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The Biography of Harry Styles

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Published: May 24, 2022

Words: 936 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Table of contents

Harry styles essay outline, harry styles essay example, early life and background.

• Harry Styles' birthdate and birthplace
• Family background and early upbringing
• Introduction to music and early experiences

One Direction and Musical Success

• Styles' audition for The X Factor
• Formation of One Direction and their journey on the show
• Signing a record contract and early successes with singles and albums

Solo Career and Acting

• Styles' transition to a solo artist
• Release of solo single "Sign of the Times" and self-titled album
• Acting debut in Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk"

Philanthropy and Charitable Work

• Styles' involvement in charity work, including donations and ambassadorship
• Donating hair to "Little Princess Trust"

Continued Solo Success

• Styles' subsequent singles and albums, including "Fine Line"
• Achievements in the music industry and critical acclaim
• Appearances on television and in modeling campaigns

Recognition and Awards

• Nominations and performances at awards shows
• Impact on the music and entertainment industry

Harry Styles: Unveiling the Life of a Musical Icon

The beginning of his solo career, works cited.

• Cowlin, E. (2019). Harry Styles: The Making of a Rock Star. London: John Blake.
• Cumming, T. (2017). Harry Styles: The Unauthorized Biography. UK: Kings Road Publishing.
• Endelman, M. (2017). Harry Styles: The Billboard Cover Story. Billboard, 129(21), 22-27.
• Helligar, J. (2017). Harry Styles: The Rolling Stone Interview. Rolling Stone, (1281), 30-36.
• Lipshutz, J. (2017). Harry Styles: Cover Story. Billboard, 129(18), 22-25.
• Mansfield, B. (2017). Harry Styles: A Rock Star for the Modern Age. USA Today. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2017/05/11/harry-styles-rock-star-modern-age/101502236/
• Paine, A. (2019). Harry Styles: A Pop Icon for the 21st Century. Music Week, (34), 16-18.
• Pareles, J. (2017). Review: Harry Styles Steps Out of the Spotlight and Into a New Sound. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/arts/music/harry-styles-review.html
• Sheffield, R. (2017). Harry Styles: Album Review. Rolling Stone, (1286), 59-60.
• Spanos, B. (2017). Harry Styles' Solo Debut: What Happened? Rolling Stone. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/harry-styles-solo-debut-what-happened-127425/

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Harry Styles

English-born singer Harry Styles rose to fame as one of the five members of the boy band One Direction. He launched his solo career in 2016 and made his acting debut in the 2017 film 'Dunkirk.'

Who Is Harry Styles?

In 2010 Harry Styles auditioned for the UK television show The X Factor , where the judges combined him with four other young male singers to form One Direction. The boy band became a pop music sensation, delivering hits like "Best Song Ever" and "Story of My Life" through five immensely successful studio albums. Styles then made a solo splash in 2017 with his debut single, "Sign of the Times," and a self-titled album. In 2020, he received praise for his second solo album, Fine Line .

Harry Edward Styles was born on February 1, 1994, in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in the West Midlands region of England. His parents, Des and Anne, divorced when he was 7 years old. He and his sister Gemma were brought up by their mother in the town of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire. His mother was later remarried, to Robin Twist.

Styles attended Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, where he and three of his friends formed a band called White Eskimo. Styles was White Eskimo's lead singer, and the band was popular enough to win a band competition at their school. After school and on weekends, Styles worked at the W. Mandeville bakery in Holmes Chapel.

'The X Factor'

Performing as One Direction (a name reportedly suggested by Styles), the five boys became one of the most popular contenders in the X Factor finals that season. Although they finished the competition in third place, they were immediately signed to Cowell's Syco music label.

One Direction

Styles, the youngest member of One Direction, became a fan favorite for his curly hair, wide smile and sweet-yet-naughty demeanor. He sang some of the lead vocals on the band's first single, "What Makes You Beautiful," which was released in September 2011 in the United Kingdom. One Direction's debut album, Up All Night , was a best seller in both the United Kingdom and the United States the following year. In another highlight of 2012, Styles and the rest of One Direction performed at the Olympics closing ceremony in London.

Styles went on to enjoy immense success with his bandmates, One Direction following Up All Night with Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013) and Four (2014), all debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group's final album, Made in the A.M. , just missed the cut by arriving at No. 2 in 2015, before the band split for a lengthy hiatus.

Solo Albums: 'Harry Styles,' 'Fine Line'

Styles made a successful solo entry in 2017 with the epic single "Sign of the Times," his accompanying self-titled album debuting in the familiar No. 1 spot. Fans then waited another two years for his next single, which came in October 2019 with the soulful "Lights Up." His sophomore solo album, Fine Line , contained his first No. 1 single, "Watermelon Sugar." That year he was also nominated for three Grammy awards.

After appearing in concert documentaries with One Direction, Styles made his feature film debut in Christopher Nolan 's 2017 war thriller Dunkirk , as an Allied soldier named Alex.

Personal Life

Known as "the flirt" of One Direction, Styles' romantic relationships were followed obsessively by the press and fans as he rose to fame. In 2011 he began dating television presenter Caroline Flack, whom he met when he was competing on The X Factor and she was hosting its companion show, The Xtra Factor . The difference in their ages—Styles was 17 at the time, and Flack was 32—became the subject of discussion.

Styles was then romantically linked to photographer Sarah-Louise Colivet, models Emma Ostilly and Cara Delevingne, and singers Lily Halpern and Rita Ora. His most-publicized relationship of 2012 was a two-month liaison with pop star Taylor Swift , the experience allegedly fueling a couple of Swift's songs. Styles later dated French model Camille Rowe.

The singer opened up about Swift and his romantic life during a March 2020 interview with Howard Stern , calling it "flattering" to be the subject of someone else's songs, and also described his recent encounter with muggers on Valentine's Day.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Harry
• Birth Year: 1994
• Birth date: February 1, 1994
• Birth City: Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: English-born singer Harry Styles rose to fame as one of the five members of the boy band One Direction. He launched his solo career in 2016 and made his acting debut in the 2017 film 'Dunkirk.'
• Astrological Sign: Aquarius
• Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School

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The rise and rise of Harry Styles: how did the former boyband member become the biggest name in pop?

Senior Lecturer in Communication, University of Technology Sydney

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You’ve probably heard the name Harry Styles. He is the current “real big thing” in popular music.

But how did a former boy band star become such a huge musician and award-winning artist in his own right – and does he deserve all the breathless praise?

The hype began in 2010 as a member of mega group One Direction. Paul McCartney gave them his blessing as they clearly tapped into The Beatles legacy .

On a break since 2016, One Direction is still breaking records online . Their 2015 music video Drag Me Down recently passed one billion views on YouTube – seven years after its release.

Since going solo, Styles has wowed audiences as a fashion icon and performer, releasing his third solo album, Harry’s House, this week.

Styles’ latest single, As It Was, is already a world record holder for daily streams across multiple platforms, debuting in its first week with 43.8 million plays.

As a solo artist, he has won a swag of international awards, including Grammys, Brits and ARIAs.

His 2019 album, Fine Line, debuted at number one on the Billboard charts and is the most recent album to make it to Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time .

While Styles has groups of young female fans who have followed him since One Direction, his current fan base is much broader , brought together by the community and mood built through his music.

Substance as well as style

Styles’, um, style has been likened to iconic musician David Bowie in terms of gender and genre fluidity. NPR describes him as “dressed in the finery of rock’s legacies”. GQ called him “one of the best dressed men in the world” with “elegance and bold choices”.

In 1970, Bowie appeared on the cover of his album The Man Who Sold the World in a “ man dress ”. In 2020, Styles wore a tailor-made lace Gucci gown on the cover of Vogue .

The nature of his public profile means there has been intense scrutiny about his personal life. Styles has been repeatedly asked about his sexual orientation. His response has been to call these questions “ outdated ”.

In responding in this way he provides strong leadership for the young mainstream. He is essentially saying no one should need to justify or explain who they love.

Popular music becomes really powerful when artistic statements lead to action. Styles does this most overtly in the song Treat People With Kindness, which he performs draped in pride flags. This is a clear act that tells LGBTQA+ fans they are welcome .

Of course, Styles is privileged in terms of money, race and gender – and this means he can make art and take risks with less to lose than others.

As Billy Porter reminds us , queer people of colour have been challenging expectations about representation for decades, often as a matter of necessity rather than mere choice.

Read more: Friday essay: will the perfect men's dress ever exist – and would men wear it?

The personal and communal in action

In addition to fine songwriting, which he does with some regular collaborators , Styles also draws from a diverse pool of influences.

Iconic artist Stevie Nicks referred to him as “the son I never had”. In return, Styles said Nicks’ songs “made you ache, feel on top of the world, make you want to dance, and usually all three at the same time”.

At Coachella in April 2022, he invited Shania Twain to perform with him. Introducing her, he said: “in the car with my mother as a child, this lady taught me to sing”.

The next week he invited Lizzo on stage, and together they performed I Will Survive, a tribute to their shared love of 1970s music.

Collaboration with other artists – particularly artists from different perspectives – shows Styles is open to exploring different territory.

Popular music doesn’t have one “sound” over time - it changes with fashion, technology and culture. Staying relevant means being able to embrace different ways of doing things.

Harry’s House

His new album, Harry’s House, shows another evolution in Styles’ musical career.

It builds on his pop music background and travels around between 70s style folk storytelling and various eras of great dance music. Lyrically, it moves from cryptic – “I bring the pop, you bring the cinema” – to explicit – “if you’re getting yourself wet for me, I guess you’re all mine”, mostly drawing praise from music critics.

Popular music matters because it brings people together. Harry Styles, and popular music like his, does this on a mass scale. Whether the Style (sorry) is your taste or not, his value is not only demonstrated in the millions of sales, but in the power of the connections he builds between his fans.

Read more: That’s what makes them beautiful: why One Direction fans are smarter than you

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Harry Styles is the artist of the decade

• Insider is reminiscing about the past 10 years of musical greats with a series of opinion essays dedicated to the artists who inspired fans around the world. Here, writer Elana Rubin explains why she believes Harry Styles is the greatest artist of the decade.
• Styles made a name for himself this decade through his refreshing take on masculinity, his self-expression through his music, and his commitment to treating his fans with kindness.
• Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Insider is looking back on the last decade of musical greats with a series of opinion essays . Next up: Harry Styles. 

Harry Styles could have gotten lost as an individual in his mega-successful band, One Direction . 

Styles was just 16 years old when he joined One Direction in 2010 after he and four other young men auditioned as solo acts on "The X Factor." Simon Cowell threw them together, and the result was something critics said rivaled The Beatles with their legions of young fans. 

The music industry has a talent for taking young artists like these and spitting them back out as a commodity. Styles could have easily fallen into that trap.

But even as a teen, Styles showed glimmers of the artist he would grow into a decade later: someone who wasn't afraid of self expression, appeared to reject traditional confines of masculinity, and learned to authentically connect with his fan base.

His authenticity, along with his talent, has caused him to become one of the defining artists of the decade.

Styles started off this decade as a member of One Direction, which garnered a massive fan-base for its uplifting sound

From the word "go," One Direction became a massive success after coming in third on "The X Factor."

With support from devoted fans around the world — and the catchy song "What Makes You Beautiful" paving the way — One Direction's "Up All Night" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, making them the first UK group to have their first album debut at the top spot.

The chart-topping only continued after the first album's record-breaking, with their subsequent albums, "Take Me Home," "Midnight Memories," and "Four," also accomplishing the Billboard feat of debuting at No. 1. Their final album, "Made in the A.M.," debuted at No. 2. 

It wasn't just album sales. 1D fans came out in droves to see their music performed live. All four of One Direction's headlining tours grossed more than $500 million total, and the group also released live DVD recordings from the Up All Night and Where We Are tours, along with a theatrical release, "This Is Us," which showed a behind-the-scenes look at the band as they toured in 2012. 

And there was merchandise, of course: One Direction dolls, lunch boxes, and life-size cardboard cutouts. Some critics compared the group's passionate fan base with that of The Beatles. Indeed, some people became so overcome with emotion when seeing the band perform that they cried — myself included. 

Their enormous success also catapulted Styles into superstardom, and he started to showcase his talent as a songwriter within the confines of the boy group, too. 

