years after his debut single. —R.S.

Best line: “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?”

1. ‘Sign of the Times’

The last thing the world was expecting from Harry Styles. His first solo single after One Direction wasn’t a pop banger, it was a nearly six-minute love-and-death piano epic. Talk about an audacious career move: He was aiming for the high ground of David Bowie, or Prince, or Queen. As Harry told Rolling Stone in 2017, it’s sung from the perspective of a mother dying in childbirth. “The mother is told, ‘The child is fine, but you’re not going to make it.’ The mother has five minutes to tell the child, ‘Go forth and conquer.’” That’s why “Sign of the Times” feels uplifting, finding beauty in bleakness. The song made an instant impact — it hit Number Four in the U.S. — but it just gets more powerful as you live with it over the years. (It’s a totally different song if it happens to carry you through a grief experience.) “Sign of the Times” seems to pack a lifetime’s worth of hope into a few minutes. After this, nobody doubted Harry Styles again. —R.S. 

Best line: “Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times/Welcome to the final show/Hope you’re wearing your best clothes/You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky.”

From Rolling Stone US.

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Chris Martin: My Life in 10 Songs

The Coldplay frontman shares the stories behind the band’s defining songs, from “Yellow” and “Fix…

October 5, 2024

Gutslit Kick Off Japan Shows with Nile This Week

Mumbai’s brutal death metal band join the American metal veterans for three shows between Oct.…

October 4, 2024

Kolkata Metallers Disquietude Vengeance Launch Debut Album This Week

Fellow local bands like Survival Through Sufferings, The Unofficial Utopia and Krossbow also feature on…

October 4, 2024

Premiere: Markio Tanaldo Pours Out Emotions in ‘Mera Koi Na’ Video

The Arunachal Pradesh singer-songwriter’s second release is a poignant Hindi song that pays tribute to…

October 4, 2024