#pr narrative

[zouiam]

Being described as the mysterious one...that was put on me as a stigma because I didn’t get the chance to speak as much. The other boys’ personalities were more forward. They would answer the questions. I let that happen because I didn’t have any creative input there. Now I get to talk about what I’m passionate about—it’s nice to have the chance to speak.

Zayn Malik

[deathwish-koala]

Harry, the womanizer

Okay, I’ll admit it. When Watermelon Sugar hit the radio and I suddenly had to hear it everywhere, in my head I kinda went, “Jesus Harry, we get it. You like to fuck.” 

But I was just playin’! Joshin’ my boy! You know I love Harry, and more to the point, I think he’s a very thoughtful artist. I think he’s straining for an emotional truth in his work that he must constantly interrogate and shape--hence his propensity to change lyrics and cadence (the Spotify Singles version of Two Ghosts comes to mind) in live performance. 

I don’t really believe that his music, allusions to fruit juices aside, is mostly sexual. But even if it were--would that be a bad thing? 

At the ripe old age of nearly-27, Harry is definitely allowed to have sex, you know? Like all adults. He’s also allowed to sing about it. I have a friend who is a rather brilliant, cerebral young musician (And also an Aquarius! Go figure.) who has songs about sex, because sex is part of his life. Sex, beyond being fun when done right, is also a realm of extreme spiritual and emotional truth. It’s also...sexy. It makes for good music. We know this. So no harm done there.

A Note On Olivia Wilde

In recent days, Harry’s been photographed holding hands with Olivia Wilde. I have a lot of respect for Wilde, both for her longstanding activism and her career. On House she portrayed the first canonical bisexual I ever saw on TV, a massive moment in my life that made my heart hammer with a sense of recognition I was too young to really appreciate. 

Yet I can see why the current media setup--including a Vanity Fair piece dropped yesterday--might make some longtime Harry fans nervous. A decade ago, Harry’s purported involvement with Caroline Flack had fans frothing at the mouth. Whether the relationship was legit or not is hardly the question, and, out of respect to the tragic situation surrounding Flack, I wish to speak instead on the hideous media coverage at that time.

So much of what defined Harry’s media image as a teenager was sexual. The world very quickly realized, I think, that he is a massively charismatic person, but the extremely sexualized coverage he received was singular and disgusting. He could not so much as speak to a woman without speculation that they were involved. An exhausting burden for anyone, let alone someone so young and so suddenly exposed to the world’s scrutiny. In 2012 my mother very cheerfully read off that infamous “400 women in a year” headline to me and it made my stomach twist.

Beyond the closeting many suspected was behind this early media narrative, there was also the fear fans held of Harry’s predation. First Caroline, then Taylor--Harry was linked to older women all the time, and as we know, age gaps create power imbalances. Harry was still a teenager. It all seemed wrong. 

So perhaps the Wilde thing chafes, as we remember these wounds of old. Two things to consider, however: 

1) Harry is no longer any sort of child. He’s an adult man with a career that he has made conscious efforts toward maintaining. Time has ruled that none of his fame was an accident or mistake. He has chosen this path, treacherous though it may be, and that’s worth respecting. 

2) Essentially, he and Olivia Wilde are peers. For one, they’re co-stars, but they’re also both household names, both wealthy beyond imagining, both seemingly secure in their image and personhood. This is pure speculation, but I suspect they have a bit of an intellectual connection, whatever else they are.

It is not so unheard of that a person in their mid/late-20′s might date someone in their 30′s, especially if they share a career and relative position in society. The world is very large and full of people, and finding a person you connect with is a brilliant feeling. If that’s what they have, these two adult peers, then fantastic. And if it’s PR for the film they’re in together? Wouldn’t be the first time. Wilde is admittedly gorgeous. Who better to offer her their arm than a handsome man who cut his teeth as a young lothario? 

And Yet...

The womanizer image, grafted onto Harry in his days of earliest fame, has never sat right againsthsi skin. We certainly talk about it enough around these parts: Harry Styles starts each day with a glass of antioxidant rich Respect Women Juice, yet media (and many fans) would have you believe he wakes up, sees a lamp shade that looks like a boob, and just starts wacking it. If media was reality, Harry would have to be a bedridden compulsive to keep it up. 

Now, one can respect women and still have sex with a lot of them. Promiscuity is not inherently evil or immoral or filthy or wrong. Really, for me the question becomes, “How comfortable are you, dear HStyles fan, with speculating on the amount of sex he has?” 