Styles took on a songwriting role while still in One Direction, proving early on that he has a knack for vulnerability and self-expression through song

Styles became known for his eccentric style, often pushing gender boundaries with his sartorial choices, but behind the scenes, it was his talent for songwriting that further set him apart from his bandmates .

"Something Great" off 2013's "Midnight Memories" exemplified Styles' earnestness with lyrics like, "The script was written and I could not change a thing / I want to rip it all to shreds and start again / One day I'll come into your world and get it right / I'll say we're better off together here tonight." The song was never a hit single, but hardcore fans know it well as showcasing Styles' ability to write heartbroken and emotionally vulnerable lines.

Another achingly honest song from Styles came on the 2015 One Direction album "Made in the A.M." and was titled "If I Could Fly." Styles sings about giving everything up for his love in the song, accompanied by a sweet and simple piano melody.

In 2014, "Just A Little Bit of Your Heart" came out, but he didn't perform the song as a member of One Direction. Instead, he gave it to Ariana Grande who included it on her album "My Everything." The heart-wrenching lyrics "I can't even think straight but I can tell / You were just with her / And I'll still be a fool, I'm a fool for you" wouldn't escape Styles' lips publicly until his 2018 solo world tour.

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But his catalog consists of more than melancholic melodies. Styles' upbeat "Olivia" was one of the highlights from "Made in the A.M.," with tongue-tied lyrics and a full band backing One Direction up, a B-side track worthy of any windows-rolled-down jam session.

The first singles from Styles' 2019 album 'Fine Line' helped cement him as a growing LGBTQ icon

In his solo career, Styles became even more adventurous with his sound, with head-banging tracks such as "Kiwi" and "Carolina," while maintaining his soft, sensitive, and loving nature in "Sweet Creature" and "Two Ghosts."  

Then just this year came "Lights Up," the lead single from Styles' upcoming album, "Fine Line." It's a stunning song that begs the question, "Do you know who you are?" 

It was paired with a music video , released on National Coming Out Day, that includes various shots of Styles being touched by people of all genders. Fans immediately heralded it as " the new bisexual anthem of the century ." ( Insider has even named the visual as the best music video of 2019. ) 

LGBTQ fan reactions were a testament to the power of his lyrics and visuals, and Styles seems to have embraced the community right back .

In August 2019, Styles said in an interview with Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield that he wants "to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be." Sheffield points out that Styles has backed LGBTQ artists and people in many ways, from supporting queer artist King Princess ( who will be a part of his Love On Tour 2020 ) to wearing a Michael Sam football jersey , the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team, back in 2014 as a member of One Direction.

Even before going solo, Styles' expression of his sexuality was refreshingly honest. When asked about what he looks for in a partner in a 2014 interview, he said being female is "not that important," shutting down the assumed notion that he's straight. 

Now in 2019, many fans view Styles as an LGBTQ icon, and the singer appears to welcome it and still refuses to label his sexuality.

Styles could warrant artist of the decade in his commercial success alone, but it's who he has grown to be that makes his success all the more important

Styles has made his concert venues a sea of positivity and warmth.

At any one of his tour stops, Styles can be seen holding up various LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter flags, signaling to his diverse group of fans that he loves and supports them. As a Jewish fan, it meant the world when Styles tweeted about Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur amid a massive rise of antisemitism .

On a 2017 tour in Stockholm, Styles told the crowd , "If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender — whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you. I love every single one of you."

Mexico City Two, Live On Tour. A post shared by @ harrystyles on Jun 3, 2018 at 5:15pm PDT Jun 3, 2018 at 5:15pm PDT

He also puts his money where his mouth is. On his 2018 world tour, Styles donated a portion of merchandise proceeds to charity,  generously giving $1.2 million that he could have easily pocketed for his own profit. He supported the March for Our Lives movement , a plea for gun control organized by Parkland high school students who survived the tragic attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 2018. 

Because of his activism and inclusion, be it overt or implicit, countless stories have circulated about how Styles has helped people feel safe in their own skin, from expressing their sexuality to tattooing themselves to dressing however they want to. 

And if you've gotten to this point and are thinking, " So what? The only people who like him are teenage girls," you've missed the point. Throughout this decade, Styles — whether in One Direction or beyond — has given young people and especially young women an outlet to feel authentically themselves, and feel supported by someone who doesn't patronize them.

"Who's to say that young girls who like pop music — short for popular, right? — have worse musical taste than a 30-year-old hipster guy? That's not up to you to say. Music is something that's always changing," Styles said of his predominantly female fanbase in the 2019 interview with Sheffield and Rolling Stone .

"Young girls like the Beatles," Styles continued. "You gonna tell me they're not serious? How can you say young girls don't get it? They're our future. Our future doctors, lawyers, mothers, presidents, they kind of keep the world going. Teenage-girl fans — they don't lie. If they like you, they're there . They don't act 'too cool.' They like you, and they tell you. Which is sick ."

Styles' ability to be vulnerable through his music, remain authentically kind, and make his fans feel comfortable with who they are — that's what really makes an artist beautiful.

Elana Rubin is a contributing writer for Insider. She's also a screenwriter with words in Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Elite Daily, Wonderland, and more. She lives in Los Angeles, but is an East Coast girl at heart. Say hi on Twitter or Instagram @elanarubin.

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How Harry Styles Saved My Life

“Stop your crying, baby, it’ll be alright.” These lyrics helped me overcome my eating disorder and learn to be kind to myself.

You’re obsessed.

He doesn’t even know you exist.

You’re wasting your money.

Grow up already. Isn’t he for 12-year-olds?

He doesn’t care about you.

You’re embarrassing yourself.

You’ll never meet him.

Being a fan of One Direction since 2010 and continuing to support Harry Styles on his solo journey, I know I have heard it all. But nothing anyone says has ever made me feel bad about idolizing someone who represents kindness, equality, support, inclusion, and love.

Harry recently adopted the slogan “Treat People With Kindness.” The phrase is embroidered onto almost all his merchandise, printed onto water bottles and tote bags, and even written on the side of his customized Calvin Klein tank tops. But he doesn’t just promote the message to his fans: He lives it himself, day by day.

“I love every single one of you,” Harry has said to his fans. “If you are black, if you are white. If you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender. Whoever you are, whoever you want to be. I support you.”

Throughout his time in One Direction and as a solo artist, Harry has reached out to fans to help them through personal struggles. During his 2018 solo tour, for example, he helped a bisexual fan come out after reading her sign saying, “I’m gonna come out to my parents because of you!!!” He then asked the audience to quiet down so he could get the fan’s mother’s name and shouted, “Tina, she’s gay!” into his microphone, adding “Tina says she loves you. Congratulations, I’m very happy for you.” Through his music, interviews, and concerts, Harry makes sure his fans know just how important they are to him, and how he is accepting of whoever they want to be.

Raised in Holmes Chapel, England, Harry started his singing career in 2006 when he and three friends at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive school started their band White Eskimo. But he had dreams for something bigger. On April 11, 2010, 16-year-old Harry stepped in line to audition for the X-Factor U.K.

After Harry was cut during the show’s bootcamp, Simon Cowell decided to send Harry and four others — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson — through as a group rather than as five separate soloists. Harry is credited with creating the name One Direction, and the band advanced to the semi-finals before placing third on Dec. 12, 2010. Cowell later signed the band to his record deal. Their first single, “What Makes You Beautiful,” was released almost a year later, giving fans an idea of what to expect on the band’s first album, “Up All Night.”

Four more albums and world tours later, One Direction decided it was time for a break. Because of his separation from the band, Harry had room to grow as a solo artist and explore his own sound, which led to the release of his first single, “Sign Of The Times,” on April 7, 2017. Later that year, he released a self-titled album and the dates for his first world tour as a soloist.

Throughout his years in the spotlight, Harry has had the ability to both positively and negatively influence his fans. According to Newport Academy , celebrities heavily impact how their fans — specifically teens — view themselves and the world around them. Often, celebrities serve as role models for teens, whether it be for better or for worse. Teens tend to morph their own attitudes and behaviors in ways that mirror their famous idols.

Models, in particular, can have a severe impact on teenage body image. I have experienced this firsthand, and it led to dangerous habits. It started with the occasional glance at Instagram pages belonging to models like Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, some visits to magazine websites like Vogue or Elle, and searches for healthy recipes on Pinterest. But it quickly spiraled into something much worse.

A 2014 survey by the Today Show and AOL found nearly 80 percent of teen girls compare themselves to the bodies and lifestyles of celebrities on social media. Of this percentage, almost half were unhappy with their appearances because of what they saw online.

This dissatisfaction with body image is linked to mental and physical health problems, including body dysmorphia, depression, and eating disorders. Newport Academy shares that studies have shown a high percentage of girls and women who consume media related to body image and unrealistic, thin body types are more likely to exhibit disordered eating habits. Celebrities who post about unhealthy fad diets and seemingly impossible workout routines trigger these harmful thoughts and actions, minimizing just how severe eating disorders can be.

Social media contributed to my belief that the size of my waist and the number on the scale defined my worth. But my eating disorder wasn’t sparked by Instagram posts and Pinterest boards. It started when I was young.

I was a 4-year-old ballerina comparing my legs to the legs of other dancers, wondering why mine were bigger. I was an 8-year-old cheerleader wondering why my uniform fit differently from the others, why I had to hold all the prettier girls in the air, and why I couldn’t be one of them. I was a 12-year-old sixth grader hiding in the back corner of the girls’ dressing room, hoping no one was watching me change into my P.E. uniform, trying to hide my stomach from the athletic girls. I was a 16-year-old high school junior when I was diagnosed with anorexia and body dysmorphia, and now I’m a 19-year-old college freshman continuing to fight and win my battle.

The bullying started when I was in third grade. The other girls in my class were athletic, tall, and skinny with long blonde hair, expensive clothes, and big houses. I was the opposite. I prioritized my education, and despite my participation in ballet and cheerleading, I was considered an outsider. I didn’t play softball or soccer, I didn’t live in the rich neighborhood, and my parents didn’t have prestigious jobs. I was picked last in gym classes, sat alone at lunch, and had no friends to play with at recess.

The bullying continued through middle school, and in seventh grade, I developed severe anxiety and depression. It was 2013 by now, and One Direction had been a band for three years. I found peace in their music. Just around the time when my anxiety and depression became difficult to handle alone, the band’s third album, “Midnight Memories,” was released.

I had a notebook that I wrote in often. I kept it in my desk, shoved between textbooks and stray pieces of paper. I thought it was safe there. But one day when I opened it to write during free time I had in class, I found my poems and journal entries had been destroyed. Someone had ripped pages in half, scribbled in Sharpie over different lines, and erased my words to replace them with inappropriate drawings. On a journal entry I’d written about Harry, the person left a note about how he wouldn’t care what happened to me.

I started to believe whoever wrote that. I believed Harry couldn’t care less about what I was going through, and I let the anonymous messages get to me. But then I remembered the music. Two songs in particular — “Strong” and “Through The Dark”—gave me the strength I needed to get through days like that, days when I wanted to give up. I connected with lyrics like “Is it so wrong, that you make me strong?” and “Need you to keep me from falling apart.” They reminded me of Harry, how he kept me from breaking. I would string my headphones through the sleeve of my sweater and listen to their music in class, choosing that over listening to the people who always found something else to make fun of.

In eighth grade, I was diagnosed with body dysmorphic disorder, a mental illness that prevents my mind from seeing what my body actually looks like. Going to school only made it worse. I tried to hide myself, wearing oversized clothes and controlling my posture in a way that hid the parts of my body I was uncomfortable with. My classmates knew how insecure I was. Boys would take pictures up my skirt from under the desk, touch me inappropriately, and send photos of my body in mass text messages to the class. Before the year ended, a student made a fake article about me, claiming I had participated in sexual intercourse with a group of boys in the grade. They photoshopped my face and body onto inappropriate images. The edit was sent to the entire grade.

The school did nothing about the incident. I felt like I didn’t matter and no one cared, so I turned to One Direction’s fourth album. As I sat alone on the concrete during recess with my earbuds in, Harry’s lyrics spoke to me. “Cause nobody saves me, baby, the way you do.” I felt like he knew he was saving me.

But no matter how hard I tried, my body image never improved. The summer between my sophomore and junior years was the hardest time of my life. I had promised myself I would get better. Be more positive, more confident. But I fulfilled that promise the wrong way.

