Harry Styles - Grapejuice // interpretation, analysis, meaning
Please note: Read my profile description. This is MY interpretation. It´s personal. You may have a different opinion and that´s fine with me. If you don´t agree, just move on 😉
If you know me from Twitter, you may know that I love interpretations, and Grapejuice always was a hard one for me. I know there is the common interpretation amongst Larries that it´s a “wedding” song and very domestic. I can see that, but I always had a hard time making all the lyrics fit for me.
An interpretation is something personal. And also a song can be interpreted in different ways. With H we have so many songs with different layers, meaning they can be interpreted in more than one way. One interpretation does not invalidate the other, they can be your truth side by side 😉 (except for Grapejuice being a song about wine and H being a drunk. Because… no. Just. NO!! 😭) So. I just happened to find a new layer with Grapejuice that fits as well for me.
Read on if you are open to genderfluidness and Hs female side, and also Larry being real. If it´s not your thing, move on. 😉
Having listened to it so often already, this line hit me different this morning “Give me something old and red”. While this had been used for the wedding interpretation, I never really felt it. Because originally it´s something old and blue and borrowed and new. So the only “right” thing is “old” in this context. “Red” is the wrong colour, the other two are missing completely.
But with songs on Harry´s House we repeatedly get reminded of the Matrix. Of red and blue pills.
Red = truth, wake up
Blue = lie, forgetting everything, going back to sleep
(On a side note… waking up and sleeping are also terms that Louis uses in his lyrics and also in tweets/IG post etc. and his whole FITF vibe was red-themed… Finally living the truth with faith in the future. 👍😁 you´re welcome.)
But that´s only part of the story behind the Matrix and those colours. A friend of mine wrote an awesome thread over at twitter about Lights up music video, but it´not availlable anymore since she left the platform. I might talk her into uploading it here again!
In short: The Matrix was written by the Wachowski siblings and the story is a transgender allegory.
The red pill resembles an estrogen pill, commonly prescribed in the 90s while the blue pill resembles an antidepressant. So easily said: transgender persons either took the red pill for truth and being themselves, or they took antidepressants to live with the lie, not being able to be their true selves.
With that in my mind I re-listened to Grapejuice and took a closer look into the lyrics and found other hints that it might be about himself only. (And yes, it may still be about his relationship with L as well! As I said, both interpretations can co-exist)
So now here´s my interpretation of Grapejuice from a genderfluid perspective. “I” in my context is H, “you” is his female side – “SHE” if you want.
Yesterday, it finally came, a sunny afternoon
“Sunny afternoon”: Songs written by H & L (also 1D songs) have a lot of dark/night and light/daylight metaphors. Dark is usually being their true selves at night, when no one can see them. They need to hide in the dark. Daylight is how they are perceived by the public. It´s closeting, hiding away their true selves, having to stunt.
There are two songs on HSH that pick up the theme as well – “Daylight” and “Daydreaming”. All three songs have been recorded around the same time (with LNT, too) thanks @skepticalarrie for providing us the timeline!
However in the context of these lyrics, a “sunny afternoon” more likely would be meaning a day where you feel good in your skin. No self doubts, no negative and depressive thoughts.
I was on my way to buy some flowers for you (ooh)
“Flowers for you”: Seen from a heteronormative view a man buys flowers for a woman. So this might be him buying flowers for SHE, also possibly metaphorically. Meaning he treated himself well.
Thought that we could hide away in a corner of the heath
“Hide away in the Heath”: Could be literally, bc he knows his way around unseen. But “Heath” could also be meant as home (he has a public house near Hampsted Heath. I don´t know though if he really lives in that area, too). So these lyrics would imply he wants to be hiding at home, not wanting to go outside.
There's never been someone who's so perfect for me
“perfect for me”: He embraces SHE, like he does in his other songs.
But I got over it and I said
“But I got over it”: He didn’t hide at home, he asked for living his truth instead.
"Give me somethin' old and red"
“Give me something old and red”: red = truth. In genderfuid context it could be the acceptance of SHE and especially the desire to not hiding it.
Also interesting is that red in a pride flag represents “life”.
