I genuinely think if you locked up the members of One Direction together in a studio until they completed an album with almost none of them on speaking terms they could make this century’s Rumors
I will lock in at exactly the top of the hour. Unless I miss it by a minute then exactly at the 15. unless I miss that too oops when it’s 30 or you know what might as well wait until the next exact hour mark. unless—
Thank you for that. And you're right, the lyrics are brutal and honest. It hits so hard, and the title, the way he explained it on ZL. Kind of encapsulate that.
S2 weight loss may be my all time favorite Harry song, so ty for the breakdown request! I have fun to doing these full song lyric analysis, and S2 flowed easy because I think about that song’s meaning a LOT.
S2 really does just lay it all out on the table in terms of his struggle with fame + identity, and god it hitttts. If season 2 weight loss has no stans im dead
Hi sorry I sent an ask earlier about Charli’s Album cover and turns out it’s not AI but she is using a website for fans to create their own version through ai prompts which I hate equally as much 😭
Wait yikes I hate that too. Haven’t been keeping up with her as much this era but fuck using AI in art, marketing, or promo. Bad look
All this Taste Back analysis just makes me wonder if you are still doing lyrical analysis? Because "Season Two, Weight Loss" please.
Ask and you shall receive. My favorite song of his <3
Aptly named the album’s thesis by Harry, Season 2 Weight Loss (S2) marks kissco’s turning point. Following his frustrations and lack of fulfillment on preceding tracks, S2 holds the epiphany that sparks a necessary change in him—and grapples with how this change will affect his fame & success, if this is worth it.
Note: the use of “you” in this song can get confusing. In the verses, he tends to use it primarily in reference to “Harry Styles the Popstar” but there’s a second layer that’s making audience commentary. In the chorus/bridge, “you” typically means his audience, but has a secondary layer that’s based in his own self reflection. “I” “me” and first-person usage typically speaks to himself as a regular person in his own private life.
Verse 1:
Aren’t you for sale if you’re cashing in cold?
About Harry Styles The Brand™️, and one of the most scathing lines Harry’s written about himself. Essentially saying: if you’re profiting off the commodification of your own personality & attractiveness, aren’t you endorsing your own objectification? Because you are selling yourself as a product to the masses…
You’ve got to sit yourself down sometimes
Self-reflection is necessary for growth & sometimes you
needs to take a step back and ask the hard questions to evaluate who you are vs. who you want to be, what you want from life and fame and making art. And why thus far you’re feeling empty, and what changes need to happen as a result.
It’s hard to tell when the thoughts are my own / and the old hat gets harder to hold
I’m losing my sense of self because my identity has been tied externally to who I am to my audience, the media, the world, and after a while I don’t know if “the thoughts” I’m having about myself are genuine, or just an echo of who everyone else is telling me I am. Also note the “my” here—referring to how his public persona is invading his private sense of self
“The old hat” is a ref to the English idiom ‘wearing many hats’ which means a person is taking on a lot of roles or duties simultaneously. In this context, the “old hat” is his role as Harry Styles The Popstar (separated from Harry the regular human), aka the branded version of himself that he’s having harder and harder time maintaining.
Chorus:
Holding—holding out. Hoping you will love me now.
“Holding out” in this context means not accepting a current circumstances in the hopes of securing something better. (If I’m “holding out” in a game of poker for example, I’m refusing to fold because I’m hoping for winning hand).
Within S2? He’s refusing to bend his behaviors and branded identity towards what it’s always been & what he knows would go over well, because he’s hoping that his fans will still love him without the bells and whistles. That if he shows up as his changed but authentic self, you’ll love him now the as you did when he was in a dress on Vogue or had painted nails.
Do you love me now? Do you? Do I let you down?
I adore the heavy undercurrent of anxiety that seeps through this line. He’s holding out….but he is not confident that he’ll be proven right.
He’s questioning, to reiterate: if I come back changed for me, will I let you down? But on another level, he’s also asking himself: if I change back just to keep the masses happy, will I let myself down? & would that be worth it for their love?
Holding—holding out. Hoping love will come around.
“Hoping love will come around” …..on the initial release, I took this as a pretty straightforward “I hope the answer to all of this is yes I still love you, no you don’t let me down.” But watching the fandom reaction unfold in the way it has….
I wonder if he knew the backlash to his change would be inevitable, in some ways? And the “hoping love will come around” is less ‘I hope you’re willing to love me immediately and not feel let down at all’ and more of a ‘I hope that once the dust settles and you’ve got the inevitable disappointment out of the way, you (and by extension your love) will start to come around again to this current iteration of me as you witness it more and more.” Because “come around” has this connotation of people eventually getting on board that’s quite different than if he were to say “hoping you still love me now.” Hm.
….and if it’s the second reading, we’re watching this happen in real time as he performs more and more on tour, which is insane.
Verse 2:
It’s kind of sad but there’s something I know: too many things for you to analyze
In a self-reflection sense: too much has changed, it’s a sad fact of life, there’s too much for me to unpack about it.
In an audience reflection sense: I realize this is a sad fact of my life, that coming back means I’m about to be put under a microscope and compared to my former self. And there’s too much there for you to find, to analyze.