I began exercising between two and three hours a day. I pushed myself on the treadmill until I was satisfied with the number of calories I had burned. I did squats until I couldn’t stand anymore, and I tried different ab exercises until I couldn’t breathe. I restricted my diet to less than 200 calories a day, eating nothing but a bowl of oatmeal to keep me on my feet. I praised myself when I could make it through a day without eating anything at all.

I weighed myself every morning, before and after every meal, before and after every workout, and before I went to sleep. I lost more than 50 pounds in two months, achieving a weight I considered “healthy” while slowly killing myself both physically and mentally, trying to maintain a weight my body was not built to be.

I fought my family when they admitted me to the hospital a month into my junior year. My academics were almost as important to me as my appearance, and being in the hospital for three months meant missing three months of lessons, assignments, and International Baccalaureate exam preparation. I had no desire to push myself to recover while in the hospital, hoping my doctors would decide not to pay attention to me if I refused to try. It was a strict environment of meal plans, group therapy sessions, and being unable to go to the bathroom if I wasn’t accompanied by a doctor.

I didn’t listen to anything I was told. I would still exercise too much and eat too little. I labeled some foods as “fear foods” — Pop Tarts, Clif Bars, bananas, nuts, salad dressings — and avoided them at all costs.

Eventually, my heart started acting abnormally, beating out of rhythm at quick speeds. I had to wear a monitor to make sure it was functioning properly. I avoided the group therapy discussions, and I didn’t cooperate with my therapist. I didn’t want to try anymore. I didn’t feel like I had any reason to.

But then I found one. I started noticing the pain my family was in, how much they worried about my health, and how much stress I was putting on them. I missed them. I missed my friends. I missed having dance parties in my room to some of my favorite One Direction songs. I missed living, and I decided I wanted to start living again.

I started listening to the One Direction songs I used to listen to, the ones that made me feel strong. They made me feel like I was capable and worthy of recovery.

I give one song on One Direction’s last album credit for saving my life. Harry wrote “If I Could Fly,” and I had never felt more connected to a song. “I’ve got scars even though they can’t always be seen,” he sang. “Pain gets hard, but now you’re here, and I don’t feel a thing.”

To me, the song was a promise that Harry would always be there to help me. It was a promise that recovery was possible. I started listening to the song every day, and its lyrics gave me the strength I needed to not only make my family proud, but to make Harry proud, too.

After three months in the hospital, I reached a healthy weight. I was able to go back to school if I followed a meal plan, avoided strenuous exercise, and worked with my counselors, teachers, family, and therapists as my recovery process continued. I have different people to thank for my recovery, and because of them — especially Harry — I started believing in myself.

After being back at school for a few months, I felt like I was beginning to relapse. But then in early March, I saw a commercial for Harry’s first single as a solo artist.

I’ve always felt like Harry knows when I need him most. “Sign Of The Times” was the first time I heard him sing something new since December 2015, and I immediately felt at home again.

“Stop your crying, baby, it’ll be alright.”

And again, I knew it was possible for things to be alright.

Now, after battling anorexia and body dysmorphia for three years, I am the healthiest I’ve been since the hospital. I graduated high school as valedictorian of my class despite missing three months of my junior year. I received my IB diploma and started college after being offered more than half a million dollars in scholarships from the universities I applied to. I am exercising to be healthy and strong, not to lose weight. I am eating to fuel my body and give it the power it needs to grow, not to watch it wither away, and  I am living to be happy and to love myself, not to please others.

Harry still helps me every day. I listen to his music when I exercise, when I’m doing homework, when I’m stressed, or just when I need the extra support he gives me. And after traveling to see him on his solo tour this past summer, I feel more connected to him than ever before.

I decided I wanted to thank Harry for saving me. I wanted to show him the support he showed me, and I wanted to prove the people who said he would n ever know me wrong. During the summer of 2018, I saw Harry seven times in different cities around the U.S. and stopped by his show in Bologna, Italy, while visiting family. I traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, in June and had a seat against his catwalk. I decided I would try to give him flowers when he walked past.

Halfway through his show, he finished singing “Meet Me In The Hallway,” and my heart felt like it would explode as he made his way down the stairs on the main stage. I held my bouquet out and hoped he would take the lilac and yellow flowers I’d bought for him — and he did. His hand wrapped around mine as he paused for a moment, stopping to smile and say “thank you very much” before continuing down the catwalk. 

A few weeks later, I flew to New York City, where I saw him twice at Madison Square Garden. In Detroit he recognized me in the front row and tossed me his bedazzled pride flag. In Chicago he stopped singing to ask me how I was and blow me a few kisses, and later he played the air guitar with me before drenching me with an entire water bottle during “Kiwi” after I appeared on the big screen in front of the crowd. At my final show in St. Paul, Minnesota, he saw me crying during “Sign Of The Times,” blew me a few more kisses, and waved a special goodbye straight to me.

Today, I have the lyrics “choose your words” from Harry’s song “Ever Since New York” tattooed on my wrist. It reminds me of the words that saved me, of the words people used to bully me — the same words I overcame — and the words I am writing right now, that I am able to write because of Harry.

Without Harry, my odds of recovery would have been slim, and my odds of happiness even slimmer. Knowing he recognizes who I am makes continuing to fight toward recovery worth it every day.

“Treat People With Kindness,” to me, means more than being kind to others. It means treating myself with kindness, too. Because of Harry, I now know how to do that.

I’m so glad you’re doing so well! Lots of love to you. Harry truly is an inspiration. A beautiful soul, rarely found. Keep fighting!!

All the love and continued success rising above adversity. You’ve chosen a wonderful role model. Someone who is kind and compassionate. Every time those bad feelings try to return just remember you matter to someone you deeply respect.

this is beautiful. ive always wanted to be a journalist but now i know for sure i do. sending love ur way always !💕💘💗💝💞💖💓

I loved reading this, I’ve been through something similar. I haven’t ever seen harry (yet, he needs to come to slc) but reading this gives me hope. thank you for sharing. this is beautiful.

this is so inspiring thank you for this. takes a lot of courage. bless ur beautiful soul!

You are an amazing young lady. This worlds needs more young girls like you that are strong, determined, loving and extremely talented I’m so glad that I’ve been given the opportunity to read your stories. I’ve gotten goosebumps, I’ve cried with such joy hearing life of your Loving Family. Than to hear how you were harassed, I know that feeling, it’s painful. I see pictures of you and wonder how such a stunning young girl would have that happen to her. Please continue to be strong and true to yourself God Bless you my dear I’m looking forward to read more of your stories

I want all bullies to learn how to take responsibility for their actions towards others and treat people with kindness by being polite and respectful to them and make wise decisions so they learn right from wrong.

I think harry styles is a really kind and caring person to me and I love his music and I’d just like to say a massive thanks to him for helping me and being an amazing person and he has a great sense of humour and always makes me laugh

I love you harry.

Hi harry , thanks for helping me through the cyclone that hit my country last year and I really appreciate it and I also wanted to say a massive thanks to you for helping me and my grandmother through the sad loss of my grandfather Charlie and I’m really grateful to have such a wonderful person to talk to.

From toni. 🙂

You made me cry 😭😭 lots of love from Nepal

I would like all the bullies to stop this behaviour and learn to treat each other with respect and take responsibility for their actions and listen to their parents when they teach them things.

Hi harry , on behalf of me and my grandmother , we’d like to say a massive thanks for helping us through the sad loss of my grandfather Charlie and through the cyclone that hit my country last year and it was really kind of you to think of us that way and I hope you have a great Christmas this year

From toni. 🎄

not gonna cry today

IM CRYING!!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!

This was truly beautiful to read, it brought tears to my eyes, I hope you are still doing well beautiful. Harry truly is the kindness person. So empathetic, caring and kind, someone who will actually truly listen to everything you have to say. He’s a wonderful role model. You are absolutely stunning by the way, and I’m so proud of you love!

This piece really is proof that bands save fans. These boys have made my life better in so many ways and I’m more than glad that these boys were able to impact you in such a great way <33 SENDING LOADS OF LOVE AND HAPPINESS TO YOU!! MORE POWER TO YOU GIRL!!!💚💙💚💙

I just want you to know that your writing is beautiful and I stumbled across this page because I am actually writing about Harry and was doing research, and just now finished after having to stop every few sentences to cry. I have a similar story to your, Harry is my hero as well. Its incredible how one human being can make us feel seen and heard even if we dont physically know him. Thank your for this and I wish nothing but happiness and love for you. From a fellow Harrie.

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International Edition

Home Music Music Features

22 August 2022 12:50 PM

Harry Styles: the world’s most wanted man

Harry styles has become a global pop icon. now, he has his sights set on hollywood. how does he make all of it look so easy — even when it definitely isn’t.

By Brittany Spanos

On a Friday night in New York, Harry Styles put on a show.

It wasn’t just any show; it was the first time he performed his third and soon-to-be-biggest album, Harry’s House , in its entirety. The crowd that May night covered Long Island’s UBS Arena in feathers and glitter and tears — a ritualistic skin shedding of sorts whenever Styles comes to town.

Fans noticed something different about the encore: Styles didn’t end with his usual closer, ‘Kiwi’; instead, he opted to finish the night with a second performance of his new single ‘As It Was’, his dance-through-the-tears pandemic reflection on isolation and change. When he played it, the crowd exploded in a way even Styles had never experienced. It left him a bit shaken.

“We came offstage, and I went into my dressing room and just wanted to sit by myself for a minute,” he tells me, two months later. “After One Direction, I didn’t expect to ever experience anything new. I kind of felt like, ‘All right, I’ve seen how crazy it can get.’ And I think there was something about it where I was… not terrified, but I just needed a minute. Because I wasn’t sure what it was. Just that the energy felt insane.”

At 28, Styles has unlocked a new level of stardom for himself. Years ago, he regularly filled stadiums as a member of One Direction, his former boy band. This spring and summer, he’s playing them on his own. ‘As It Was’ has become his hugest song yet, setting streaming records and topping the charts in more than two dozen countries, including 10 weeks straight in the US. Because he’s a star with a largely young, female fan base, many have refused to engage with him as much more than a pretty teen idol. (I don’t need to lay out decades of music history to show how wrong of a take that is.) But he can feel the tides change in curious ways. “‘As It Was’ is definitely the highest volume of men that I would get stopping me to say something about it,” he notes. “That feels like a weird comment because it’s not like men was the goal. It’s just something I noticed.”

Before his headlining set at Coachella in April, I caught Harry backstage, surrounded by James Corden, Styles’s onstage guest Shania Twain, and his girlfriend, Olivia Wilde. Later, I took in sold-out shows in New York and at Wembley Stadium. The immense love showering Styles was impossible to ignore — you see it in the faces of every fan, whether they’ve been supporting him for “one year, two years, five years, 12 years”, as he says in nearly every end-of-show thank you speech. Along the way I heard him everywhere, even when I wasn’t trying. ‘As It Was’ played in every cab. ‘Watermelon Sugar’ soundtracked breakfast. ‘Golden’ lurked quietly at a London chemist’s. ‘Late Night Talking’ blasted at a Brooklyn bar, leading one man to proclaim, “I like Harry Styles. I can admit it,” like it was a radical act of self-acceptance.

And while he may be everywhere in 2022, Styles is, at the moment, literally right in front of me, sitting in an armchair of a hotel business suite in Hamburg, Germany, on a sweaty June afternoon. After a dip in the Irish Sea this morning, he flew into town and is now enjoying a day off in the middle of his first European tour since 2018.

In person, Styles looks more like your best friend’s cute, sporty older brother than the gender-bending style icon he’s become. He’s left the boas and sequin jumpsuits in the dressing room, opting instead for a blue Adidas track jacket, gym shorts, and Gucci trainers. His hair, often described as “tousled”, like he’s a renegade prince in a romance novel, is clipped back with a hair claw, a signature day-off accessory. 

Styles is a kind of millennial anomaly: he plugs his phone in across the room, never once sneaking a glance for a rogue notification. He maintains eye contact as his thoughts unfurl in his often slow drawl. He’s a bit more Zen, even stoic, than he once was; that goofy, class-clown energy he exuded when the world first fell in love with him in One Direction 12 years ago has naturally diminished. But he’s still as affable and charming as ever, remembering details from small talk we had in all the other cities where I had been (professionally) stalking him, and proving earnestly curious about how I was going to spend my time in Hamburg and how magazine deadlines work. (Back in New York, after surprising fans at a Spotify event for his new album, he asked me my thoughts on David Crosby’s most recent album, which he loved.)

