This is a “yes I know that Harry Styles really loves Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles, but” question. I love Harry’s song writing, it’s so melodic (even the lyrics) and goes from sweet and almost innocent to wonderfully sexy almost in the same breath, or both! I can hear those influences, but there is lots more to him. So what other influences do you hear? And what is your favourite song of his and why? You can combine those two or answer them separately! Thank you, lovely, as always!
Answer:
Thank you for giving me this wonderful but difficult ask, Bec! Honestly, this deserves a treatise, but I’m going to try to summarize my thoughts in my usual long-winded way. First, we have to remember that Harry went from being this unguarded, unreserved, all-out enthusiastic little totebag:
To this media-trained, theatrical, mordantly salty, dramatic stage hoe:
–all in the space of five years.
It’s interesting for me to read how Harry’s favorite singers and songwriters have changed from his interviews and profiles through the years. I’ve also consulted Harry’s lyric tweets from @boufantgirl’s excellent masterposts.
Despite the unstoppable public entertainment that is Stage Harry™, Harry’s fundamental songwriting influences have stayed fairly constant.
In terms of career and technical craft, I think Harry’s biggest influence is Paul McCartney. It’s more of a Paul “model” than a beat-by-beat imitation. Then there are Queen, Paul Simon, pop/blues guys like Elvis, Van Morrisson, and Eric Clapton, and indie bands, like Kodaline and Augustana. He hangs out with Chris Martin but doesn’t write like Coldplay, I don’t think.
Similarly, he has been rumored to work with Bruno Mars and Max Martin for his upcoming solo album. While I can’t argue with Martin’s twenty-two #1 songs in the Billboard Top 100 (Martin writes for Britney Spears, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd–he owns the charts, basically), I feel like Harry’s songs would need to be tailored to Harry. A generic pop song is not Harry’s cup of tea. He has sung them before (Perfect, Infinity, WMYB, Best Song Ever), but that’s not how he prefers to write.
I don’t want to read too much pop psychology into Harry’s songs, because I don’t assume that songs are autobiographical. But the overall subject of songs tend to reflect a songwriter’s obsessions, and for a guy purportedly awash with an appetite for and the availability of beautiful women and fellow celebrities (according to the media), Harry seems obsessed by one subject: the notion of longing, of being abandoned, left behind, of being resigned to take what little is given to him, as long as it is a real and true love. And his music preference as well as his writing is often tinged with a great melancholy, marked by loneliness and aloofness, homesickness.
Think of how many songs in his Another Man top ten are about a steadfast kind of love, or about resignation:
Pink Floyd: Breathe
Elvis Presley: Can’t Help Falling in Love with You
Paul McCartney: Heart of the Country
Crosby Stills and Nash: Helplessly Hoping
Ray Charles: Drown in My Own Tears
Blaze Foley: Ooh Love
Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Van Morrisson: Tupelo Honey
Travis: Flowers in the Window
Patsy Cline: She’s Got You
This list was released as part of his shoot for the magazine’s fall/winter 2016 issue. Interestingly, Harry tweeted this August 2, 2011:
The above list included both his earliest musical references, in the purely pop sensibilities of being open to love (Travis), to the later, deeply melancholic, troubled country/ blues-saturated slow-burn of a long-term love (Elvis, Patsy Cline, Blaze Foley, Van Morrisson, CSN, S&G), to the slow, spiritual acceptance of things as they are (Pink Floyd) or the idyllic (McCartney).
Harry himself writes about the love he cannot have, either because of distance (If I Could Fly), external conditions (“the script was written” in Something Great), lack of interest by the other party (Just a Little Bit of Your Heart) and mistakes (Where Do Broken Hearts Go).
In other times he can be morbidly funny (Stockholm Syndrome, Perfect) and as you said, sexy (Change Your Ticket). The melodic and harmonic structure of his songs often hew close to classic Beatles songs, especially songs written by Paul McCartney. It wasn’t random happenstance that he interviewed Sir Paul in his magazine shoot. I hear the influence of both Beatles-Paul and Wings-Paul in Harry’s later songs, especially in Olivia of course, which evokes Penny Lane, Blackbird, Silly Love Songs, Listen to What the Man Said, Band on the Run.
I feel that Harry the performer and songwriter recalls the career of early Judy Garland, who astounded the world when she sang Somewhere Over the Rainbow at age 17. Judy Garland’s voice showed an understanding of emotion far greater than her age, layering a resignation to life’s tragedies, a wistful longing with a loss of innocence. Like Garland, Harry has a huge talent, a huge voice, a huge stage presence. His voice and talent were way more mature than his emotional capacity to understand them, to prevent people from taking advantage of him. The difference between Harry and Judy is that Harry had four band mates who provided camaraderie and support, and who prevented him from being consumed by the predatory industry at such a young age. He also had four other moms looking out for him.
