Born in England, Harry Styles is a singer, songwriter, and actor. At just sixteen years old, Styles first started his career on The X Factor. He didn’t get to move forward on the show, but he was recalled to perform with the boys that would later form One Direction.
One Direction ended up getting third place in the final round of The X Factor and a year later in 2011 they released their first studio album: Up All Night. Styles co-wrote three of the songs on this album.Up All Night was number two in the UK and number one on the billboard 200 charts.
One Direction officially split up in 2016 due to all of the members wanting to go their own separate ways. Before then, they released a total of five albums, which were all quite successful and all band members formed a successful solo career after splitting.
Erskine Records was launched by Styles through Columbia Records in 2016 at the start of his solo career.
In April 2017, he released his first solo single, “Sign Of The Times”. Just a month later he released his first solo album titled Harry Styles. According to Variety, Styles is a sensitive soul, and the album is largely about women. They compared him opposite to Justin Timberlake and Drake, when it comes to how he speaks about women.
In a lot of rap music, specifically nowadays, the way men speak about women is degrading and the lyrics don’t have a lot of meaning. Styles’ lyrics are more gentle and loving when it comes to women. In general, Harry Styles lyrics are a lot more meaningful than a lot of other male artists.
2017 was a big year for him, not only did he release an album, but he also got his first acting gig.
At the end of 2017, the movie Dunkirk came out. Dunkirk was set during WWII. Styles wasn’t the lead, but played one of the British soldiers. While filming, Styles was on his first world tour from September 2017 to July 2018. He did not release any new music in 2018, but he was still busy with publicity exposures like, talk shows and supporting charities.
Styles is known for his philanthropy. He constantly is donating proceeds from his tours and concerts to charities and other causes like Planned Parenthood. He also has shown awareness of equal rights and gender equality.
Through his ten months of tour, he used the phrase “Treat People With Kindness”, which shows up on his second album as a song title. After he wrapped up his tour, a total of $1.2 million was donated.
Styles has never been afraid to express himself. Over the years, he’s become a fashion icon, “which [has been] characterized by gender fluidity” by L’officiel. He started wearing more feminine clothing, overcoming toxic masculinity. In 2019, Styles co-chaired the Met Gala in 2019 wearing Gucci.
By the end of the year, his second album called Fine Line was released. Fine Line is a pop rock album, similar to Harry Styles. A few well known songs from this album include: “Watermelon Sugar”, “Adore You”, and “Fine Line”.
American Songwriter says the song “Fine Line” is “the record’s definitive title track” and, “is one of Styles’ most heart-wrenching songs to date”.
After Fine Line, he didn’t release any new music for almost three more years. In 2020, Styles did a NPR Tiny Desk Concert. At the end of the year he wore an iconic blue dress with gucci on the cover of Vogue.
The next year, Styles finally got to go on tour for Fine Line after it was canceled twice because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Love on Tour went from September 2021 to July 2023. In total Styles donated $6.5 million from his tour money. Also in that time, he was able to release his third album in May of 2022.
His third album was called Harry’s House. Styles said the title is inspired by the Japanese musician, Haruomi Hosono, who had an album called Hosono’s House.
All thirteen songs on the album landed in the top 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. Some known songs are: “As It Was” and “Late Night Talking”. “As It Was” reached number four on the Hot 100.
Since Styles was still on tour while Harry’s House came out, he started performing songs from that album as well.
Other than a new album in 2022, Styles had a lead role in a movie called Don’t Worry Darling. Overall the movie got pretty positive ratings, as according to Vogue, “2022 was the year of Harry Styles”.
Alongside being a musician and actor, Styles launched his own ‘personal product’ company, ‘Pleasing’. The first collection he sold was nail polish. This sold out very quickly and only had a couple in person locations. Now it consists of various beauty products, apparel, keychains, and more.
By the end of Love On Tour in mid 2023, Styles expressed his gratitude for the opportunity and his love for his fans. According to billboard, Styles said that it was the greatest time of his life and he leaves his fans to, “Look after each other, I’ll see you again when the time is right”.
He has been pretty quiet in the media since. At the end of 2023, he promoted a few new products for ‘Pleasing’ on his Instagram. He’s been taking a well deserved break after touring for almost two full years.
Through three albums, and a boy band, Styles’ music is for everyone. Whether you need a good emotional tune, a long drive around with the windows down, or to sing and dance with your friends, Harry Styles has your back.