“‘As It Was’ is definitely the highest volume of men that I would get stopping me to say something about it” — Harry Styles

“My great uncle lives here,” Styles says of Hamburg. “He married a German lady, so I have a German cousin. They always used to come and visit when I was a kid, and the only word in English [the cousin] knew was ‘lemonade’. I didn’t know if she actually wanted lemonade or was trying to say ‘Give me some water, please!’” 

Of course it wasn’t meant to take him this long to get back to places like Hamburg, where he’ll play for more than 50,000 fans tomorrow night at Volksparkstadion, a local football stadium. Love on Tour, the name for his current trek, was supposed to launch in the spring of 2020, a few months after Styles released his second album, Fine Line. We all know what happened next. 

Styles didn’t get to play live again until last autumn, but something funny happened in the interim. While we were bound to our homes, Styles experienced his first number one hit in Fine Line ’s ‘Watermelon Sugar’, a tune so sweet it may take a moment to realise he’s singing about cunnilingus. Less than a year later, he won his first Grammy for it. 

As the pandemic deepened, Styles ended up back in Los Angeles, where he keeps a home, and moved in with three friends. They’d “go for walks, cook dinner, wash the lettuce, all that kind of stuff,” he says, until he decided to use his downtime productively and began writing new material. Rick Rubin’s Malibu studio, Shangri-La, was available, so Styles moved in with longtime producers and co-writers Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson. “We didn’t really know what we were going in for,” he says. “It just felt like sitting at home doing nothing might feel better if we all move in together and try to make some music.” Before they knew it, they were making Harry’s House , a revelatory statement that happens to be his most radio-friendly album to date. He took inspiration from Haruomi Hosono’s 1973 LP, Hosono House, which he first heard when he lived in Japan years ago, and treated the songs like they were an internal monologue, traversing a day in his life.

When flying became an option, Styles came home to London. Later, he drove down to Italy in his late stepdad’s car with a friend, listening to the jazz CDs left behind. He visited the Trevi Fountain one day, likely wearing his short-lived pandemic moustache, and was greeted with just four other people instead of the usual throngs that surround the historic site: “I felt like every day you’d say, ‘Weird time, isn’t it?’ Then go, ‘Yeah, it’s fucking insane!’”

He credits his stream of roommates — friends, collaborators — with keeping him together during this time. “I really would’ve struggled if I’d done the whole thing by myself,” he says, mirroring the “ Harry, you’re no good alone ” lyric from ‘As It Was’. After Italy, Styles visited friends in France, then returned to work, eventually posting up at Real World Studios near Bath. By the time he set off across the US to finally tour behind Fine Line last autumn, Harry’s House was secretly finished.

Now, besides the unavoidable singles and the victory-lap world tour, there are other indicators of next-level stardom: his skincare, nail polish and clothing line called Pleasing and a fashion collection with Gucci, not to mention his flourishing movie career. He’s starring in the psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling and in the intimate drama My Policeman, and he’s nabbed a deal with Marvel Studios to play Eros in at least one of the Eternals films. “Everything in my life has felt like a bonus since X-Factor ,” he says, referring to the singing competition that led directly to One Direction. “Get on TV and sing. I never expected and never thought that would happen.”

But today, in a Hamburg hotel, Styles is still trying to make sense of it all. He thinks hard about love, shame, honesty and the importance of kindness and therapy. And he worries. He worries about how he can be one of the biggest pop stars in the world, the kind who can be everything for his fans while also being a great son, brother, friend and partner to the people standing beside him. As everything gets bigger, Styles imagines a life that is smaller. How does the world’s most wanted man save the best parts for himself?

When Styles played two sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium in June, the first thing he did after stepping offstage each night was take a shower. The post-show shower has become a ritual: a hygienic necessity, sure, but also a crucial moment of clarity and reflection. He washes away the screams full of love and desire to just be in his presence. Anyone would be overwhelmed by that. “It’s really unnatural to stand in front of that many people and have that experience,” he says. “Washing it off, you’re just a naked person, in your most vulnerable, human form. Just like a naked baby, basically.”

Those post-Wembley showers were especially gratifying. When One Direction, which Styles casually refers to as “the band”, played the stadium in 2014, he ended up with tonsillitis on the day of the show. “I was miserable,” he recalls. “We played the first one, and I remember I came off, got in the car, and just started crying because I was so disappointed.”

Styles’s solo shows at Wembley were a reunion of sorts: he had friends and family from all parts of his life and career in the audience on both nights. His mum, Anne Twist, sister Gemma, friends and his team all danced in the stands next to Wilde and her two young children. Even former bandmate Niall Horan swung by, smiling through ‘What Makes You Beautiful’.

As he’s become one of the world’s biggest pop stars, Styles’s need for privacy — for keeping that “naked baby” self out of the public eye — seems to have grown. Secrecy has helped to fend off constant questions about his sex life, the kind that were tossed his way as soon as he was of legal age.

“Everything in my life has felt like a bonus since X-Factor. Get on TV and sing. I never expected and never thought that would happen” — Harry Styles

In the past couple of years, he started to go to therapy more routinely. “I committed to doing it once a week,” he explains. “I felt like I exercise every day and take care of my body, so why wouldn’t I do that with my mind?”

Through it, he started to process parts of himself he hadn’t figured out before. “So many of your emotions are so foreign before you start analysing them properly. I like to really lean into [an emotion] and look at it in the face. Not like, ‘I don’t want to feel like this,’ but more like, ‘What is it that makes me feel this way?’”

One feeling he needed to shed was shame, the kind of shame that comes from having your sex life scrutinised while you’re still just trying to make sense of it. Over the years, he learned to stop apologising for it. He learned he could be vulnerable in private while still protecting it from the public.

Sometimes, though, he worried he was a “hypocrite” for being so closed off. His shows have become empowering safe spaces for his fans, so many of whom want to share who they are with him. Onstage, he’s helped people come out to their parents and facilitated everything from marriage proposals to gender reveals. Separating his personal life from his public one hasn’t been a choice he takes lightly. “When I’m working, I work really hard, and I think I’m really professional,” he says. “Then when I’m not, I’m not. I’d like to think I’m open, and probably quite stubborn, too, and willing to be vulnerable. I can be selfish sometimes, but I’d like to think that I’m a caring person.”

He’s found a vague balance through compartmentalisation. “I’ve never talked about my life away from work publicly and found that it’s benefited me positively,” he explains, perhaps preemptively. “There’s always going to be a version of a narrative, and I think I just decided I wasn’t going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way.”

Drawing the curtain over his life has only made everyone who’s not behind it more curious. His sexuality, for example, has been a topic of near obsession for years. He has embraced gender fluidity in his fashion, like Mick Jagger and David Bowie before him, and has repeatedly pointed out how backward it feels to require labels and boxes for everyone’s identity. Critics of his approach have accused him of “queerbaiting” or profiting off queer aesthetics without explicitly claiming the community. Defenders feel it’s unfair to force anyone to label themselves as one thing in order to validate their gender or creative expression.

Styles, without prompting, points out how silly he finds some of the arguments about how he may identify to be: “Sometimes people say, ‘You’ve only publicly been with women,’ and I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone. If someone takes a picture of you with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re choosing to have a public relationship or something.” 

Of late, this can be contested. While he is everywhere, so is Olivia Wilde. The pair met on the set of Don’t Worry Darling , which she directed (more on that in a moment), then made a splash when paparazzi snapped them holding hands at his manager and close friend Jeffrey Azoff’s wedding in January 2021.

Wilde and Styles have said little about the relationship, and rumours have filled the space. Anonymous tweeters acted appalled at their age difference (as if a 28-year-old man dating a 38-year-old woman isn’t completely normal) and criticised the director-actor dating dynamic (as if there isn’t a long history of beloved Hollywood couples meeting the same way).

More intense and jarring was a corner of Styles’s fandom that has made fun of Wilde’s dancing or made lengthy Twitter threads and TikTok videos cancelling her for bad or insensitive jokes made a decade ago. If Styles is already held up to a high standard, his potential partners are held to an unreachable one for some of his fans. 

Styles is not the most online person — he uses Instagram to look at plants and architecture posts, has never had the TikTok app, and calls Twitter “a shitstorm of people trying to be awful to people” — but he’s still aware of how those small, toxic corners of the internet are treating the people closest to him. “That obviously doesn’t make me feel good,” he says, carefully. It’s a tightrope he’s treading in discussing this. He wants to — and does! — see the good in his fans, but there’s no denying that like every large online community, this one has a faction that runs on hate and anonymity. 

Even with the boundaries he’s set between his public and private lives, sometimes “other people blur the lines for you”, he says. There’s a conversation he has to have early in a relationship, no matter how weird or premature it may feel. “Can you imagine,” he says, “going on a second date with someone and being like, ‘OK, there’s this corner of the thing, and they’re going to say this, and it’s going to be really crazy, and they’re going to be really mean, and it’s not real…. But anyway, what do you want to eat?’”

“Everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it” — Harry Styles

While Styles takes comfort in knowing his whole fandom is not like that, he still wonders about how to respond when the noise gets too loud. “It’s obviously a difficult feeling to feel like being close to me means you’re at the ransom of a corner of Twitter or something,” he says. “I just wanted to sing. I didn’t want to get into it if I was going to hurt people like that.”

When asked about her experience with his fans, Wilde is diplomatic. Like Styles, she believes in what they stand for as a collective, calling them “deeply loving people” who have fostered an accepting community. “What I don’t understand about the cruelty you’re referencing is that that kind of toxic negativity is the antithesis of Harry, and everything he puts out there,” she tells me. “I don’t personally believe the hateful energy defines his fan base at all. The majority of them are true champions of kindness.”

Styles became a leading man when he was four years old, starring in a play called Barney the Church Man. Later, he transformed into Buzz Lightyear in a production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang “because Buzz Lightyear was in the toy shop for some reason”. His other early theatre credits include: Razamatazz in Bugsy Malone (“the band leader”) and the Elvis-inspired Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. (He would later audition for Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, but was deemed too iconic by the director.)

Other than that, acting wasn’t really part of his life plan. He liked it, but he found a new rush when he started performing with his band White Eskimo. When they debuted at — and won — a Battle of the Bands competition, it was the first time he felt “the switch”: his teachers looking up at him, instead of vice versa. “I think I was just a show-off,” he says, with a hint of cheekiness. “I say that like it’s past tense.”

But as Styles was preparing the release of his solo debut in 2017, he took his first foray back into acting, with a supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s war epic, Dunkirk. (The director said he had no idea how famous Styles was when he cast him.) By the time Marvel recruited him to become Eros, director Chloé Zhao had no one else but Styles in mind for the role. Thanos’s more heroic brother is portrayed in the comics as an intergalactic playboy of sorts, with superhuman strength and the ability to control people’s emotions (a fitting role for the planet’s hottest pop star). MCU boss Kevin Feige recently teased more from Styles, though so far, his only appearance has been the Eternals’ post-credits scene, alongside the Patton Oswalt-voiced Pip. “It’d be funny if that was it, wouldn’t it?” he jokes of his cameo.

Styles’s role in Dunkirk grabbed Wilde’s attention as she was beginning to map out Don’t Worry Darling. He was an early contender for the role of Jack, a charming but secretive husband to Florence Pugh’s increasingly troubled Alice. And Styles had plenty of reasons to be interested in Don’t Worry Darling. Wilde’s second feature film as a director reportedly started a bidding war among 18 studios, following the success of her directorial debut, Booksmart.

Pre-pandemic talks between Styles and the Darling team didn’t make it far; he was, after all, due on a global tour for most of 2020. Instead, Shia LaBeouf won the role, but by the end of that summer, Wilde had reportedly booted the actor for poor on-set behaviour. 

