Almost a month to the day after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to make a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding, Harry Styles ran across the stage of the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado, holding a rainbow pride flag. This is a state that narrowly voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election; besides metropolitan pockets of blue districts, the city is surrounded by deeply red communities, including Weld County and Colorado Springs, which is considered one of the most conservative cities in the country. Itâs somewhat surprising, then, to see a young pop star make such a bold on-stage political statement in such a divided state, in a divided country.
Pop stars will often choose to say nothing over anything in such an ideologically conflicted time. Playing it safe maximizes core audience. Anything political is a bad business decision.
Certainly a star like Harry Styles drew people to the Pepsi Center, which is the biggest arena in Colorado and the surrounding states, from across the Rocky Mountain region. Folks in light-up cowboy hats, dads in Metallica shirts, country club momsâthey all dotted the crowd from some of this stateâs 87 percent white suburbs. But it also drew teens carrying rainbow hats, shirts, and even one pride flag attached to a Black Lives Matter sign in the front row.
So, back to Harry Styles. Heâs a heartthrob, a fashion icon, a former boy band superstar, a 24-year-old kidâsomeone whoâs a tastemaker for an entire generation. Heâs a teen idol. And, by all accounts, heâs a really good dude. Prove me otherwise. During this show, he shouted out three birthdays midway through and remembered them in his closing acknowledgements. (Meanwhile, you can introduce me to one person at a party, and Iâll forget their name in 30 seconds).
This is a generation that idolizes YouTube stars like Jake Paul (and his dickhead brother), that shows up in hordes for XXXTentacionâs memorial, that listens to fucking Post Malone and The Chainsmokers. Yet, here is sweet Harry, who has the words âTreat People With Kindnessâ written on the merch that nearly every single young woman walked out of this arena with.
The music too, is something the olds can appreciate. During this concert, his songs channeled Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and the Rolling Stonesâand he looked like a young combination of every one of those bands, sporting a fluffy, sparkling sequined blouse. He also covered an excellent version of Fleetwood Macâs âThe Chain.â And he was sick during this whole show: The poor kid was coughing the entire time and battling the notorious Colorado altitude. Yet he was flexible enough to sing every single song in a more comfortable lower register. Iâve seen hundreds of shows in this city, and often artists try to sing every song as-is without the lung capacity. Heâs musically intelligent enough to adapt his singing to the altitude. Thatâs not easy.
Letâs be clear, this is not a man using the pride flag as some sort of easy branding alignment; heâs someone who supported LGBTQ rights since his days in One Direction, once the biggest pop bands in the world. He fought against the Westboro Baptist Church, he supported queer trio Muna on tour, and he sings, on âMedicine,â what many consider to be a bi-sexual anthem: âThe boys and the girls are here / I mess around with him / And Iâm OK with it.â During pride month, Styles waved around a âMake America Gay Againâ flag.
Look at the likes of Drake and Taylor Swift (gasp! drama!) for exampleâtwo pop stars so caught up in their own persona that their music and general existence is unaware of the world around them. Then thereâs Styles, who makes clear during his show to tell his young fans to âfeel free to do what you want to do, feel free to be who you want to be.â He waves the pride flag during a cover of the quadruple-platinum âWhat Makes You Beautiful"âonly when Styles covers his own band, he turns the One Direction hit from a creepy, pandering song into an empowering, inclusive sing-along. He even brings a subversive country artist like Kacey Musgraves with him to open up in Denverâa city that will sell out multiple stadium nights of Kenny Chesney. Itâs where Toby Keith opened a namesake bar and grill. Despite her multiple country music awards, Musgraves acknowledged every single person in the audience before playing her queer-positive hit âFollow Your Arrow.â
Itâs easyâso easyâto look at the Tide Pod generation and be worried. Itâs easy to think that kids are just going to play whatever Fortnight is while the world burns around them. But then thereâs Harry Styles, whoâs here to remind us that youths are here, theyâre aware, and they actually care. Maybe there is hope among tens of thousands of screaming fans.
andulkaphoto
annaxmalina
stormborns
discoholicmusic
tangentwithtanner
germansingergirl
titsay
romaincrisis
