Harry Styles Created a Fake Country Called Eroda — Here’s Why

Eroda. Does that mean anything to you? When I first saw the word, I had no idea what it was about either. Spoiler alert: Harry Styles created a fake country to promote his next single “Adore You.”

It all started on November 20, when the Twitter account @VisitEroda sent their first tweet. The account didn’t start gaining popularity until fans, like myself, began seeing ads promoted from it. The Twitter account dropped cryptic tweets like “..make sure you wear one gold earring” which was tied to  Styles’ most iconic Met Gala accessory this year, and “What’s your favorite memory of Eroda?” which had over 300 replies, most of which were random people mentioning “seeing him” with no other context. The photos of “Eroda” were also eerily similar, if not identical, to the place where Styles was spotted filming for a music video in August.

When the Twitter account @VisitEroda started gaining popularity, Styles’ fans had a hunch it had to do with him. One fan created a Twitter thread connecting what was known so far to the artist. The first biggest hint was that Eroda is adore spelled backward, and Styles has a track named “Adore You” coming on his next album, Fine Line. 

On Eroda’s website, there is a section that says the central pub of Eroda is located on the corner of Cherry Street and Golden Way, which are two more tracks on the album. The website also urges “tourists” to visit the Yuna Inn, which translates to “kindness” in Japanese. Styles trademark is Treat People With Kindness, so this was enough to fuel more proof into the theory.

Now, you may be thinking to yourself (as I was too), how do we know this isn’t a bored 13-year-old creating all of this to stir up drama? It’s not hard to make a Twitter account or a website from scratch. But Eroda started to grow and reach hundreds of people outside of the fanbase. People were confused since, of course, Eroda doesn’t show up on any map. Another Eroda thread came to be, created by a non-fan, this time with hundreds of thousands of engagements. This next tweet found concrete proof that Eroda was tied to Styles on November 24, and that’s when it took off.

On November 29, an advertisement was played in select cinemas in Scotland featuring Styles in what seemed to be Eroda, and that same day, the Visit Eroda Twitter account posted about movies being played on the island on select dates. 

The official confirmation came on December 2, when Styles’ management team announced the upcoming release of the single “Adore You” on December 6th, featuring a trailer based in Eroda.

Not only was Eroda itself a theory, but there are multiple theories circulating that Eroda is not a physical place, but a state that symbolizes the entirety of Fine Line. One of the many theories suggests that within the trailer, Styles is seen screaming into one of 12 jars, and there are 12 tracks on the album. Each jar could symbolize a song on the album, with the scream being the expression of emotion he put into each song.

This is a short and sweet version of the Eroda conspiracy, leaving you with the eerie trailer for the song. Genuinely, I have no idea what the song is going to be about (and I’ve been avoiding album spoilers left and right) nor what the feel for the album will be, but this campaign excites me. As an advertising major, I appreciate that artistic direction can go as far as creating a fake (and believable) country just for one single. This was a well-funded campaign that left everyone wanting more, and reached far beyond Styles’ fans alone. 

I will definitely be visiting Eroda soon.

Images: 1, 2, 3

• Fine Line
• harry styles
• One Direction