“I’d wanted to act again,” Styles says. He spent a lot of the pandemic watching movies with his quarantine set of friends and collaborators: he rescreened favourites like the 2012 Belgian drama The Broken Circle Breakdown. Some nights, he and his friends would put a bunch of titles in a hat and choose. (“There was a couple different tastes in the house, so it was between, like, Parasite and Coyote Ugly. ”)

Styles was announced as LaBeouf’s replacement a month before filming began. He proved perfect for the role of Jack, who’s brought Alice to the remote, fictional American town of Victory to work on a secret project the men at the company won’t tell their wives about. Jack’s become a star employee and is desperate for his boss’s approval. “We were looking for someone with innate warmth and palpable charm,” Wilde says. “The entire story depended on the audience believing in Jack.”

Styles shot Don’t Worry Darling between September 2020 and February 2021 in LA and Palm Springs. Those months were the longest Styles had lived in one place in 11 years. He thought about going completely off the grid while making it: maybe get a flip phone, stop making music. “The reality is you get there on the first day and wait around for 75 per cent of it,” he says. “And it’s like, ‘Actually, I’m going to text my mate.’”

At the start, he was understandably anxious about taking on such a large role alongside stars like Pugh, Chris Pine, Gemma Chan and Nick Kroll. “In music, there’s such an immediate response to what you do. You finish a song and people clap,” he says. “When you’re filming and they say ‘Cut,’ there’s maybe part of you that expects everyone to start clapping, [but] they don’t. Everyone, obviously, goes back to doing their jobs, and you’re like, ‘Oh, shit, was it that bad?’” (Being an actor reminded him of session musicians: “You get called in to do your bit, and then someone else puts it all together and makes it.”)

The risk may pay off: he and Pugh are already getting awards season buzz. Wilde says one moment “left us all in tears” — Jack’s promotion scene during a big company gala. “It’s a strange scene, full of fascist references, and a disturbing amount of male rage,” Wilde says. “The scene called for him to stand onstage with Frank (Chris Pine) and chant their creepy slogan, ‘Whose world is it? Ours!’ over and over again. Dark as hell. But Harry took it to another level. He was so fully in the moment, he began screaming the lines to the crowd, in this primal roar, that was way more intense than anything we expected from the scene.”

According to Wilde, Pine backed away, understanding this was Harry’s moment. “The camera operator followed him as he paced around the stage like a kind of wild animal,” Wilde remembers. “We were all gobsmacked at the monitor. I think even Harry was surprised by it. Those are the best moments for an actor — when you’re completely outside your body.”

Within weeks, Styles went from the set of Darling to shooting the more intimate My Policeman. He had read the script the year prior, moved by the story enough to have contacted director Michael Grandage and request a meeting. Styles showed up with every line memorised.

Styles plays Tom, a policeman who develops feelings for a museum curator named Patrick (David Dawson). Set in the 50s, when it was still illegal to be in a same-sex relationship in the UK, the pair move in secret while Tom pursues a marriage with a schoolteacher named Marion (Emma Corrin). The film shifts between the past and the present, when the three reunite under dire circumstances. “It’s obviously pretty unfathomable now to think, ‘Oh, you couldn’t be gay. That was illegal,’” Styles says. “I think everyone, including myself, has your own journey with figuring out sexuality and getting more comfortable with it.” To him, My Policeman is a very human story. “It’s not like, ‘This is a gay story about these guys being gay.’ It’s about love and about wasted time to me.”

According to Styles, Grandage wanted to highlight what sex is really like between two men in the scenes between Tom and Patrick. “So much of gay sex in film is two guys going at it, and it kind of removes the tenderness from it,” Styles continues. “There will be, I would imagine, some people who watch it who were very much alive during this time when it was illegal to be gay, and [Michael] wanted to show that it’s tender and loving and sensitive.”

Darling and Policeman make their big premieres at prestigious film festivals in Venice and Toronto late this summer, but Styles isn’t sure his pivot to the silver screen will be permanent. “I don’t imagine I’d do a movie for a while,” he says. There are rumours about how many Marvel movies he’s signed on for and other franchises he might be secretly in talks to do. (In response to a rumour he’ll be starring in a future Star Wars series, he says, “That’s the first I’ve heard of that. I’d imagine… false.”) 

He doesn’t rule out taking on new roles. “I think there’ll be a time again when I’ll crave it,” he says. “But when you’re making music, something’s happening. It feels really creative, and it feeds stuff. A large part of acting is the doing nothing, waiting thing. Which if that’s the worst part, then it’s a pretty good job. But I don’t find that section of it to be that fulfilling. I like doing it in the moment, but I don’t think I’ll do it a lot.”

Like a true tousled-haired prince, Styles invites me to attend a concert with him by the philharmonic in Hamburg, eight hours before his own show.

On past tours, he says, “I was getting to a lot of cities and feeling like ‘I’ve been here six times and I’ve never seen any of it.’” This tour, he’s been taking in a lot of architecture. “It’s something I can do on my own, just sit somewhere and look at stuff,” he says.

Studying the finer points of buildings fits the regimented, disciplined and distinctly grown-up tour life he’s created. Styles has found himself enamoured with routine on the road: 10 hours of sleep a night, IV injections pumping him with nutrients and vitamins, a strict acid-reflux-conscious diet that cuts out coffee, alcohol and certain foods that affect the throat 50,000 fans are depending on. Last night, he slept with two humidifiers that apparently made it look like he was stepping out of a steam room when he opened his hotel room door.

The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg — “Elphi” for short — is a striking structure, looking something like a gorgeous sail. Styles is wearing the same outfit as when I met him in the hotel the day before, only with shorts swapped out for pinstripe pants and a surgical mask covering his face. He and I are both late and can’t be let into the show until intermission, so instead we comb through the backstage hallways and elevators to see rooms built for incredible acoustics and sweeping views of Hamburg. He marvels at all of it. In a temperature controlled room full of pianos, he asks our tour guide which is the best (“Is there a shining star?”) before sitting down at one and playing for a couple of dreamy, Beatlesque minutes. (He’d mentioned earlier that he spent last summer playing piano every day with his morning coffee.) He has questions about panelling. And like a true tourist, he takes pictures of everything.

The first time I ever met Styles was a lot like this. On his first headlining tour, in San Francisco in 2017, I went backstage to interview Kid Harpoon. Styles stumbled into the room where I was waiting, strolling around less like a headliner with fans lined up around the block and more like the lighting guy. Here was someone who is inexplicably difficult to casually enjoy (you watch one video of One Direction’s funniest interview moments on YouTube and suddenly you’re contemplating how many of their cardboard cutouts you can fit in your dorm) acting so casually. He greeted me then like an old friend, not someone who was still refusing to let go of a One Direction keychain at the time. He asked me how I had been, what I was up to in San Francisco, and if I was excited for the show. Of course I remember every second of it. 

Styles has a gift for making those in his presence feel seen. Just ask fans who bump into him on walks through Central Park or Hampstead Heath, then detail those moments as if they had met the pope (granted, the pope could never pull off a hair claw). 

Before the second half of the concert at the Elphi, the crowd mingles and grabs drinks. As we walk through, Styles goes unnoticed. (The mask helps.) It’s funny to watch one of the world’s biggest pop stars move through space with such ease, as if he’s blissfully unaware of how well-known he is.

“If you make your life about the fact that you can’t go anywhere and everything has to be a big deal, then that’s what your life becomes,” he says. “Now, in London, I walk everywhere. It’s hard to stumble across things and restaurants and places and stuff if you’re just driving everywhere, and it’s just not that fun.”

Styles outlines his upcoming months for me: in August, after he wraps his European tour in Lisbon, he’ll go on holiday with some friends, maybe catch up on the Love Island season he was “gutted” to miss, or see if The Bear is as good as everyone tells him it is. The next leg of his tour includes stops in LA, New York, Austin and Chicago as extended residencies, a decision that meets his personal need for a less strenuous touring schedule and a professional need to be able to attend film festivals and rent studios to write and record music for his fourth album. “I’m always writing,” he says. He and his collaborators are already throwing around ideas. “I think all of us are so excited to get back to it, which feels insane because we’ve just put an album out.” 

“What I value the most from my friends is I’m reminded that it’s OK to be flawed. I’m pretty messy and make mistakes sometimes”  — Harry Styles

More than ever, he is thinking about the future. He wants to take meaningful time off at some point — from touring at least, he’s always writing — and ensure he’s a more present figure for his family and friends. In turn, he’s learned to define what real love looks like to him. “The fantasy, or the vision, or the version of you that people can build you up to be feels like a person that isn’t flawed,” he explains. “What I value the most from my friends is I feel like I’m constantly reminded that it’s OK to be flawed. I think I’m pretty messy and make mistakes sometimes. I think that’s the most loving thing: you can see someone’s imperfections, and it’s not [that you] love them in spite of that, but it’s [that you] love them with that.”

He’s thinking about what it would be like if he had children one day: “Well, if I have kids at some point, I will encourage them to be themselves and be vulnerable and share.” 

He’s thinking about what he wants to say, too. Styles admits he was uninterested in politics as a teenager, oblivious to things that didn’t personally affect him. But as he grew more famous, he worried about that, too. “I took a massive look at myself,” he says, “and was like, ‘Oh, I don’t do enough… or anything.” When conversations around anti-Blackness and inaction reached a fever pitch in 2020, Styles marched in the streets and read books like How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi, and The Will to Change, by bell hooks. He started thinking about racial and gender equity, especially as someone who employs many people on the road. “Pretending as a white person you don’t get a head start just isn’t true,” he says.

We were hanging out right after Roe v. Wade had been overturned in America. “I can’t begin to imagine how terrifying it is to be a woman in America at the moment,” he says. He’ll grab a fan’s sign that reads “My Body, My Choice” at the Hamburg show, displaying it proudly onstage. There’s an energy in the crowds that fills him with careful optimism. “I feel lucky to see a group of people, even just on this tour, who come together in a way,” he says. “I think that group of people is so much less afraid of opening the wound, talking about it, and doing the work, than the generation before us.”

As we wait for the philharmonic’s packed show to restart, I notice a few young girls with their families in the audience and ask Styles what he thinks the crossover between this crowd and his show tonight will be. He looks around at the mostly older faces and goes, “Less than one per cent… I know I’ll be at both.”

Styles watches the orchestra studiously. When the conductor leaves and then returns to a standing ovation, Styles whispers, “He’s about to play his big hit.” Even when he’s not peacocking in front of 50,000, he’s still trying to entertain the one person he’s with.

We walk out before the crowd fully disperses. Styles lingers a second to take some photos of the room before he heads out to get ready for his concert, where he’ll bounce around the stage, lifted by the wails of young fans who have been waiting years for this moment.

His fans will linger tonight, too, crowding in the hundreds outside Volksparkstadion. They’ll take photos of their outfits, their tear- and sweat-stained glittery faces, the piles of abandoned boa feathers. They’ll play his big hits back to him, holding a phone light vigil as they sing One Direction’s ‘Night Changes’ or the Fine Line ballad ‘Falling’. As the city echoes as much of him as it can take, he’ll probably be washing it all away.

Taken from the October/November 2022 issue of Rolling Stone UK.  Buy it online now.  Available on UK newsstands from 24 August.

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Music Interviews

Harry styles on 'fine line,' stevie nicks and his definition of success.

Mary Louise Kelly

"I'm trying to let go of the worrying thing, and that's what I've loved the most about this album, rather than the first one," Harry Styles says of making his album Fine Line . Helene Marie Pambrun/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

"I'm trying to let go of the worrying thing, and that's what I've loved the most about this album, rather than the first one," Harry Styles says of making his album Fine Line .

In a decade, Harry Styles has gone from teenage heartthrob to a global pop star in his own right. As he's distanced himself from his adolescent years as a member of One Direction , he's become his own person, starring in the 2017 blockbuster Dunkirk , hosting Saturday Night Live and creating music that pulls from a variety of influences.

Styles released his second solo album Fine Line late last year, and in addition to showcasing some of those influences and his talents as a songwriter, it was also a huge commercial success, with the biggest U.S. sales week for a British male artist since Eric Clapton 's Unplugged in 1992.

But Styles says he spent a lot of time rethinking his idea of success after touring his self-titled album. "I think if you're making what you want to make, then ultimately no one can tell you you're unsuccessful, because you're doing what makes you happy," he says.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly spoke to Harry Styles about his love of Fleetwood Mac and finding freedom in the music of the '70s, what he would say to his 16-year-old self and nail polish. Listen in the player above and read on for a transcript of their full conversation.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mary Louise Kelly: Your most recent album seems tied up in the '70s, which is a decade you didn't actually live through. What is it about that era that draws you in?