I pay for it more than I did back then
He now is more famous than when he first realized his genderfluidness and queerness. He pays for it more now because he publicly can´t be who he wants to be and also can´t be with the person he loves (💙).
There's just no gettin' through
Without you
A bottle of rouge
Just me and you
He can´t live without SHE. SHE´s a part of him, they belong together and only both of them form a whole person. And again the reference to “red”. The rouge probably is a red wine (Fine line vibes: “We'll get the drinks in, so I'll get to thinking of her” <-> “A bottle of rouge just me and you”) but – in context of genderfluidity – possibly also a make up blush?
Sittin' in the garden, I'm a couple glasses in
More Fine Line vibes, less make up vibes 😉
I was tryna count up all the places we've been
They have seen the world together.
You're always there, so don't overthink
I'm so over whites and pinks
“I´m prone to overthinking” (Hunger)
It´s what he does, but it´s not what he wants. During Fine Line era the lyrics about SHE were more desperate and confused (She, Fine Line, Falling). He was overthinking himself, but he found a way to see that SHE and HE belong together as one person. On HsH he found his inner peace. Which can also be interpreted from “Little Freak” lyrics.
He´s over white and pinks, over the genders being “pure” (white) and he knows it´s not only “pink” (female) it´s fluid. Or from a “wine-point-of-view”: He´s over a crisp white or rose one, it needs to be a full-bodied warm dark red one. He is over doing things by halves.
She
Fine Line
Falling
Little Freak
I pay for it more than I did back then
There's just no gettin' through
Without you
A bottle of rouge
Just me and you
1982
This actually makes more sense regarding the Larry interpretation.
19 = 91 = Ls year of birth and
82 = 28 = well… 28. Whatever happened on a 28th. There are brilliant twitter treads and tumblrs on the possible meanings of 28. Also look into Hs obsession with 28 on HSH.
Hidden 28s in Harry´s House
As a bonus if you count all the numbers he´s counting in Grapejuice, they add up to 28. Obviously.
There are too many options what could be meant by 1982 exactly. Besides the above stated it could also be some event that happened in 1982 regarding LGBTQ+ rights, could be the writing of Billy Jean by Michael Jackson, could be my birthday 😁.
It´s a thing – as so often – we´ll never know. Maybe it´s only randomly chosen to make it rhyme (but… I tend to it´s not)
Just me and you
There's just no gettin' through
The grape juice blues
Again a possible link to Fine line “we´ll get the drinks in, so I get to think about her” – he´s being sentimental and melancholic when drinking. Having a (wine / grapejuice) blues.
Now that I am finished with the lyrics, I have some more details to share.
It is said that HsH needs to be listened to backwards, so starting from the last song going to the first one.
If you do so, the order of the songs would be “As it was” – “Grapejuice” – “Late Night Talking”. Which fits the genderfluid interpretation and the Larry interpretation on the same level.
AIW´s music video is all about blue and red and Matrix themed and also the lyrics can be interpreted from gender perspective.
LNT´s music video is an adaption of H´s (love) life. It obviously is about the person he loves.
So Grapejuice nested in between these songs is the perfect link between both of them.
If you search for meanings or symbolism of grapes there is one of interest (from a biased point of view, I have to admit 😉)
During LOT 2023 he performed Grapejuice. The stagelights and also screens were mostly red (see Matrix reference above (also maybe a Larry reference as L was just touring FITFWT with its album colour theme red/black)
Supporting the Larry interpretation was him singing (and giggling) “Just me and Lou” VERY clearly in Amsterdam. 💙💚
I looked for interviews on Grapejuice and found nothing. Also nothing about the exact timing of writing, only when it has been recorded.
To close this: Do you remember the amount of “choking” mentioned in Hs lyrics? And even L refered to it on stage with his cover of “505”. Well, imagine my surprise and giggles when I found this….
Oh, and btw if you still think Grapejuice is about red wine... this is the only way I accept this thought:
I got my binder today (which is earlier than i expected so go underworks) and OH MY GOD ITS SO COMFY! I wore it out to dinner with one of my parents friends and it just felt so natural and even though i ate a bunch of italian food and had ice cream after i still felt really comfy in it