We are all a little bit complicit in Harry’s sexualization through the years. Some of it is less okay than the rest. I’m not here to decide for you, but hopefully it’s become clearer over time what is and is not creepy, what is and is not invasive, what would and would not make Styles himself lose sleep if he knew it existed with his name attached.

The media, writ large, is more broadly complicit in this sexualization. In 2011, Alan Carr interviewed 1D for Chatty Man and--having already confirmed which of the boys was 18 and old enough to drink--begins to hassle Harry (not yet 18) about “pussygate,” aka 

Black & white for nostalgia purposes.

Listen, I get it. You wanna take the piss out of the 17-year-old pop star, because it’s funny and silly and he’ll be embarrassed but cool about it probably. You wanna tease him. Because he’s a kid.

On their next interview with Alan Carr, Harry is once again addressed on sexual terms--”Harry, give us your gravy!”--that are playful but also pointed. By age 18, Harry had dealt with this for years.

Hi, Watermelon Sugar

Harry is not the only musician, not even the only member of the band, to have their personal life made a public topic. Superstardom in the 21st century is invasive to the highest degree. But it seems peculiar that the specter of hyper-sexualization chases Styles most everywhere, despite the decidedly non-sexual accolades and regard his career has gathered in the last five years, and despite the lack of flagrant behavior.

Perhaps this specter hangs on because of Harry’s emotional and sensual approach to music--I mean, he does talk about fruit juice a lot, and fabric, and flowers. In an interview with Zane Lowe, the friendly, stoney mood is momentarily dampened by Lowe’s assumption that Watermelon Sugar is about oral sex. 

“Everyone’s kind of figured out what it is about, the joys of mutually appreciated oral pleasure. That’s what everyone’s saying,“ Lowe tacks on defensively. 

According to some, Harry even confirmed as much at a different point. In the Zane Lowe interview, he denies it. 

For what it’s worth, In Watermelon Sugar is a post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Brautigan from the 1960′s. The book, a sparse narrative of a commune existing post-societal collapse, has been called “a parody of the pastoral” by Patrick Morrow. “This society may represent what modern man might wish it to be...but the distortion in the new society is also obvious and just as unattractive.” 

Harry has confirmed that a copy of the book was present during the genesis of the song. The shimmery, ephemeral lyrics--the fragility of sugar itself, easily melted--seem to hint at a desire to stay in the best parts of feeling while acknowledging that these moments are necessarily short-lived. In Morrow’s view, Brautigan’s book is about reality denial. In my view, Styles’ song is, at least a little bit, about the same.

So it’s not that the song isn’t about oral sex--it’s that it’s about more than oral sex. 

Or maybe it’s that oral sex is about more than oral sex. 

Or maybe it’s about nothing, and there are certainly those who choose to believe that. Still, it seems a shame that so much of Harry’s image continues to be wrapped up in that of the Don Juan, the Casanova, the Lothario. 

Really, he’s more of a Vonnegut. 

[ifwethinkandwishandhopeandpray]

I hate not knowing.

So I see many on here thinking the Club G-A-Y performance was what Louis was referencing in his summoned to LA story. Many things to consider here. Not trying to change anyone’s mind just giving you information to help narrow it down.

I know they played a few shows in the early days before TXF Tour. I don’t have any info or dates for The Garage that they referenced as one of their first. I know they played Club G-A-Y 1-15-11. They were invited back so I’m sure it couldn’t have been too horrible. Cost a whole £4. Anyone with other dates or videos of these let me know.

The X Factor Tour went from 2-19-11 to 4-9-11. There were only 2-28, 3-14, and 3-24 that were days off. It would be a quick trip but it would be possible to make it to LA and back. I’ve watched all the videos for the shows before those dates and they are all good. No drunk Louis. He never missed a step, a beat, or a line. Grenade is the best videos to capture their demeanor. They are front and center with lots of being still. Louis passes for sober to me.

The Club G-A-Y show where it appears Louis is drunk (and he gets a yes vote from me. Hyper and ADHD are one thing, that night was above and beyond lol.) was on 9-17-11. They had a busy week that day with a book signing in Liverpool, another in Manchester, and the show in London. I don’t know where they would have had time to get drunk.

Besides, they had the BBC Radio 1 Chart Show taping the next day that had to be moved to a secret location because too many fans were at the studio.

They had dinner together and we got a lovely picture of Jay with Louis that evening.