Harry Styles : There's a freedom in the music that is so inspiring. If you go back and listen to so much of that music, and you listen to songs from [Carole King's] Tapestry and Harry Nilsson songs, they sound so fresh. I think it's crazy that something that was made so long ago, you can listen to it now and be like "I want my drums to sound like these drums, and I want my strings to sound like these strings." I think that's really incredible. And I think it's just the freedom, it's people doing what they wanted to do. Obviously, the music business has changed so much since then — there was a lot more of everybody hanging out together and playing songs, and I feel like music is a lot more competitive now.

And is it maybe a little more produced now? Less organic?

I think we just have different technology. When we came to do my first solo album, I had this thing where I wanted to do everything to tape. And then I kind of realized that The Beatles didn't use tape because it was really cool to use, they used it because it was the best technology they had [at the time] and it sounded the best. And now we just have different ways of recording stuff and you can make stuff sound really nice — so we kind of abandoned the tape thing. Overall what draws me to that time with music is just the freedom.

Was making Fine Line sound like the music of the '70s a conscious choice?

I'm not listening to stuff so much anymore being like "I just want my stuff to sound like this." You grow up listening to what your parents listen to. For me it was the [Rolling] Stones, Beatles, Fleetwood [Mac], a lot of Queen, Elvis Presley, Shania Twain, Savage Garden, Norah Jones. That was kind of like the base of what my first experience with music was, and I feel like you can't help but have a lot of references from what you grew up listening to [in your own music].

Speaking of Fleetwood Mac, I saw you've gotten to know and work with Stevie Nicks. What's that like, to get to know someone who was the soundtrack of your childhood and go out on stage with them?

How The Elusive 'Buckingham Nicks' Established Stevie Nicks' Songwriting Voice

It borders on an out-of-body experience. "Dreams" was the first song I knew all the words to; I used to sing it in the car with my mom. Every time I'm with her, you want to be, obviously, present, right? I'm trying to enjoy being with her and soaking in. But I think at the same time, while you're in the room with her, I'm sitting there thinking about being 10-years-old and singing the song.

Does it matter if you're super famous yourself?

I don't think so, because ultimately we're all humans. It's not like paralyzing starstruck, it's more like I try and appreciate what my 10-year-old self would think of it. I think ultimately you meet [other famous people] and you're kind of in awe of them, but at the same time you get to hang out with them on this human level, where you're just talking and it's really amazing.

Those are the moments that kind of mean the most because it's real. And when everything else about being in music goes away, that's the stuff that I think you end up telling your grandkids. For example, with Stevie, my favorite moments about it aren't usually the show, it's the practicing. When we first played together, it was at the Troubadour — famously, where Elton John did his first U.S. show — and it was an amazing moment, but my favorite was soundchecking. It's like four people in there and just us singing in the empty Troubadour. For me, that's a moment that I'm going to hold on to.

Speaking of moments where you wish you could tell your younger self "Buddy, you have no idea": 10 years ago when you auditioned for the British reality show X Factor , the judge Simon Cowell asked you "What do you want to do with your life, what are your future plans?" You said you were going back to college in the fall to study "law, sociology, business and something else, but I'm not sure yet."

There's a lot of us who wanted to be a rock star and ended up being lawyers. You've gone the other way. Is it funny listening back to yourself? What do you wish you could tell your 16-year-old self?

Harry Styles: 'It Was Time For Me To Be Scared'

I guess like "Don't worry." In the early years, I spent a lot of time worrying about what would happen and getting things wrong and saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing. I'm trying to let go of the worrying thing, and that's what I've loved the most about this album, rather than the first one. I think I had a lot of fear — whether it was conscious or subconsciously — just about getting it wrong. When I listen back to the first album now, although I still love it so much, I feel like I was almost bowling with the bumpers up a little bit. I can hear places where I was playing it safe.

I think with this one, after touring with an album that wasn't necessarily a radio record and people came to see the show, I realized that the only thing that people really want is for you to do what you want to do. Ultimately, I think if people believe in you, you can make a bad record, you can make a bad song, and people will still come to a show if they're interested and they want to come see you. I think the only time people go "You know what? I'm done with this," is when it stops being authentic. You can't really blame people for that. If there's an artist I loved and I felt like they were faking it, I can't say that I'd keep going to the shows. I think that was a big thing for me, just trying to worry less. The worst thing that can happen is that I make a record that I think everybody else wants to hear, and then it doesn't do well. And you sit there going "Well I wish I'd just made the record that I wanted to make." I think if you're making what you want to make, then ultimately no one can tell you you're unsuccessful, because you're doing what makes you happy. That's the biggest thing that I learned this time.

You dress amazingly. You wear suits, but they're patterned and florals and you had that blouse that got all the attention at last year's Met Gala. I noticed you're wearing nail polish, and you do wear clothing that blurs traditional lines sometimes. What are you hoping people take from that? Is it just "This is what I want to wear, deal with it" or are you trying to send any kind of message?

For me, it's not like doing it to send a message. Part of being on the last tour, when people came to watch the show, I realized "Oh, these people just want to see me be myself, and I'm telling them to be themselves." And I just didn't want to be a hypocrite. I do it when I'm not working, so to me it doesn't feel like it's "Oh, I'm sending a message with my nail polish." I just put a lot less weight behind it, I think. And sometimes I forget, because I'll go somewhere and someone will be like "Have you got nail polish on?" I'm lucky that I work in an industry that allows you to be creative and express yourself, and I'd encourage it to anybody.

Can you tell us about a favorite song on the album?

My two favorite songs on this album are probably "Cherry" and "Fine Line." "Cherry" is the fifth song on the album. It's one of my favorites, mostly because of how it came about. When I started making this album ... I felt like it had to be big. The last record wasn't really a radio record: The single ["Sign of the Times"] from it was a 6-minute piano ballad, so it wasn't the typical formula. So I felt a bit of pressure that I wanted to make something that worked. I was trying this stuff one night in the studio, and I was worried because I just wasn't really liking anything that I was doing. I felt like I was trying too hard. That's when I make the music that I like the least, is when I'm trying to write a pop song or I'm trying to write something fun.

Everybody left for the weekend, and it was me, Tyler Johnson, who I work with, and Sammy Witte. It was two or three in the morning, and we were having a drink and just talking. I was saying how I have all these records that I'd love to make, I love all this kind of music and in five years I want to make this kind of record, and in 10 years I want to make this kind of album, and then I'll get to make the music that I really want to make. And Tyler just said "You just have to make the music that you want to make — right now. That's the only way of doing it, otherwise you're going to regret it."

And "Cherry" was the result of that?

Yeah, so we stayed and Sammy started playing the guitar riff, and we did it through the night and recorded it. Everybody came back in the morning and listened to it ... I heard it when it was finished and was like "This is the kind of music I want to make."

How did you write "Fine Line?"

Styles Of The Times

" Fine Line " I wrote [during] a gap in the tour. It was January 2018 and I was at my friend Tom's house, who I work with, and we just started strumming this thing, and we started layering these vocals, and it turned into this 6-minute thing. I had it for a long time and I kept listening to it during the tour, like I'd listen to it before I went to bed. Just sonically I loved the song, and I loved the lyrics of the song. When we wrote it, I kind of knew it was the last song of an album, and we ended up taking it to Bath, in England, where I was making this record for a while. I wanted it to turn into something else at the end, I wanted like a big crescendo ending. While we were in Bath, Sammy started playing this little thing on the piano, and I tweaked it a little bit and I was like "That has to go at the end of 'Fine Line.' " Now when I listen to it, it's one of those things where I'm just proud that it's mine, I'm so happy. It's one of those songs that I've always wanted to make.

NPR's Mallory Yu, Sarah Handel and Sami Yenigun produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Cyrena Touros and editorial intern Jon Lewis adapted it for the Web.

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Guest Essay

Harry Styles Walks a Fine Line

By Anna Marks

Ms. Marks is an editorial assistant in Opinion.

Harry Styles, this summer’s pop prince, has earned his crown by capturing the fantasies of millions and taking what seems like a groundbreaking approach to the presentation of gender fluidity and sexual identity. While expanding his kingdom and conquering pop culture, Mr. Styles has — with his last two album releases — also been accused of queerbaiting: In this case, using queerness to burnish his celebrity without explicitly claiming to be queer.

Discussion of anyone’s identity, even a celebrity’s, is inherently fraught. But in a culture obsessed with identity politics and still constrained by homophobia, it’s inevitable that we look at our icons and wonder who they really are, especially when their style and mystique seem to invite us to ask questions.

Mr. Styles’s performance (and exorbitant ticket prices) makes his identity our business. He skips onstage with what has become the most corporate-friendly symbol of resistance, a rainbow flag. He deals in less obvious symbols of his possible queerness, too: sizable flowers pinned to a lapel (as Oscar Wilde was known to wear), a scrap of blue fabric dangling suggestively from a back pocket (like the Village cruisers ), the words “ Never Gonna Dance Again ” tattooed across his feet ( the croon of the once closeted, later proudly out George Michael ).

But when he speaks, Mr. Styles tells us a different story. He has consistently declined to claim queer identity or label himself when questioned by the press. This year, in a glossy profile in Better Homes & Gardens, ​​he said of sexual orientation: “I’ve been really open with it with my friends, but that’s my personal experience; it’s mine.”

His desire to live away from prying eyes isn’t surprising. Tabloids and fans have spun stories with varying degrees of credibility about Mr. Styles’s romantic life since he was a teenager, linking him to myriad women (and the occasional man). In a recent profile , Mr. Styles called assumptions about his dating life — and therefore any smoke signals about his sexual orientation they might send — bunk, stating , “I don’t think I’ve publicly been with anyone.”

It’s difficult, then, to reconcile two of Mr. Styles’s seemingly incompatible public identities, both heartbreaking to many queer fans like me. One, Mr. Styles, assumed a straight man, appropriates the imagery of a marginalized community. Another, Mr. Styles, closeted, performs queerness, presumably in the hope that his community might hold out the palms of their hands and welcome him.

In private, Mr. Styles could, of course, claim any — or many — of a spectrum of gender identities and sexual orientations. But the issue at hand is that Mr. Styles asks us to revel in his performance without giving us the key with which to unlock that performance’s true meaning. It’s worth asking why his door is locked.

If Mr. Styles contends with a closet, it was built by a homophobic culture, not any action of his own. Accusing him of queerbaiting his fans works like a kind of trap; he can really deny the accusations only by coming out and identifying himself in a way that would not be wholeheartedly accepted by the public.

So consider this for a moment. Is it really so inconceivable that one of the most famous people in the world could be trapped in the same closet as you or me?

As a queer person, I can’t look at Mr. Styles’s use of our symbols with such dexterity, consistency and precision and not see those symbols for what they surely must be — evidence that he is one of us. Perhaps I lack the cynicism to believe that anyone could dare to earn so many, many millions by brazenly appropriating queer culture. Or perhaps I lack the imagination to divine some other meaning — allyship, possibly — from his performance. But even if Mr. Styles’s queerness ends up being just a mirage, I can’t help but believe that it’s better to have been a welcoming fool and wrong than to have been a cruel gatekeeper and right.

Mr. Styles walks a fine line. He can signal to those in the know while safely constructing the myth of Harry Styles the celebrity, a bankable, untouchable cipher that’s designed to appeal to as many fans — and wallets — as possible. The celebrity is a study in contradictions: sexy but nonthreatening, amiable but unknowable, straight but readable as queer. He offers a pretty screen onto which a generation or two can project their sexual, romantic or ideological fantasies. Such a celebrity could never dare to offend anyone by coming out.

I’m not entirely convinced that the public has a right to know how Mr. Styles describes his identity to his friends. But no matter how (or even if) Mr. Styles identifies, we must not look away from the uncomfortable truth about his public image: The celebrity has deployed queer symbols and fashioned himself an ambiguous icon, without touching the messy, unlikable politics of claiming a public label.

In displaying queer symbols as he does, Mr. Styles may indeed be navigating a culture and its closet as best he can. But he also sends young, questioning fans a message that it’s acceptable, perhaps even advisable, to reject the Harvey Milk mantra that has guided so many in the L.G.B.T.Q. community in our struggle for collective freedom: “Every gay person must come out.”

