The Fine Line era is officially over. Harry Styles dropped his debut single last Thursday for his upcoming album, Harry’s House, to be released on May 20th, 2022.
THE BUILDUP
Fans knew Harry was up to something but were not exactly sure what it was. He pulled a “Taylor Swift” and created a bunch of little clues to help fans figure out what he’s announcing. A discord chat was created that sent coordinates in big cities. Harry fans are natural sleuths, taking these small clues and piecing them together. They figured out the spots and went to visit them, sharing their findings with the rest of the fandom. Some of the directions led them to random places like “Harry’s Sandwich Shop”. Others found posters that advertised his new single.
In the midst of this all, fans noticed that a new account named “@youarehome” started to follow Harry and posted cryptic pictures of a door half-open with an image peeking out. Fans discovered that the account posts a picture every single day at 12 pm Eastern time. Later, Harry followed the account back which confirmed that there was a connection between the two.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT
On Wednesday, March 23rd, Harry announced his album: Harry’s House.
Fans looked back and noticed all the little easter eggs Harry has been leaving them all along. Looking back at old concert videos, Harry would ask his fans to “send him home” during his last song.
When Harry announced Pleasing, his new beauty brand, he took part in the advertising. With his nails freshly painted, he held five fingers up on one hand, and two on the other. Everyone knew he was hinting at something but no one knew what it was, until now. Five for May, and two for 20: the date his album was going to be released.
THE NEW ERA HAS BEGUN
A week later, the Harry Styles HQ Instagram account dropped a short clip from his new single, “As It Was“. The ten-second clip left fans to speculate what Harry’s new sound would be. The single was released o Friday at midnight, UK time, which meant that America got the song at some point on Thursday evening.
As an avid Harry fan since 2011, I’d say I’m pretty well-versed in the Harry universe. “As It Was” is probably my favorite single that Harry has released so far. He’s a very private person and listeners can feel him opening up throughout the song and the music video. Themes of loneliness and longing are prominent throughout the song to the tune of an 80’s pop synth sound. He’s channeling his vulnerability and visibly showing it by undressing from his full suit to clad in underwear. I only hope for more of this on the rest of his album.
Now is the beginning of a new era, and it’s never too late to join the Styles fandom. Stay to find out what else Harry has in store for Harry’s House.