So that doesn’t fit with Louis’ story.  “One of the first few shows we did for One Direction. I was new to it, straight out of Doncaster obviously, I had just started drinking - that kind of thing. So, I had a drink before one of our first gigs, and obviously I was nervous as well, so I thought - well I’ll just have a couple of beers. I ended up being really, really drunk on this show. This again, one of the first things we did. "And I woke up to a text, to find out that I was going to LA the next morning - flown out. I was sat on the plane, thinking ‘what is coming next’. And I landed at Simon’s, and he gave me a little dressing down. It was positive, but he gave me a little dressing down. It was positive, but it certainly felt like the scary Simon you see on TV.”

So in my opinion, it had to be something before TXF Tour. I wish I was around then but my fandom experience doesn’t go back that far and my daughter’s extensive blog doesn’t either.

[iampackratseemehoard]

A very good reason that Harry and his team would intentionally give the paps/tabs "fodder" by being seen with Glenne

Imagine you’re trying to tread water with your image. There have been not-straight rumors since forever. Any further in that direction and you’d have to go full coming out, which it’s not time for yet.

Imagine knowing the tabloids are gonna speculate about you and some woman because it’s an easy story and it fits into common public perception.

Imagine that, for some reason that might or might not have to do with a hideous contract you’ve been in since you were 16, you’re not allowed to correct any media speculation that might arise about you dating/fucking/collecting binders full of women. Which means that any woman linked with you could take full advantage of an opening and spew lies about you that the tabs would lovingly lap up and propagate. Any “source” claiming inside knowledge of her or you could do the same.

Now, if you knew such an article was gonna be written bc the tabs gotta write their story, and you were this hobbled, what would be the best course of action?

If only there were some woman you could be seen with that would mitigate the damage. Someone you trusted, who you knew wouldn’t go to the tabs themselves. Someone that unknown sources couldn’t make shit up and go to the tabs about because the woman is already in a very public serious relationship. Someone your fans won’t seriously speculate about you hooking up with for the same reason, even though some of them are defensively seeking signs of your masculinity and heterosexuality due to your recent prominent display of androgyny and a continued lack of expressed sexual interest in woman. If only there were someone like that.

[iampackratseemehoard]

Why do the other guys get the benefit of a doubt but when it comes to Zayn, he's a liar a snake? I'm sorry but do the others not lie either especially on camera? Don't even get me started on manipulation of audio and paper interviews. It's like all that they've learned about the industry is thrown out the window once Zayn is in question. I'm so tired. I'm a poc fan of a all white band, a poc larrie and still very much a fan of zayn. The guys are important to me especially larrie and zayn.😞

I’m exhausted from trying to find a roommate with very little notice and haven’t been very active on tumblr, but I wanted to take time to acknowledge your feelings, Anon. I joined the fandom after Zayn left so I don’t have the same relationship with him that a lot of fans do. It seems like post-March 25, people split very hard into love him or hate him. It definitely seems like explicit or implicit racist and islamophobic attitudes (magnified by implications from and whitewashing by 1DHQ) could well play a factor in the development of the latter attitudes. And I definitely understand that as a poc that may be especially salient to you and also something that can make you feel hurt and alienated by the fandom.

For my part, I think it’s become exceptionally clear over time that Zayn is not free of the clutches of Syco/Simon and may in fact be trapped there longer than any of the other boys (the way Zerrie ended, Zigi’s complete fakes, the Simco slip with the Pillowtalk iTunes release, Simon’s constantly changing narrative about Zayn, the refusal to let him speak live, and so on). This makes me question the view I often see on my dash that larry or the other boys expressing discomfort around the topic of zayn or his departure is evidence that there’s bad blood there (speaking of pr-manufactured feuds). I think it’s certainly possible that this is instead an expression of discomfort regarding how all the actors in the situation behaved (simon especially included) and how they’ve been told to spin things, that they let be read as discomfort re zayn because they are all still unfortunately players in simon’s sick little game and still have to play by a lot of his rules.

I’m gonna go collapse into bed now, but I definitely understand your frustration. Lots of love!

-Bert

[laynefaire]

So I have Cass’ permission to post our conversation from earlier.

Just my thoughts.

[laynefaire]

who are the four beards

Briana, Danielle, Kendall, Pandora 

Two for Louis, Two for Harry

and of course, the “baby” 

[laynefaire]

Who's the fourth beard? Kendall, Pandora (isn't that like Spotify? Is he dating a streaming music site) & Danielle. Who am I missing?

cant-compete-with-my-boyfriend said: Shit never mind my last ask. I FORGOT THE BABY MAMA!!!! Duh!!!!

********************

 We’re going to need a flowchart soon.