In the Better Homes & Gardens profile, Mr. Styles elided the issue in one of his few revealing comments on sexual orientation. “The whole point of where we should be heading,” he said , “which is toward accepting everybody and being more open, is that it doesn’t matter, and it’s about not having to label everything, not having to clarify what boxes you’re checking.”

These soft, fluidity-affirming words muffle the danger of the tantalizing fantasy Mr. Styles presents. Implied by his celebrity is the idea that the greatest fights against anti-queerness are over and that it’s good, or at least good business sense, to play coy to appeal to the masses — even those who would rather see you dead than in love.

This position does not meet the challenge of a noticeable rise in anti-queerness in recent years. In the United States, where Mr. Styles commands the stage, anti-L.G.B.T.Q. bills have become fixtures of many state legislatures . In Eastern Europe, where he toured this summer, L.G.B.T.Q. rights have regressed . And in plenty of other markets around the globe, our existence is denied, if not outright criminalized. In the face of this hatred, Mr. Styles hasn’t chosen overt rebellion. He proposes an easy-to-swallow plea to “ treat people with kindness .” It’s a tired platitude tone-deaf to 2022’s brand of bigotry.

If our community seeks true liberation, Mr. Styles’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” queerness must not be something to which we aspire. It should instead be something that we mourn.

Coming out can be an act of political resistance, but it’s also a celebration. We exclaim to the world: “I’m here! I’m queer! You must accept me!” Maybe that isn’t always a palatable, salable message, but if it is offensive to those who hate us, we must shout it.

No matter how he identifies, if Mr. Styles wishes to dance with our symbols, he would do well to pay more attention to their politics, regardless of whether he dreams with us of liberation.

Anna Marks is an editorial assistant in Opinion.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram .

Harry Styles' Fashion Evolution Through The Years

Harry Styles wears his heart on his pink, ruffled sleeve. At the start of his career, he wore it on his gray, tailored sleeve. But in both cases—and all the sleeves in between—the Styles icon (sorry) has expressed his personal, professional, and even political leanings through the art of fashion. Like his professional identity, the former One Direction member-turned-multi-hyphenate pop culture icon's look is continuously shape-shifting. His stylistic choices have often reflected the chameleonic aspects of his life: his current sonic influences, his lover du jour, his evolving approach to gender and sexuality. 

Styles is a professional leading man, but his current fashion identity is the result of the singer's collaborations with his stylist, Harry Lambert; gender-flouting designers like Harris Reed; and Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele. Styles himself does not underestimate the value and power of his wardrobe: Reed told The Independent that the singer keeps his clothes in a secret archive "somewhere in London" with round-the-clock surveillance. From preppy and boyish to artful and norm-shattering, following Styles' fashion evolution reveals an evolution in what it means to be a boy band member, a contemporary sex symbol, and a "manly man."

If One Direction were the Spice Girls, Harry Styles would've been Preppy Spice

On September 19, 2010, a then-16-year-old Harry Styles wore a gray cardigan, a green skinny scarf, and stacks of bracelets to audition for the British talent show The X Factor . Throughout his time on the competition show , Styles wore unremarkable, neutral looks onstage, and casual sweats and sneakers offstage. One Direction was styled as a fresh take on the boy band, forgoing matchy-matchy uniforms in favor of looks that distinguished each band member from the others without clashing in color. In the band's early days, Styles' trademark look revolved around structured blazers and khaki pants and was, as bandmate Zayn Malik said in Teen Vogue , "quite preppy." As  Glamour noted back in 2012, the guys of 1D wore "Jack Wills, that collegiate-y brand from the UK."

Then, in September 2012, Styles signaled his emerging allegiance to high fashion when he sat in the front row of Burberry's London Fashion Week show ( allegedly to support his rumored then-girlfriend, model Cara Delevingne). Backstage, Styles spoke with  On Demand Entertainment  about what he liked about the classic British fashion house: "The clothes are... nice and subtle," he said. "The colors aren't, like, too much... It's easy to wear." 

Harry Styles' look got more rock 'n' roll

When One Direction's sound got a little more rock 'n' roll with 2013's Midnight Memories , Harry Styles' look followed suit. He went through a phase of keeping his curls in place with Keith Richards-esque hats and headscarves, and cast aside his previous buttoned-up look for unbuttoned, grunge-y shirts that revealed his growing collection of sailor-inspired chest tattoos . The singer also began opting for edgier fashion houses, including Saint Laurent— which was led by rock band outfitter Hedi Slimane at the time —and Alexander McQueen.

The Midnight Memories  era also ushered in a darkening of Styles' color palette as he developed a uniform of black skinny jeans and beaten-up leather Chelsea boots. In the 2017 documentary Harry Styles at the BBC (via Teen Vogue ), Styles revealed that his devotion to the heeled boot began after he was mobbed by Parisian fans who stole his sneakers. But according to a 2019 profile in The Guardian , Styles' experimentation with the footwear began years earlier, pre-fame: His childhood friends greeted him with bewilderment when "little Harry had the gumption to show up in the playground wearing Chelsea boots instead of the approved chunky trainers."

Styles' stylistic shift from pop boy to rock star didn't go unnoticed: He beat out the likes of David Beckham and Kate Middleton to win the  2013 British Style Icon Award  at the British Fashion Awards. 

The Harry Styles award show look that was a 'turning point'

When asked what he looked for in a lady in a November 2014 interview with On Demand Entertainment , Styles said that femaleness was "not that important." The comment may have been said in jest, but it unofficially marked the beginning of Styles' increasing openness about gender and sexuality. It was around this time that Styles began incorporating subtle feminine elements into his looks, such as cheetah-print Saint Laurent jackets , ruffled shirts, and floral prints.

After One Direction announced their plans to take a break in August 2015, Styles began to work more closely with the stylist Harry Lambert. According to  GQ , Styles appeared to be Lambert's "sole celebrity client" at the time (although the stylist now works with  The Crown 's Emma Corrin ). In a 2019 interview with  British Vogue , Lambert called the white floral Gucci suit Styles wore to the 2015 American Music Awards "the turning point" for the singer's style journey. "It was very exciting to see everyone's responses, but also how great he looked in it," he said. "At the time it was a very bold move to make." 

The look was a glimpse of things to come: the genesis of Styles' current  Gucci-centric aesthetic and the close partnership between Lambert and Styles.

After One Direction, Harry Styles became an 'artthrob'

"Heartthrobs are getting weirder—and that's exciting," Anne Donahue wrote in a 2016 The Guardian essay, in reference to Harry Styles. Following the breakup of One Direction, one of Styles' first moves, other than working on his folky Britpop solo debut album, was landing a role in Christopher Nolan's World War II blockbuster Dunkirk . He cut off his trademark long curls for the role, trading them for a pseudo-bowl cut that sent fans into a social media frenzy .

From a public perspective, 2016 was a relatively quiet year for Styles. But when it came time for the singer to make his first press appearance as a solo star, he hand-picked the alternative magazine Another Man as the outlet. He appeared in the magazine's Fall/Winter 2016 issue wearing choker necklaces, a toy-soldier jacket, and a floral suit. "[Harry] was always interested in clothes and spent all of his birthday money and wages on getting the train into Manchester to expand his wardrobe," Gemma Styles, his sister , wrote in the accompanying article. 

Donahue penned her essay for The Guardian in response to the Another Man  editorial. "And we also notice that out of every magazine, he's opted for a niche publication," she wrote, "telegraphing an allegiance to the niche worlds of art and fashion rather than aiming for mainstream notoriety." The essay was aptly titled, "Harry Styles proves the heartthrob is dead: long live the artthrob."

Harry Styles let his solo sound and individual style fly

With the release of Dunkirk and his first solo album, 2017 was a pivotal year in Harry Styles' professional and sartorial evolution. In the cover shoot for his album, he wore a blue velvet suit while soaking in a bath of millennial pink. He was featured in the May 2017 issue of  Rolling Stone in a high-necked, lace-trimmed Victorian blouse that recalled Mick Jagger circa 1969 , as well as a pink pussy-bow blouse under a floral brocade suit. In an NPR feature called "Styles of the Times," Ann Powers wrote that the Rolling Stone spread "officially signaled his coming of age." 

"Styles dresses in the finery of rock's legacies: not just that t-shirt borrowed from grunge, but a Carnaby Street style black suit designed by the late post-punk fashion maverick Alexander McQueen and a punkish ripped-jeans-and-bandana look that makes him look like a youthful Mick Jones of the Clash," Powers wrote. "He also appears in a high-necked lace top that places him within the queer continuum of current trendsetters." In an interview with  ET   that November, Styles revealed that he drew most of his inspiration from a country singer, not a punk-rocker. "My music and fashion main influence was probably Shania Twain," he said.

The many suits of Harry Styles

Throughout 2017 and 2018, Harry Styles began favoring alternative London designers as much as high-fashion giants like Gucci. According to  Vogue , Styles' stylist Harry Lambert connected the singer with the gender-fluid designer Harris Reed  near the end of 2017. While creating looks for Styles, Reed drew inspiration from rock 'n' roll legends like David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger. As Reed told Paper ,  they aimed to push the singer in "a glam rock direction." 

"I'm a gender-fluid designer. This community is very important to me," Reed told GQ . "I really want to make a global change in how we look at acceptance and fluidity, and [Styles] really understood that."

At the beginning of 2018, Styles was featured in fourth place on GQ 's annual best dressed men list. The singer's entry was accompanied by a quote from American designer Michael Kors, who called him "the modern embodiment of British rocker style: edgy, flamboyant, and worn with unapologetic swagger." On tour in 2018, Styles showcased his new music as much as his immaculate collection of suits.  Cosmopolitan   rounded up 36 of his gorgeous suits, a list that includes glittery Saint Laurent numbers, purple-and-orange colorblock creations by Calvin Klein, lush ensembles by Alexander McQueen,  bespoke designs by Charles Jeffrey's East London club-kid label LOVERBOY, and, of course, copious Gucci florals. In June 2018, Styles appeared in his first Gucci campaign , marking the official beginning of a fashionable partnership with designer Alessandro Michele.

There's a piece of Camille Rowe in how Harry Styles dresses

"There's a piece of you in how I dress/Take it as a compliment," Harry Styles sings in "Cherry," the fifth track on his 2019 sophomore album Fine Line . The song features a voicemail recording of French-American model-slash-actor Camille Rowe, whom Styles dated from 2017 to 2018. Sartorially, the couple could have been Marianne Faithfull and Mick Jagger 2.0. While Rowe and Styles were together, they often shared clothes, including a striped cardigan that set fans' social media accounts ablaze. But even beyond their breakup, the model's flair left a lasting impact on the singer. 

The pair reportedly began dating in the summer of 2017, and it was around that time that Styles began to wear brighter colors and more Bohemian, bell-bottomed getups. Elements of Rowe's playful, 1970s-inspired vintage style —which revolves around colorful prints and cheeky slogan t-shirts—have permeated Styles' outfits, music videos, and general aesthetic ever since the former lovebirds met. The music video for "Watermelon Sugar" —a song that, as Styles shared on NPR's  Tiny Desk Concert , was partially inspired by Rowe's favorite book , Richard Brautigan's In Watermelon Sugar —was filmed on Super 8 film and featured Styles romping around in sweater vests and candy colors, saturated in Rowe's vibrant vintage aesthetic.

The 2019 Met Gala brought Harry Styles on as a co-chair

"The essence of Camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration," Susan Sontag wrote in her 1964 essay "Notes on 'Camp'." Not one to shy away from flamboyance, Harry Styles was a fitting choice to co-chair the 2019 Met Gala, given its theme, Camp: Notes on Fashion. Styles stepped onto the red carpet in gleaming heeled boots; a sheer, nipple-freeing Gucci blouse; and a single pearl earring.

"What women wear. What men wear. For me it's not a question of that," Styles told The Guardian later that year. "If I see a nice shirt and get told, 'But it's for ladies,' I think: 'Okaaaay? Doesn't make me want to wear it less though.'" He continued: "In terms of how I wanna dress... I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool... I just think sexuality's something that's fun. Honestly? I can't say I've given it any more thought than that."

