Album Review: “Harry’s House”

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Sophia Oppenheim

After two months of teasers, the one and only Harry Styles finally released his third studio album: “Harry’s House.” On March 23, Styles told the world that he would be putting out a new album on May 20. A week later, on April 1, Styles released “As It Was,” track number 4 out of 13 on the album, which has been #1 on the Billboard charts for six consecutive weeks. Styles kept himself busy during the weeks leading up to the release. He performed at Coachella, was featured in Better Homes & Gardens, worked on his nail polish company, Pleasing, performed at the Today show and was interviewed by many, including Zane Lowe, about “Harry’s House.”

Finally, the long-awaited day arrived, and, let’s just say, I loved it. The morning of the release, I woke up, put my AirPods in, sat in bed and listened to the 41-minute album. I already had some prior knowledge of some of the songs on the album as I was able to watch videos of Styles’s performance at Coachella of “Late Night Talking” and “Boyfriends,” which was before the album’s release. Style wrote “Boyfriends” right at the end of finishing his second album, “Fine Line.” However, Styles made the decision to include it in the next album so he could perfect it. He brought in guitarist Ben Harper to help him out. Harper previously gave the guitar he used for “Boyfriends” to his daughter, but he took it back to use it in Styles’s song.

My first time listening to the entire album once through, my instant favorites were “Satellite,” “Keep Driving,” “Love of my Life” and “Matilda.” “Satellite” became an instant favorite after hearing it shift from the slower song it started out as to the upbeat tune that was hidden underneath. Styles seems like he’s sending a message that he has fallen in love and that he is going to be there for his girlfriend, Olivia Wilde. Wilde is the director of Styles newest movie,“Don’t Worry Darling,” that is premiering this September. Another song that seems as if it was written about Wilde is “Keep Driving.” “Keep Driving” was written with Styles’s old friend and guitarist, Mitch Rowland. The two wrote the song about a couple escaping reality and just deciding to drive. Lyrics like “black and white film camera,” “ash tray, swimming pool” and “passports in foot wells” give us a peek into the travels Styles seem to be taking. On the flip side, Styles said that “Love of my Life” is a song about home rather than the literal love of his life. Styles wanted to write a song about his love for England, the country where he grew up. My favorite part of this song is the outro which was used in the album trailer, which was released a couple of months ago. When I first heard the notes when the trailer was released, I loved the melody, so I was really excited to see how it all came together.

I also enjoyed one of the more upbeat tunes, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant,” the first song on the album. The song starts the album off with an eccentric tone as Styles uses different vocal techniques throughout this number and includes lyrics like “Scooba-duba-dubub-boo.” During the chorus, there are multiple different instruments used, specifically the trumpet, something that I have rarely heard in Styles’s music. Furthermore, I instantly realized that Styles was back to adding in food into his songs. In Styles’s first album, “Harry Styles” he released the song “Kiwi,” and in his second album, “Fine Line,” he released the song “Cherry” (a personal favorite), and the song that won him the Brit Awards Song of the Year and a Grammy for the Best Pop Solo Performance, “Watermelon Sugar.”

In “Harry’s House,” the third song on the album, “Grapejuice,” and, of course, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant,” both have references to food as well. While these six songs have food mentioned in the name, Styles has also thrown in foods, specifically breakfast foods, in his lyrics as well. In “Music For a Sushi Restaurant,” he sings about fried rice, eggs, coffee, ice cream and green tea. In “Daylight,” he talks about honey, and in “Keep Driving,” he talks about maple syrup, coffee, pancakes, hash browns and egg yolks. Styles also mentions coffee in two of his songs from “Fine Line:” “She” and “Falling.” So what is Styles’s fascination with food? We simply may never know. But I guess I can safely say that Styles truly enjoys food. I personally think that his fascination with food is fun and shows that his music is unlike any other.

As the “Fine Line” era closes and the “Harry’s House” era is just opening, a new era of Styles’s clothes is also on the rise. Throughout his entire Love on Tour debut, the tour for his album “Fine Line,” he usually wore trousers, suspenders, a colorful button-up and boots. This new music era has also caused Styles’s clothes to change as well. Styles is a Gucci ambassador and has always worn their clothes to important events. However, recently we have seen Styles in multiple different jumpsuits from different designers. In the “As It Was” music video, he wears a bright red jumpsuit. During night one of Coachella, he was in a completely sparkled jumpsuit, and he also appeared in a jumpsuit on the Today show on May 19. As of right now, my favorite recent statement outfit of Styles was his outfit at his second weekend of Coachella. Styles appeared in a huge bright pink fur coat, matching Lizzo, another singer he performed with. Styles was also in a vibrant pink vest, which, of course, had cherries and a strawberry. He also had matching pink pants, which were embroidered with his initials.

Our most recent Styles outfit was seen on the night of May 20 when Styles performed at the UBS Arena in New York, a concert I was supposed to attend, but I, unfortunately, tested positive for COVID-19. The dreaded two pink lines on the test, of course, meant I would have to wait even longer to see Styles again in person. Fortunately, Styles live-streamed the concert through Apple Music, so, I guess, that’s the next best thing. During the performance, Styles was wearing leather pants, and a heart patterned shirt. He has also taken a recent liking to Adidas sneakers and large colorful pearl necklaces. During this live performance, Styles went through the entire order of the new album giving fans who were there, in person or watching at home, a chance to hear the new album live. I personally sat in my room with my Sprouting nail polish on from Pleasing, next to my new Harry Styles vinyl and tapestry gifted to me by a close friend. I fully loved the entire concert. So now I await the day until Styles visits us again in Boston, but until then, I will be listening to “Harry’s House” on repeat.