In an age of streaming music that seems more indistinct and unpredictable than ever, Harry Styles is a constant source of can’t-miss content and larger-than-life moments. Just weeks after headlining Coachella in a haze of glitter and Shania, the boy bander shot the megastar’s third solo album, Harry’s house, is officially out. The record ushers in a new phase in Harry’s career, one that sees him trading haunting rock ballads for breezy summer bops and cementing his status as one of our most reliable and ever-improving pop stars. Endless food references to get very detailed on, uh, various elements of his current relationship, here are the biggest takeaways from Harry’s house.
Harry is a vibe.
In recent years, trending “aesthetics” like cottagecore, dark academia and more recently “coastal grandmacore” have gone viral among young fashion trendsetters on TikTok. But maybe it’s time to consider a new lifestyle aesthetic: domestic Harrycore.
The promotion around Harry’s house has given off a kind of quiet, intimate vibe since the first teasers were released – even the album’s minimalist cover evokes a Madewell campaign rather than the flamboyant imagery of past albums. Harry delves into this intimate “day in the life” energy on several tracks. “Yesterday it finally happened, a sunny afternoon / I was on my way to buy you flowers / I thought we could hide in a corner of the moor” he sings on ” Grape juice”. On “Daylight”, he sings, “Out of New York I’m on my downhill speed / we’re on my bikes, saying ‘There’s life out there’.”
Five years ago, Harry Styles was flying over Scotland, hanging from a helicopter and getting caught very in earnest as he launched his solo career with an epic nearly six-minute ballad about the end of the world. Light stuff! But now between Harry’s houseFrom soothing lyrics, unhurried melodies and even a few recent occasional frolics in the meadows, it’s clear that Harry is ready to slow down, stay grounded and enjoy the little things in life.
Harry is hungry.
My mom always said never go shopping hungry, and maybe making an album follows a similar rule. Did Harry eat before writing any of these songs? Maybe he was on full throttle to prepare for his rumored nude scenes in the next film my policeman. No matter the reason, Harry’s house is packed with culinary references, mostly on the opening track, “Music for a Sushi Restaurant”: “green eyes, fried rice, I could cook you an egg…sweet ice cream, you could use a flake or two / twist of blue chewing gum around your tongue. On “Daylight”, he sings, “dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you” and “Keep Driving” contains a verse devoted to “maple syrup, coffee, pancakes for two / Hash brown, egg yolk, I will still love you. Someone clearly loves splatters. (A real term that I just learned, and now you should know it too. I’m sorry.)
And no complaints about that, but are we sure someone didn’t just confuse the shopping list with the lyrics to the songs and pledge to do it? It should also be noted that Harry’s house adds to Harry’s continuing line of fruit-titled songs, with ‘Grapejuice’ following in the sticky footsteps of ‘Cherry’, ‘Kiwi’ and ‘Watermelon Sugar’. Someone is feeding this man.
Harry is excited (in multiple ways).
It’s been well over a year of on-set romance and oceanside PDA between Harry and his current partner, Olivia Wilde, and Harry seems ready to open up about his blossoming and often contentious relationship. Or sing about it, anyway — he politely dodged questions about Olivia during a recent interview with Howard Stern. Don’t worry, because he recorded the dirty details of his album.
Almost every love line on Harry’s house is probably about Olivia to some extent, but the two most obvious odes to the don’t worry darling the director appears on “Cinema” and “Late Night Talking.” “I just think you’re cool / I love your cinema” sings Harry – you guessed it – “Cinema”. And on “Late Night Talking”, he laments “It’s only been a few days and I miss you / And nothing really goes to plan / You stub your foot or break your camera / I’ll do anything I can to help you through.”
But he doesn’t just stick to cinematic references – Harry’s ‘Cinema’ isn’t afraid of an R rating: ‘If you get wet for me, I guess you’re all mine’, he sings before adding, and “I bring pop to the movies, you pop when we get intimate.” And there, it is not finished! “Little Freak” includes a tribute to “a wet dream just hanging out” and “a tracksuit and a ponytail, you hide the body all that yoga has given you.” But “Keep Driving” is our horny winner, with the line “Cocaine, boob side, choke it with a view of the sea.” Phew – between the drugs, the fried rice and all the wetness, this man is having wild sex.
Fans around the world are still mourning Harry’s relationship with Olivia, but maybe it’s time to accept that our guy is overjoyed and happy as a horny little clam. Maybe it’s time for us to suck it up, put “Cinema” on loop, and channel our best Nicole Kidman: heartbreak feels pretty good on an album like this.
But Harry’s house is not just horny in the traditional sense. At a time that’s been a huge part of Harry Styles lore, the singer told a story in a 2015 Apple Music interview for One Direction. Made in the morning on how his original and rejected take on the self-penned song “Olivia” included an energetic trumpet blast. “Great mix, but still missing the trumpets,” he joked to producer Julian Bunetta.
Well, Harry finally got his trumpets. “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” and “Daydreaming” make thrilling use of the kind of blazing horns one would expect to hear on an Earth, Wind & Fire track. Who’s laughing now, Julian Bunetta?
Harry’s house.
Although many have assumed that Harry’s house is a reference to Joni Mitchell’s 1975 songs “Harry’s House/Centerpiece”, Harry told Zane Lowe that the album was inspired by his time in Japan, where he discovered Japanese musician Haruomi Hosono and decided to make an album inspired by the artist’s 1973 album Hosono House. And despite the title, Harry’s house was influenced by Harry’s travels around the world. “As It Was” is about Harry’s time in Los Angeles and England at the height of the pandemic, when he finally had the chance to “sit down and make space for himself”. As he told Lowe, those months in Los Angeles and England were “the longest time I’ve been anywhere in 10-11 years.” Other songs were crafted while Harry was on a solo road trip after a holiday in Italy, and that oceanside energy regularly infects the entire album with summery vibes and carefree refrains.
And “Love of My Life”, as Harry said to Lowe (in a accent which steadily and tragically loses its North English inflection) came from his longtime desire to write a song about “home and England”. “It’s not what I wanted, to leave you behind / I don’t know where you’ll land when you fly / But baby, you were the love of my life.” Of course, the song could also be about Olivia, as some have theorized, but the lyrics better fit the musings of a nostalgic rock star.
Ultimately, Harry’s house is an airy and easy collection of summer songs, best listened to wherever the sun is shining and the vibes are right. Walking in the park, driving to the beach, or maybe just coming home, at the end of a long day, it doesn’t matter. As Harry Styles proves on Harry’s househome is where the headphones are.
