“I think you are so young, I don’t think you have enough experience or confidence yet”, those were the words Harry Styles heard from Louis Walsh – one of the judges from the X factor, ten years ago. “In that instant you´re in the whirlwind. You don’t really know what’s happening; you’re just a kid in the show. You don’t even know you´re good at anything […] I didn’t really know what I was expecting when I went on there”, said Styles in a interview to Rolling Stone
Harry didn´t advance in the competition, but Simon Cowell – one of the judges and show´s creator, sensed that he had what it takes to be a star and put him together with four others who’d failed to advance in the same category. As a result, we got One Direction, and it worked better than expected.
- One Direction
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In spite of the succes, growing up in a boy band was sometimes hard for the boys, who couldn’t truly express themselves. “While I was in the band, I was constantly scared I might sing the wrong note. I felt so much weight in terms of not getting things wrong. I remember when I signed my record deal and I asked my manager, ‘What happens if I get arrested? Does it mean the contract is null and void?’ Now, I feel like the fans have given me an environment to be myself and grow up and create this safe space to learn and make mistakes.” said Styles to Rolling Stone.
When asked about One Direction, the singer always refers to it as “the band” or “the band I was in” and never fails to remember how grateful he is for everything that’s been provided to him. But it was time to move on, he wanted to step up and be in control of his own life and career “Every decision I’ve made since I was 16 was made in a democracy. I felt like it was time to make a decision about the future… and maybe I shouldn’t rely on others.”
- A new era
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Things started to change fast when Styles released his first solo Album in 2017, entitled “Harry Styles”. For the first time he wasn’t afraid to show his feelings and be vulnerable. We got to know not only the boy from one direction who sang about parties and how great love was, but also the man that finds love complicated, that’s still trying to figure out who he is and isn’t afraid to show that to the world. “I didn’t want to write “stories”, I wanted to write my stories, things that happened to me. The number-one thing was I wanted to be honest. I hadn’t done that before.”
The album truly let us take a look inside the mind of a 23 year old man who was still trying to understand and create his own personality, in spite of the world having tried to built it him for him. The visual identity also shows this, in the cover, styles appear naked and doesn’t face the camera, in a hypothetical world it would be possible to touch his back and ask him to tell you what he has been hiding all those years, it works like an invitation to take a closer look.
Three years later his second album, Fine Line, was released, and it came to consecrate Harry Styles as a solo artist. In his words, the second album “Is all about having sex and feeling sad”. The songs show a man who is finally beginning to understand who he is and makes sure to scream it out loud. In tracks like “Lights up” and “Golden” it seems like he is singing to a past self “Lights up and they know who you are, do you know who you are?”, “I know that you’re scared because I’m so open”. Overall it’s possible to say that the album works like a love declaration for himself.
His songs weren’t the only thing that changed. Over the past three years, Styles wasn’t afraid to show up in candy floss pink suits, printed satin flares, increasingly stacked heels and a constant supply of rings. Harry´s evolution was praised by fans for his ability to blur gender boundaries. His fashion icon status was cemented in 2018, when Gucci announced that he would become the face of it´s tailoring campaign and a co-host role at the Met Gala.
The magic about Harry Styles is that he was born to be on stage. He’s comfortable, confident, knows what he’s doing and isn´t afraid to put himself like a rockstar. Harry has been the world´s It boy for over a decade, and he loves it. Instead of going the usual superstar-pop route, he’s gone his own way. And it worked. 16 years old Harry could never imagine how far he would go, but he is definitely proud now.
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The article above was edited by Helena Leite.
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