My Sign of the Times Analysis
You can read it here or on my website (preferable) because the customized background delivers it best. Either way, whatever works for you is fine.
Sign of the Times was written by: Harry Styles, Jeff Bhasker, Mitch Rowland, Ryan Nasci, Alex Salibian, & Tyler Johnson :)
Here is a truth bomb before I start. Explanation link here.
Intro & Disclaimer: I do not know Harry Styles or the other writers personally, so I apologize in advance for not noticing if I spoke for them in my writing. It is not my intention to discredit or disrespect the original meaning, so please always take Harry’s word over mine. I also will never invalidate your interpretation and feelings on a song. This song is so layered, so multi-faceted, that I could never hope to provide an exhaustive analysis. Due to it’s vagueness and openness for interpretation, I assume that everyone, just like me, has their own ideas about it and has attached importance to it in ways that no one else's words can or should alter. This song means the world to me for reasons that aren't necessarily in this post, and that's how it is with art that touches us deeply. I've tried my best to pull it apart, lay it bare. It's still free as it can be for you all to form your own opinion on it. I will make my own conclusions in the synthesis but feel free to ignore that if yours are different. I'm just one set of brain and heart, taking in Sign of the Times and projecting whatever I think is right onto it. (Thanks to killmygoldenn for the above intro help) Even if my interpretation is far from accurate, Sign of the Times is still my favorite song. I am not rigid about my interpretations and much rather say "this is how I feel but I'm leaving it all open-ended. Fair warning, this first page is full of disclaimers. Eek, sorry. Please remember, these assumptions I make are possibly very misleading and not factual.
Keep in mind that the story of a mother in childbirth applies just as much throughout but is not the interpretation I will write. I notice some people readily look over the childbirth story, saying 'it makes no sense,’ but maybe the story is true and it’s still valid as one interpretation. The mother could be thinking about all these things how life will treat her child. It can easily coincide with fundamentals, “Equal rights for everyone, all races sexes, everything." Check out this and the tags for further clarification and interpretation. Alternatively, this mother and child story could be a way to express this song, and it doesn't mean that it’s a true story derived from learning it second hand.
I enjoyed finally writing this all down as it's been on my mind for so long. Thank you for taking the time to read. It honestly means the world.
Topics TW: Life, death, and human rights struggles
People have summed up this song into a few words: closeting or band struggles. I don’t think those are incorrect conclusions at all but the point of an analysis is to write and so even if my perspective is unoriginal and obvious/self explanatory to some, I still chose to write it all out as it’s therapeutic and because the song has captured my heart entirely.
Note: Harry Styles mentioned the lyrics aren't just about a mother tragically losing her life and having five minutes with her child. Styles said he didn't want to focus on politics but wanted to focus on human rights. When asked about the meaning, Styles initially said he was leaving it ambiguous, stating:
I don’t think I’d ever say exactly what it’s about. For each person to take away what they get from something is important. It is the most literal song on the album. It’s a view of a lot of things that go on.
However, in his April 2017 interview with Rolling Stones, Styles further elaborated on a more specific meaning:
“Most of the stuff that hurts me about what’s going on at the moment is not politics, it’s fundamentals. Equal rights for everyone, all races, sexes, everything. 'Sign of the Times' Comes from 'This isn’t the first time we’ve been in a hard time, and it’s not going to be the last.' The song is written from a point of view as if a mother was giving birth to a child and there’s a complication. The mother is told, 'the child is fine, but you’re not going to make it.' The mother has five minutes to tell the child, 'go forth and conquer.'”
A little note about song interpretations I agree with which applies to this post and they explained it best.
"Just stop your crying, it's a sign of the times."
I interpreted the beginning line as encapsulating the entire song. In my opinion, all of the interpretations can work all at once. After all, life is full of turns, and there are multiple points of view. It's another reason I love this song; you can apply many meanings. I am not telling you how to interpret it, so whatever you want works. If you dislike one or all of my interpretations, that's okay. You can also separate these ideas if you like one concept more than the others. 1. The mother and her child, 2. Human rights, 3. world issues like hunger, poverty, war, pollution, environmental devastation, our human impact, and how we keep destroying things. 4. The inner feelings - struggles of being in and leaving 1D, 5. In a broad sense, anyone can relate to concept #5: The inner feelings or critic telling you to grow up it's time for something else. Whatever it is, it is not helping you, at least not anymore. Then there are additional interpretations which are the perspectives of who is giving the message and how it is being received. 6. The loved one you trust to counsel you 7. public interpretation, fans losing boundaries, managers telling the subject to do more of what they ask of, in a boxed-in way. You can see how this can go either way: one is more loving and considerate/validating. The other is more about invalidating emotions.