You’re steaming in, swinging with your eyes closed
Steaming in -> you’re coming in hot, impulsive, and emotional
Swinging with your eyes closed -> you’re lashing out, taking swings blindly without seeing who or what you might hit. Reminiscent of “this world is screaming so you start to scream right back” in AYLY.
I’ve always seen these lines as his self-reflection & his state of mind he’s unpacking, but writing it out as I am….I also think there’s a case for audience commentary, and people coming in looking for reasons to get mad.
Let light come in once and a while
Aperture call-back.
But also…a little hopeful while sad note in a brutal song. You only let light—aka joy and love and all beautiful things—come in here and there. But that’s still something. At least. It’s not completely shut out. There remains hope. Keep letting it in.
Bridge:
You could have been here in my arms / but we’re nothing at all
and if I said parasocial commentary? You could have known me, we could have cared for each other. But we’re nothing. You’re living with a fantasy that’s not real.
You want a piece or nothing at all
You want to own a part of me, my image, my identity, my grief, or you want nothing to do with me. You want possession of me, you don’t actually want me.
Or something like that.
……brutal fucking lyrics but I love it. There’s something so alive about this song that’s so incredibly special. Season 2 weight loss I’ll love you forever.
Sorry that happened with your friend. I have to remind myself periodically that people that often gossip with me about others ALWAYS gossip about me with others. My former best friend was like that and it took a really long time to sink in that I‘m no different in her mind with regards to that. Sigh, relationships are hard… hope it works out for you, stuff like that just sucks.
Thanks, I appreciate this. They’re aware that I’m more than upset; we plan to meet in a week or so in-person to talk. In the meantime we cancelled our trip to NYC for Gov Ball—don’t think it’s a good idea to go & act like all is well. It was a mutual agreement. Your gossiping part…exactly. I usually don’t allow space for gossip about friends, & I don’t share things told in confidence—let alone outting someone. I should have seen it coming….but that particular secret…
So it sucks. I think the talk we eventually have will be alright; the gravity of the situation is understood (I hope). Patterns of gossip aside, she’s a mature & decent person who knows how to take accountability & grow from it. She did a horrible fucking thing, has a pattern of it (our mutual friend is also not thrilled about a secret of hers told to me), but I genuinely hope this is a wake up call that causes a change for the better. Maybe what she has to say will surprise me too. We will see.
TLDR thanks for letting me rant. I hate this. I’m trying to find forgiveness but I don’t quite know how. We’ll see how the talk goes
Pretty sure Xander and his family (who are rich and high up) are close friends of the Azoffz. He was a lacrosse player though your right but I think it was like a collage thing if memory serves and died shortly after. No idea what he does now but clearly something he makes hella bank in considering Xander and his wife’s lifestyle.
Being near rich people simply allows you to get rich by proximity (I’m joking but also… not fully)
Omg why some of you always have to connect his songs to his exes even tho nothing proves that some song is about said ex like with taste back like nothing points out it’s about Camille
I would say the majority of Taste Back speculation being about her comes from lyrics—with the Paris connection and the lyrical call backs to Cherry & TBSL (don’t you call me baby -> always been a consequence when you call me baby) being the most prominent
I’m actually okay with song related speculation when it’s based in lyrical analysis, but veryyy tentative gonna put a lid on this divergence in conversation about his ex’s bc really I only wanted to discuss that I think Harry’s qualified to give good dating advice none of his past partners resent him
and seems to be with whoever he wrote Taste Back about
Is he? I think he was petty in that song. I don’t agree that he’s friends with the rest of his exes which you mentioned. Being able to say hi to Taylor Swift at a very public event doesn’t mean that they’re friends. A relationship which he had with his groomer isn’t the best example either.
True. fuck Caroline
I’ll make an adjustment: I think he’s on good terms with his ex’s. Friend is perhaps a stretch
Those of us who have been in relationships and can do self-reflection are better at advice than people who have been in one or two long term relationships. Why? Because those who have been in long term relationships don't get why things can get messy. They only have one view point and don't get it when things go off course because they've never experienced it.
I can certainly understand this perspective. The people I know who are high school sweethearts or dated only one person seriously then married them often don’t have firsthand experience with the mess of navigating afterwards
Taste back is about Camille, and its such a petty song I'm not sure you can say they're on good terms 😅 it's my favorite but it's definitely not giving on good terms vibes
Oh I COMPLETELY agree that song is petty as hell, but they are on (at least) terms where they’re still willing to meet up in person and communicate
Has Harry really stayed friends with his exes? I can’t think of any of his ex whom he has any kind of a relationship these days. Besides Kendall Jenner tho still only partially, cause they don’t even invite themselves to their birthdays etc but they seem amicable at least. Unless we count Xander as his ex (that’s a joke!)
lol so true xarry
I think maybe calling him friends with his ex’s would be a stretch, but he’s certainly on good terms with at least Kendall, Taylor Swift (the way he might be her only ex invited to her wedding is so funny to me), was with Caroline Flack—fuck her though, and seems to be on good terms with whoever he wrote Taste Back about
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