On March 23, I really did scream on the phone with a friend as I saw the tweet pop up: “Harry’s House, the new album by Harry Styles, May 20.”
There had been a lot of speculation about a new album soon after Styles was spotted filming a potential new music video in London back in February. Harries don’t mess around when it comes to getting to the bottom of potential announcements, so when the user @youarehome was discovered on Instagram and Twitter as possibly being connected to Styles, fans got to work. They were able to put together that the website domain of the “You Are Home” website matched the domain of the website for Eroda, a fictional place created by Styles to tease and promote his second album, Fine Line. Eventually, Styles followed the account on both platforms, the website was secured and cryptic posts of images behind doors began appearing on the account, giving fans even more content to form theories around. The album was announced on day five of the doorposts, but there have been more since then, prompting even more discussions amongst fans.
The pattern or image behind the doors changes daily, and they’ve been linked to different mediums; some are recognized as books, while others are as seemingly simple as just a cluster of grapes. The most common (and likely) theory is each door represents a track on the album. However, multiple doors correlate to shots from this era’s first music video, so the true meaning behind all of them remains a mystery.
A few days after the album announcement, Styles announced the first single, “As It Was,” with a release date of April 1. I was honestly surprised by the vibe of this song; a lot of theories surrounding HS3 were based on it being a rock album, whereas “As It Was” is definitely more synth-pop. I’m a big fan of this sound, though, so I’m excited to hear the rest of the tracks and see how they all compare.
It’s exciting to consider how this new album will play into the rest of Love on Tour as well, as Styles is set to continue the tour this summer in Europe and South America. The venues have released different pit descriptions, now labeled “bedroom,” “kitchen,” and “hallway,” obviously playing into the album title. Harry’s House will be fully released by the first tour date, so fans are also eager to find out what this means for the previous setlist.
I’ve saved my favorite theory for last, which is the potential for “Medicine” or “Anna” to be on this album. If you haven’t been following Styles for too long, these two songs were played at every stop on his first tour, Live on Tour, and fans have been asking for studio versions ever since. He’ll occasionally perform “Medicine,” at more recent shows, but there have been no real signs that either of them will end up released. Some people argue that both of these songs would fit the tone of Harry’s House, while others believe every house must have a medicine cabinet– truly an interesting concept to consider, given the title of this album.
Hopefully, we’ll get a tracklist and additional details before the release date; if not, though, I know I, like many others, am looking forward to May 20 and to everything that will come along with this new era.