BTW: I'm not saying Harry doesn't make his own decisions. In this interpretation, where it's about fame, we don't know about specific situations that are not aligned with the subject's wants but align with the music industry's preferences. One point is how 1D was overworked and very much dehumanized. Their mental and physical health was not the priority when it should always have been. "Styles never really fit the cookie-cutter role he was expected to fulfill while in One Direction, and he didn't always have the self-confidence he has today. And his fans could tell. He was always bursting out the seams with more to offer, suffocating from the confines of boyband-hood. From management to stylists to contracts, Styles was being molded into a lesser (but still genuine) version of himself."
This next paragraph is so ugh because my brain was having a low moment so it’s not concise: My last two disclaimers, promise. It doesn't have to be specific to the music world, there can be blocks due to many things, and hopefully, I touch on those topics well enough later on. When I say something like, "music/entertainment industries," I mean it’s a 'power structure' in this heteronormative world that does not tend to have your best interest at heart and is more about keeping things a certain way. Finally, when I say "violation of human rights," I'm implying everything from racism, sexism, homophobia, our heteronormative, gender strict society, etc. Still, I won't specify, and it's up to you to make that specification. Glad that’s out of the way.
In 2017, Harry hosted The Late Late Show with James Corden and used a lyric for his comedy skit. He directed a line at trump. Harry turned to face a camera and said, "Just stop your crying, it the sign of the times." Some say it's just a comedic convince because it fits well since trump was being impeached for the first time that day, while the meanings are mutually exclusive. To me, that interpretation stands against what trump represents. People who are money-hungry, bigoted, racist, closed-minded, vile, and phobic should quit their selfish crying, make room, and adjust to the times.
To further back up my view above, during the second leg of the HS1 tour, which crossed through June, Harry said, "This is for anyone out there who needs it, this is Sign of the Times, Happy Pride!" Right before singing s.o.t.t. at several of his concerts.
"Welcome to the final show Hope you're wearing your best clothes"
Explanation part: 1. Some connect this line as a direct reflection of the 1D years and their final concert in 2015. Styles told The Sun in 2017 that his time in the band is something he has expressed in his debut album but not in a predictable way. "Rather than just go in and tell the story about what happened, I got to think about how it actually made me feel at the time." "I feel like it’s a good way of saying what you want to say about something without having to sit and be like, ‘You know what, this really p**ed me off.’ But I also wanted it to be fun to listen to. I didn’t want it to make me depressed."
Explanation part: 2. To me, it's somewhat making fun, mocking the fact we put much value on material and trivial things in this world. The following two lines support this below. It's saying hope you did your best and did not make your life all about the wrong things. It could be saying, hope you don't have regrets because there is no return. As far as we know, this is our only life.
"You can't bribe the door on your way to the sky"
Explanation: Note: In literature, doors tend to describe beginnings, endings, transitions, opportunity vs. blocks, and thus duality. 1. The sky symbolizes stardom/power, and the door is the point where you don't have much say in what you want on the road to stardom. Contracts, power hungry people, and prejudice/outdated views still profoundly impact the way things are permitted to operate. 2. The sky symbolizes the end of life/afterlife. The door represents something otherworldly, like the gate to the heavens or (a) God. So you can't bribe your way into redemption with earthly things; your life has to speak for itself. What transcends what you can see and hear, what transcends earthly things, is universal and pure? Love. Many cultures believe you can't take things with you when you die, so most things don't matter. In the end, only the love you had and shared with others will, especially to the people still here. I think it makes you ask yourself, what is your impact?
"You look pretty good down here But you ain't really good"
Explanation: 1. Again adding to the symbolic clothing, the shiny and the trivial things all seem to matter. We get caught up in the striving for something, but sometimes they aren't all as cracked up to be. They hardly matter at all. Happiness is not a goal; it's a result of doing and being. "Ease is a by-product, not a pursuit. The next time you resent the existence of an obstacle, remember that we don't grow by seeking comfort but by overcoming discomfort. Happiness is not a goal, it is a by-product." - Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living. This lyric connects back to the beginning of Verse 1, "Just stop your crying, it's a sign of the times."
"We never learn, we been here before"
Explanation: An insurmountable feeling. 1. This line seems to be coming from the suffering subject(s) or the one(s) who see the suffering and are tired of it happening again and again, not just in one's life but notice the repetition in lifetimes throughout history. 2. Will we collectively learn from human history and finally genuinely change our ways, so humans feel safe and equal? 3. On an individual level, will we ever learn? Since we already put ourselves through something terrible once or twice, why continue down the same path? An example can be about the music and film industry not allowing people the freedom to do/be 100% what they want to do/be. These lyrics can apply to all sorts of things much less complex, like particular bad habits, but I believe it's not about that, and it's more complicated, like inequality, as Harry said.
