Why Harry Styles by Harry Styles Was the Best Album of 2017

When you hear the name Harry Styles you may immediately think of the band One Direction. While he is well known for being apart of one of the biggest boybands of the last decade, he is also known for his very successful solo career.

With the release of his highly anticipated solo album in 2017, Styles skyrocketed to the top of the charts in over 80 countries. He was now detached from his former boyband persona and took on a more sophisticated and mature attitude. He showed us that he is more than a band widely idolized by teen girls, and he proved it with this album.

Harry Styles is a total masterpiece full of amazing tunes. The album begins with my favorite, Meet Me in the Hallway . A heart-wrenching song that channels a dreamy guitar with lyrics of someone pleading to a love lost. Harry cries out to his lover, letting them know that whenever and wherever they are, he would be there. In this song, he portrays love as an addiction, something he needs and once he’s without it then he’s hopeless, yearning for more. Harry opened the album with this song to foreshadow the theme of the album: broken hearts, sex, and love. Meet Me in the Hallway is very powerful and touching and should be given more credit than it receives as it is often overlooked.

Next is a song we have all heard on the radio(and one that should’ve one a Grammy if the Grammy’s still awarded talent but let’s not go there). Sign of the Times is a dreamy, slow- paced pop rock tune that drew inspiration from 70s rock songs of artists such as David Bowie and Queen. This song broke barriers of what is acceptable to showcase on todays tired and played out radio. It is different from what some may say modern “pop” music is and should be. But, nonetheless it is one of the greatest songs of the past decade and shall I stretch and say of all time…? This song is a tale of “avoiding emotion and reality during times of grief and hardship”. As his debut solo, Styles received much positive feedback as this was his debut single launching his solo career.

Carolina is up next. It’s a very fun and catchy tune, that talks about Styles’ endeavors with a girl he became infatuated with who goes by the name of Townes. He wrote a song about her after just meeting her once! Imagine being that girl. The process of making this song was such a fun time for Harry and his crew as they used pots and pans and whooped their way through all the choruses and the escalating beat. Believe me when I say this is a good jam to dance and funk around to. It adds something different to the album much like Only Angel, which has much of the same themes of sex and fun.

Two Ghosts is also one of my very favorites(although I say this about every song on the album). But truly, this song is a work or art and all around amazing. Harry wrote this song in 2013, well before he even started his solo career. It is about him and his love (NOT Taylor Swift) not being the same people they were when they first began their relationship. Things were so simple for them then and now everything is complicated. They are stuck between boundaries on their love and it is as if they are a shell of who they once were. Every person who I have recommended this song to has fell in love with it and it’s not hard to understand why. It is full of emotion and many of us can relate to it. Sweet Creature has a very similar theme. It talks about a love and how their relationship has come a long way. But, in this song Harry’s lover is home and no matter what they go through, they will always find their way back to each other. Not only are the lyrics beautiful but so is Harry’s voice. James Corden would agree!

Harry definitely jumps into the rocker persona with this next song, both with the lyrics and the instrumental. Kiwi is a somewhat raunchy song that mentions sex, drugs, and all of the above. There is plenty of yelling and screaming and the guitar and drums add to the while nature of the song. It’s the perfect song to jump around and scream your lungs out to. When Harry performs this song live he gives it the right amount of energy and soul that takes it to the next level. This song will make anyone want get out of their seats and dance along!

Woman is a little different from the rest of the album. It’s kind of in between the sappy love and crazy rock that the whole album is consisted of. I fell in love when I first listened. It’s a bit more soulful and playful and an instant hit. Harry has always talked of how he is a selfish lover and he definitely shows it through this song. He yearns for a “woman” to stop playing with his feelings but there is another man in the picture. the piano, guitar, and “la-las” are perfect in this song. Mitch totally shreds on the guitar in the break between the chorus and the repeat featuring Harry’s moans and hums. This will surely be stuck in your head all day long!

The album winds down with Ever Since New York and From the Dining Table. Harry definitely poured his broken heart out into these two songs. ESNY was the second song Harry performed from his album. It is a very slow and beautiful song. It entails a deep sadness, seemingly to be about his inability to be with someone he really cares about. Harry has stated in an interview that he wrote this song about the bad news of his late stepfather who passed away prior to that. It is a heart wrenching song, especially when you learn the story behind it. FTDT is the last track on Harry’s self-titled album. It has a very sombre tone featuring Styles’ singing raw lyrics depicting the pain of not having the lover you once had anymore. It’s very emotional and greatly details the sadness of seeing someone you love move on and how hopeless that situation can be.

Harry Styles has shown us how versatile he can be with his music. He has grown as an artist and the proof is in his multi-genre album. He gave us many different emotions and styles in just 10 songs. As his debut album he really set the bar high for any future projects and the only person who can top Harry Styles is Harry Styles.