Harry Styles Aperture at the BRIT awards
I never thought much about Harry Styles at all in my life. I was not a 1D fan and while I did follow the Don’t Worry Darling drama, it was not for him. He seems to be one of the few child stars that has grown into himself as a musician, and who seems to truly love what he does.
It’s interesting to watch this era of child stars grow up and out of the machines they were built by; the boy/girl bands, the Disney and Nickelodeon machines. Some of them are broken by it like Britney Spears and Amanda Bynes, but others seem to be able to grow into true artists, like Miley Cyrus, whose vocals I will fight anyone about. Harry Styles seems to be taking the Miley road.
Watching performers, musicians, actors, singers, dancers is always a little bit misleading to me. If they’re doing it well, they portray fun and ease, and only when you understand the difficulty of the craft, or see it done poorly, do you understand their degree of expertise. Their life's work and absolute dedication allows you to sit in a comfy chair and watch 50 people dance on stage to a catchy pop song, and maybe not quite understand why it tickles something so deep inside your brain. I’m not a good dancer or singer or actor, but I really, really love all of these things. I’ll buy the tickets, I’ll travel, I’ll listen to things on repeat so many times that it affects my end of the year wrap up in ways that are pretty embarrassing. One time I got stuck in an autism repeat loop on a 5 day trip and ended up with Everlast as my most listened to artist for the entire year! Did not share that gem on social medias, not because I don't stand behind it, but because it just feels hard to explain.
Pop music gets so little respect because people think it’s easy and formulaic. I used to think about Justin Timberlake in the early 2000s when he was transitioning from boy band into I guess our mid-aughts approximation of a heart throb? (Everything is clearer in hindsight.) I thought it was kind of funny that he would be on stage with Timbaland and TI and we were supposed to think that he was a bad ass hard edged dude. When in reality he spent all of his time rehearsing dancing and thinking about dance music and worrying about his falsetto vocals and thinking about how to sharpen his moves and doing things that most men would not agree are aligned with classic machismo or alpha male posing. But the truth is that he was very good at those things. Turns out he was kind of a dick as a person, but it’s hard to argue with Cry Me A River. It’s just a good pop song
Pop music and the dedication it takes to put on what is essentially an entire Broadway number is pretty amazing, and I don’t think it should be devalued because it’s not miserable or emo or self-referential or overly ironic or meaningful or deep. It’s just another genre of music, not better or worse except I think it's better because it's both joyful and enjoyable.
(There is obviously lots to say here here about how we allow men to have fun and we are able to join in on the fun while don't always allow the same of women. Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan are working arguably much harder every day of their lives if only because they're doing all of it in huge hot wigs and 7 in platform heels and no pants and full makeup, but somehow we know that's work and can appreciate the performance of that work while Harry's just a lad having a time! Also lots to say here about the ways that white musicians are benefitting on the backs of centuries of Black and indigenous traditions of music, but this is just a lil tumblr post so let's stipulate all of it.)
Anyway, all of this to say that Harry Styles is killing the game, he seems to be settling into his own as an adult musician, and he has talent. Also, unlike Justin Timberlake, he seems to not be a total asshole. Although I suppose time tells on all of us. It’s a good performance and it’s a very good song.