Harry Styles was called the 'patron saint of menswear'

"I'm having a year of big pants," Harry Styles told Graham Norton in December 2019. As 2019 faded into 2020, Styles entered the era of his sophomore album, Fine Line . The album's sleeve was branded with fish-eyed photos of Styles in flared trousers, a top hat, and manifold magenta (and the boldest suit of all: his birthday suit). The accompanying music videos also followed an exaggerated, David Bowie-inspired aesthetic: tweed flares, a newsboy cap, and striped pajamas in "Adore You"; a sheer, purple, ruffled tunic blouse in "Falling."

In February 2020, Styles appeared on the BRIT Awards red carpet in a sweater vest, pearl necklace, flared pants, and Mary Jane shoes. (His now-trademark pearl necklace has inspired think-pieces in outlets including W and The Wall Street Journal that contemplate the accessory's cultural impact.) Styles took the BRITs stage to perform his emotional ballad "Falling" while wearing a Gucci lace jumpsuit with matching gloves. Later, while sitting in the audience, he wore his loudest look of the evening: a canary yellow suit with a gauzy purple neck scarf tied in a big bow. Following the event, Esquire deemed Styles the "Patron Saint of Menswear."

Harry Styles made history with his Vogue cover

In November 2020, Harry Styles became American Vogue 's first-ever cover boy . The pop icon appeared on the front of the magazine's December 2020 issue wearing a frothy, lace dress — by Gucci, of course. The cultural moment surfaced in the wake of a particularly polarizing presidential election, and after Styles had endorsed Joe Biden on Twitter . The photos sparked right-wing backlash: In a multi-day Twitter spree, conservative commentator Candace Owens tied the editorial to "the steady feminization of our men" and deemed it "an outright attack," adding, "Bring back manly men." Public figures including Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez , Olivia Wilde , and Elijah Wood all jumped on social media to come to Styles' defense.

Styles'  Vogue cover also drew criticism from members of the LGBTQ+ community. Some questioned why the historic, norm-shattering moment was given to a white, cisgender man who has only publicly dated women rather than, as nonbinary performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon suggested , a "trans femme of color." 

Speaking with  Lorraine , Styles' mother, Anne Twist, likened the shoot to "playing dress-up." In the magazine's accompanying profile, "Playtime with Harry Styles," the singer cited "showmen" including David Bowie, Elvis, Elton John, and Freddy Mercury as inspirations. "You can never be overdressed. There's no such thing," Styles said. "Once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play... There's so much joy to be had in playing with clothes. I've never really thought too much about what it means — it just becomes this extended part of creating something."

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Harry Styles

Text by (art/photo books) alex bilmes , aya kanai and jem aswad, category: arts & entertainment biographies & memoirs | music.

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About Harry Styles

• The Met Gala and his Gucci sheer pussy-bow black blouse and heeled boots 
• The sparkling Coachella performance with Shania Twain
• The incredible launch of the #1 hit and video, As It Was
• His stunning appearances at red carpets, the Grammys, BRIT Awards, and more! 
• Jem Aswad, executive music editor at Variety
• Alex Bilmes, journalist and editor-in-chief of Esquire UK
• Nikki Cardiello, music and portrait photographer 
• Aya Kanai, Head of Creative and Editorial at Google Shopping and former fashion editor at Hearst

Product Details

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“While you can’t actually bring the ‘Cherry’ singer home, this book is the next best thing….” –Billboard.com “…An exciting project about your fave whimsical suit-wearing musician that’s filled to the brim with amazing pics of Harry throughout his already long career (he’s only 29, but he’s lived, like, seven lives, mmkay?).” –Cosmopolitan.com “A stunning new photo-packed book” – E! News “This book would be a fantastic gift for your Styles-loving friend or family member….” – Eugene Weekly “If you were one of the millions to see Harry Styles shimmy in glitter and fur during his ‘Love on Tour’ jaunt earlier this year and are looking to recreate the magical moment, you’ll want to get your hands on [this book].” –Variety.com

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How Harry Styles Uses Style to Break Down Gender Norms

Harry Styles went from being known as a teen heartthrob and supposed “womanizer” during his days in One Direction, to a fashion icon and trailblazer breaking gender norms as a solo artist. Styles has paved the way for other artists and celebrities—men and women—to break down toxic masculinity altogether. 

Styles recently released his single “ As It Was ” from his upcoming album, Harry’s House , which is set to be released on May 20. Styles hasn’t released an album since 2019 and his fans were expecting a lot. Styles delivered.

In the music video for the single, Styles displays his gender-fluidity, dressed in a red sequin jumpsuit with a female dance partner in blue as they move along a spinning platform. What sets this music video apart from his others is his ability to shift from the masculine role to the feminine at different points of the film. At one point Harry is embracing his female partner, protecting her, and visibly embodying the masculine energy between them. 

At another point, Styles lets go of her and begins dancing, twirling like a ballerina. In a 2019 interview with the Guardian , Styles said, “If I see a nice shirt and get told, ‘But it’s for ladies.’ I think: ‘Okaaaay? Doesn’t make me want to wear it less though.’ I think the moment you feel more comfortable with yourself, it all becomes a lot easier.” It’s clear that Styles sees no gender in clothes, and that is comfortable with being completely himself. 

Styles has always played around with his feminine side and he’s definitely not afraid of experimenting when it comes to fashion. In November of 2020, he appeared on the cover of Vogue as the first-ever man to appear solo, wearing a Gucci dress. 

After the cover was published, conservative political commentator Candace Owens tweeted , “There is no society that can survive without strong men.. It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men.”

In response to this, Styles captioned a photo on his Instagram with “Bring back manly men.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by @harrystyles

Just like his music, Styles’ fashion taste was not always this bold and daring during his One Direction days. Styles’ loved rocking loose blouses with skinny jeans and his signature Chelsea boots. From time to time, though, he’d bring out a bold pattern to shake things up a bit. Even at this point in his career, he was embracing his feminine side with no regrets.

Styles dressed in a pink ballerina’s tutu for a Saturday Night Live show in 2019.

Styles’ has explored different realms of fashion and style to the point where fans were quick to label his different “phases,” in which his hair and his choice of clothing drastically changed each time. It all started with “Fetus Harry,” straight from the X-Factor, then “Fratboy Harry,” to “Bandana Harry,” “Prince Hair Harry,” “Long Hair Harry,” “Dunkirk Harry,” and more recently, “Fine Line Harry.” 

Styles at the X-Factor Studio in 2010

Styles in 2013

Styles at his St. Louis show in 2021 for LOVE ON TOUR

Since going solo, Styles’ fashion taste has grown tremendously. He brought back 70s and 80s fashion during his first solo tour, “Live on Tour” with floral suits, sequins, and even a pleated skirt at his show in Glasgow, Scotland. 

Styles at his New York City show on September 28, 2017, wearing patterned bell bottoms.

Styles takes the stage in an enthusiastic and traditional Scottish pleated skirt in Glasgow on November 2, 2017.

Stray Kids end their encore tour with sold out shows

When it comes to embracing both masculinity and femininity, Styles told Timothee Chalamet in an i-D interview in 2018 that his friends and family played a big role in discovering who he wants to be.

“I didn’t grow up in a man’s man world. I grew up with my mum and my sister. But I definitely think in the last two years, I’ve become a lot more content with who I am. I think there’s so much masculinity in being vulnerable and allowing yourself to be feminine, and I’m very comfortable with that. Growing up you don’t even know what those things mean.”

Growing up in the spotlight and in one of the biggest boy bands in the world can also put a strain on your self-discovery journey. 

“You have this idea of what being masculine is and as you grow up and experience more of the world, you become more comfortable with who you are. Today it’s easier to embrace masculinity in so many different things. I definitely find — through music, writing, talking with friends, and being open — that some of the times when I feel most confident is when I’m allowing myself to be vulnerable. It’s something that I definitely try and do,” said Styles.

Chalamet, acclaimed Lady Bird and Dune actor, has also adopted a a gender bending style. He plays around with feminine materials and daring patterns. In his interview with Styles, he expressed his excitement for modern masculinity. “There isn’t a specific notion, or jean size, or muscle shirt, or affectation, or eyebrow raise, or dissolution, or drug use that you have to take part in to be masculine. It’s exciting. It’s a brave new world,” said Chalamet.

Styles is popular with many members of the LGBTQ+ community. On his last tour, videos surfaced the internet of him helping fans come out in the middle of his shows, as he danced around the stage waving the LGBTQ flag. 

Styles at one of his shows last year after he helped a fan come out. He then screamed “Freedom.”

The intro to Styles last tour was and still is the epitome of who he is. The Love On Tour introduction features the work of poet Charles Bukowski.  The poem echoes through the crowd, as the build up for the song “Golden” begins to play.  “Style,” Bukowski says, “Style is the answer to everything. A fresh way to approach a dull or dangerous thing. To do a dull thing with style is preferable to doing a dangerous thing without it. To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art.”

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Essay on Harry Styles

Harry Styles is one of the most influential and successful artists of the 21st century. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction, and then embarked on a solo career that has earned him critical acclaim and numerous awards. He is also known for his fashion choices, his activism, and his kindness. In this essay, I will explore why Harry Styles is a remarkable artist and a role model for many people.

Harry Styles as a Musician

Harry Styles has shown his musical talent and versatility throughout his career. He started as a singer and songwriter in One Direction, a group that sold over 200 million records worldwide and became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time. He contributed to many of their songs, such as "Story of My Life", "Night Changes", and "Perfect". He also co-wrote songs for other artists, such as Ariana Grande, Meghan Trainor, and Michael Bublé.

Essay On Harry Styles

After One Direction went on hiatus in 2016, Harry Styles launched his solo career with his self-titled debut album in 2017. The album was a departure from his pop roots, and showcased his influences from rock, folk, and soul music. It received positive reviews from critics and fans alike, and debuted at number one in several countries, including the US, the UK, and Australia. It also spawned the hit singles "Sign of the Times", "Two Ghosts", and "Kiwi".

His second album, Fine Line, was released in 2019, and was even more successful than his first. It was praised for its maturity, diversity, and honesty, and featured collaborations with Stevie Nicks, Camila Cabello, and Halsey. It also broke several records, such as being the first album by a male artist to have three songs debut in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100: "Watermelon Sugar", "Adore You", and "Lights Up". It also became one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

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Harry styles quotes and sayings essay

Harry styles facts and trivia essay

Harry Styles has also proven himself as a live performer, selling out arenas and stadiums around the world. He has headlined two world tours, Harry Styles: Live on Tour and Love On Tour, and has performed at prestigious events such as the Grammy Awards, the Brit Awards, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has also been nominated for and won several awards for his music, such as Grammys, Brits, ARIAs, AMAs, VMAs, and Billboard Music Awards.

Harry Styles as a Fashion Icon

Harry Styles is not only a musician, but also a fashion icon. He is known for his bold and eclectic style choices that challenge gender norms and stereotypes. He often wears clothes that are traditionally associated with femininity, such as dresses, skirts, heels, pearls, and nail polish. He also experiments with different colors, patterns, textures, and accessories.

He has been praised by fashion critics and magazines for his originality and creativity. He has been featured on the covers of Vogue , GQ , Rolling Stone , The Face , i-D , Dazed , Another Man , Beauty Papers , and more. He has also been named one of the best dressed men in the world by GQ , Esquire , Vanity Fair , Time , People , Harper's Bazaar , Elle , Cosmopolitan , Glamour , and more.

He has also collaborated with some of the most renowned fashion designers and brands in the industry. He has been the face of Gucci since 2018, appearing in several campaigns and shows for the luxury label. He has also worked with Alessandro Michele , Harris Reed , Marc Jacobs , JW Anderson , Tom Ford , Saint Laurent , Burberry , Calvin Klein , Givenchy , Balenciaga , Versace , Prada , Louis Vuitton , Dior , Chanel , Alexander McQueen , Valentino , Dolce & Gabbana , Lanvin , Moschino , Fendi , Armani , Ralph Lauren , Tommy Hilfiger , Levi's , Nike , Adidas , Converse , Vans , Ray-Ban , Tiffany & Co. , Cartier , Rolex , Omega , Swarovski

Harry Styles is a remarkable artist

and a role model

for many people.

He has shown his musical talent

and versatility

throughout his career,

as well as his fashion sense

and creativity.

He has also shown his kindness

and generosity

through his activism

and support

for various causes

and movements.

He is an example of someone who is not afraid to be himself

and to express himself

in different ways.

He is someone who inspires others to do the same.

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