Harry’s other influences come about because of his huge appetite for musical education. He is a natural ballad writer, and is drawn to great writers of melodic storytelling, like Dan Layus of Augustana and Steve Garrigan and Mark Prendergrast of Kodaline, all of whom have written with him. Although Harry is friends with Ed Sheeran, they have very different approaches and influences. I admit not being as familiar with Ed’s music, but in both melodic and rhythmic writing, Ed seems much more influenced by Motown, a bluesy-pop approach.
Harry obviously loves Fleetwood Mac (especially Stevie Nicks) an inordinate amount. Mac is dramatic, both in their musical and personal lives. The sexual tension in the music is almost complementary to the warm sunshine goodness of Paul McCartney– a good contrast for Harry. A post about Harry’s songwriting and storytelling through songs isn’t complete without mentioning Queen. I’m not going to talk in length about all the non-musical 1D ties (the concert stage gestures, the muscle shirts, RBB/SBB, Freddie Reign). I just want to mention Bohemian Rhapsody, a tour de force of rock storytelling and theatrics. A song like this was beyond 1D, and perhaps beyond any mainstream band right now–too long, too demanding of both the performers and listeners. Even in its day, Mercury was told the song would never get air play because it was just too long.
But IT’S NOT BEYOND SOLO HARRY or LATER ONE DIRECTION. The media adore Harry. They forgive a lot of slightly unexpected things about Harry: his hair, his androgyny, his long period being quietly out of the limelight, his foray into acting (not playing a leading man in a romantic lead but in a small role in an ensemble Nolan film), his fashion ping-pong between work-out clothes and haute couture, his loyalty to Hawaiian shirts, his friends who are usually much older than him.
Having said that, and assuming that solo Harry is forthcoming, I would love to see Harry:
1. Go dark. He loves Dark Side of the Moon. I have no idea the actual reasons he likes it. My guess is that he Iikes the nostalgic sound of it, that it brings him back to childhood– both because he’s sentimental (having heard the album in the car with his father Des, which he has stated in multiple interviews), and because Dark Side has the kind of experimental bravura that songs by Max Martin just don’t have–a distinctive, original sound characteristic of the performer, extra-musical noise, ambitions that declare experimentation and artistic creativity. Art isn’t just about pleasing the audience, but about pleasing the artist and creating lasting art, changing art for posterity. In a way, going dark is finding that darker side of Harry, the side who wants to explore the big questions. Go on, explore them.
2. Go dramatic. Harry should stretch himself, explore his range. He is able to sing high falsettos (Home) and runs (Drag Me Down). He is able to be a character in a living story. He excels at writing stories into his songs. Be even more dramatic, Harry, tell a more complex story. Do the things you could not do in 1D. I think of this in the way that David Bowie inhabited his artistic personas through the decades. Harry’s Another Man shoot showed that he was capable of inhabiting different personalities, different theatrical manifestations–and he ENJOYED it. Don’t believe me, believe the photographers who worked with him. Harry the stage performer could be much more expressive and creative than Harry the movie actor, although both can exist.
Is that too much for a girl to ask?
My favorite song of Harry’s is Walking in the Wind. I have a post about it.
The reason I like it is that the song is a departure from the usual topic of solitude, longing, heartbreak. I know that songs aren’t autobiographical, but when I hear Harry sing about heartbreak, knowing what I know about him, it breaks me inside.
The song is inspired by Paul Simon, who often uses a casual metaphor to sing about a big topic (e. g. Wristband) but probably most closely inspired by Paul’s album Graceland, particularly You Can Call Me Al. Walking in the Wind is a song about loss, but a reassuring song, about looking forward and backward at the same time, finding beauty through art. It has everything I ask for in a song– rhythmic interest, gorgeous voices, a mixture of happy and sad emotions, a killer chorus, the beautiful contrast between verse and chorus, casual yet elegantly poetic lyrics, nostalgia, storytelling. It’s really the perfect song.
Thank you SO MUCH for the ask, and for reading this long-ass post.
This was posted to twitter yesterday. It has the songs mentioned in the online article. open. spotify. com/playlist/0s6uJ9a71wthzhVIhuzZgW?si=evE00gHgTsq88tWbfU65-g
Ask and you shall be given :-) This site is so wonderful sometimes. THANK YOU @mydnytkiss and thank you whoever took the effort and put this playlist together.
Since I’ve changed computers and phones after my last job change I don’t have Spotify anymore (I’m a vinyl girl) but I braved it once, and for this gem of a playlist, I’m sure I can brave it again. Will get me ready to start memorizing the words to Kill My Mind when it drops.
Go listen to this people. Rumours from Fleetwood Mac isn’t on it - but everything else is and these are some of my favourite albums of all time (Blue, Astral Weeks, Ram)
