Alright FINE let’s talk about Are You Listening Yet.
I want to preface this by saying some people get really weird about the idea of Harry and Louis fighting. I… do not share that. I don’t think they fight, I know they fight. If you have been with someone (especially all they have been through) even on and off for as many years as they have? There is no question they argue. Anyway.
I also think that once again Harry is using a mixed metaphor. I do think some of these are directed at a person. Sometimes I think that person is Louis. Sometimes I think it’s himself. And sometimes I think it’s his fans/the world (ie his fame).
I think it would be silly to ignore the direct parallel to Sanity. How many times in arguments with partners do people accuse each other of not listening? Louis in Sanity says “I know you’re mad at me, I don’t know what to say. If you’re not listening, then I’ll keep talking to myself”
And in AYLY Harry says “Oh, can you hear the voice, the one inside your head? Oh, are you listening yet?”
That is… a direct parallel. Actually it’s not even a parallel it’s a full ass conversation.
To me, that reads as though the voice inside the head is talking some sense, whereas whatever the person is saying out loud doesn’t match that.
Harry also says “Between your head and heart and somewhere else instead” and in that I think he’s talking about how the other person is using sex as a way to circumvent communication with their partner. By that, and not to be crass lol, but I think “somewhere else instead” is referring to a dick. There’s a funny saying that men have a brain and a penis and only enough blood to run one at a time. And I think that’s what Harry is playing on here.
Now. When he says “your therapist well fed” I think it’s resentful. Because this person is clearly talking to a therapist but not actually addressing the issues they’re dealing with. Using sex to dodge it, but also not talking to their friends “ignoring all of your friends at the end of their rope”. There is a STRONG exasperation throughout the song. And this person is probably feeling trapped. Backed into a corner.
(Also I think the “she” Harry is referring to is actually him. I think he flips the pronouns to disguise it. Either that, or he’s referring to the person not listening to their therapist. I also think this song segues nicely into Taste Back because he says “you’ve had your tummy tickled” which is basically like, okay, you got off, now what?)
Outside of the argument I very much think this is lol, I do think there is a thread that Harry weaves here about his own exasperation with his own experience as a closeted queer person.
Specifically, I think “taking up arms but the message is wet” might refer to how he fights to be seen but can’t like, push too much?
I assume because of patient confidentiality that Harry has disclosed that he is closeted to his therapist- so I think those lines fit as well. And the idea of “this world is screaming so you start to scream right back” could also suggest that people keep telling him who he is- he feels like he has to scream back. In this same vein- I think the “between your head and heart and somewhere else instead” could be referencing what people think, what they believe, and what they hear elsewhere.
“You’ve had your tummy tickled”, “this unpredictable fun is fun if you know how” and “if you join a movement” could reference people thinking what they want (specifically fandom who see his coding). And “which thoughts you’ve had on your own” could be in that respect too, though I think that specifically is referring to Harry himself and not letting outside pressure determine what he knows to be true of himself.
Lastly I’ll just say that the repetition of Are You Listening Yet is very pointed, and sonically the song escalates. The “la la la’s” at the end feel like a taunt. Like when someone covers their ears and says “la la la I CAN’T HEAR YOU”.
That feels very much like the person Harry is addressing is refusing to listen. Whether that be Louis, an inner part of Harry himself, or the fans who refuse to see him for who he truly is- I’m not sure. Might be all three with this one.