"Why are we always stuck (aka "stuckin" to sound like f-ckin) and running from"
Explanation: 1. Being stuck is usually a terrible feeling; it can feel like you have no control over things, and you're lost or stagnant in life. Then he adds "running from," meaning it's eventually tiring and draining. [ I almost interpret this as, 'why do humans over complicate things and try to accomplish so much, why can't we take smaller strides and be in the present?' I have decided that is a subcategory. It's valid but not the concept I will focus on the entire time. ] While "The bullets? The bullets?" can represent dark obstacles, maybe something that feels somewhat impossible to outrun without protection. For me, what comes to mind is still along the lines of human rights, equality, safety, and it can apply to the mistreatment in stardom. Why are we always having to outrun and work so hard to feel a sense of security or liberation?
"We gotta get away from here"
Explanation: 1. We have to get away from this negative thing and find a place of safety, physically or metaphorically. 2. We have to stop this bigotry and make this world a safer place.
"Just stop your crying, it'll be alright"
"Stop your crying, baby, it's a sign of the times"
"They told me that the end is near"
"have the time of your life breaking through the atmosphere, and things are pretty good from here Remember everything will be alright"
Explanation part 1: As mentioned, we can interpret these lines in many ways/tones, even as multiple people communicating. Ex: tone-deaf, dismissive, or sometimes as more matter of fact. Alternatively, we can interpret it as someone loving and understanding someone going through life changes with trial and error. 1. The person could be thinking out loud and or listening to their conscience. Maybe as self-soothing, or they are critical of themselves. In this instance, the subject could be saying they have it good and can or should make the best of it not just for themselves but also for other people. 2. Two or more people are talking to each other about being in the same challenging situation. 3. The trusted loved one hearing them out and reminding them things will be okay eventually. 4. The music industry tells the subject how good they have it while providing them with privilege and dates, parties, drugs, alcohol, etc., while withholding certain freedoms. Unfortunately, having so many fans can be a part of this; it isn't just the industry that invades the subject's personal life. (#4 applies when you interpret the tone as something negative)
"They told me that the end is near" "breaking through the atmosphere"
Explanation part 2: 1. The "atmosphere" can be another way to say "sky." Remember, the "sky" so far has symbolized fame, fortune, ambition, the afterlife, and now I am interpreting it as breaking a glass ceiling and or collective historical milestones. Regardless of the milestones size, we are still making progress, and the end of a dark time, possibly for human rights, can be coming to a stop. Or so we wish. We still have levels to go; however, there is light making its way through the tunnel. There is so much hope.
"We can meet again somewhere, Somewhere far away from here"
Explanation: 1. Life and death: many of us believe one day we can reconnect in peace with those we love in the afterlife. 2. We can have our equal rights and or can come together again when it's safer, hopefully soon and in this lifetime, but maybe we won't see enough change in one lifetime. "We" can stand for the subject and or anyone who can relate to them.
"We don't talk enough, we should open up. Before it's all too much Will we ever learn? We've been here before. It's just what we know"
Explanation: To me, this comes across as possibly an intimate (personal, not sexual) thought or spoken conversation. 1. There is a lack of communication with someone or a few people, which has become difficult to handle. 2. Not speaking about something can feel like a burden. The lack of discussion and safety around the topic is becoming too much, pushing the person to their limit. 3. "we don't talk enough" doesn't have to mean literal communication it can mean, in general, the subject/the subject and a few people/the world, doesn't deal with things well. 4. Alternatively, someone can see that many people are suffering at their limits.
"We've been here before" "It's just what we know"
Explanation: "It's just what we know" 1. We are personally used to, and this could be, being treated as less and not given equal rights and safety. 2. The state of the world and repeating things from history is just what we know, and we struggle to escape it because many people don't want to change. In some way, the subject is answering their own question about why they or we always feel stuck and running and why we never learn.
"We gotta getaway, we got to get away We got to, we got to, away"
Explanation: Pleading exclaiming we must stop all of this or we must get away from all of this unnecessary hurt. "Away" can be the place or a period or even a whole lifetime from now of acceptance, freedom, and love.
This song is not about just pain and feeling sad. This debut album banger and genuine masterpiece leaves everything and at the same time nothing on the table. Simply because it's the first single on the first album does not mean it lacks. There is so much growth, soul, wisdom, patience, grit, heart, life, and love in it. It is truly cathartic.
