British pop sensation Harry Styles has as of April 1st released the first single set to appear on his third studio album entitled Harry’s Home. The single “As It Was” is the first of 13 tracks according to Apple Music. The full album will become available on May 20th. 

“As It Was” surprisingly opens with the voice of a special family member, Ruby, who is Styles’ goddaughter. According to the singer, she got accustomed to calling him every night during quarantine, and made her frustration known when he missed the call one night, resulting in the voice memo featured in the new track. 

With a focus on time spent in quarantine due to COVID-19, it is great to see these small touches added to tie the creative process of Harry’s House together.

The song has a feel that is different from his previous work, with a more 80s pop feel to the instrumentals. A catchy chorus is combined with the upbeat feeling to create a track that listeners won’t soon forget

The music video features both Styles and a woman that are on a spinning platform as he tries to chase after her, but they can never quite seem to stick together. This point is further illustrated by the two being pulled apart across a moving floor. It is only at the end of the music video that Styles is okay with being alone and is shown happily running out of the room that most of the music video takes place in, by himself

The lyrics however, carry quite the opposite vibe with one part of the verses stating:

Harry, you’re no good alone,
Why are you sitting at home on the floor?
What kind of pills are you on?

Styles may be capturing his difficulty with isolation over the past couple of years, as the album was written during such a strange time historically. 

The singer discussed in multiple interviews the morning following his midnight BST (7:00 PM EDT) release how the pandemic served as a time to find himself outside of music. Styles told BBC Radio 1, “The song is about embracing change, finding oneself, losing oneself, shifting perspective, lots of different things.”  

Across these interviews the musician also opened up about how quarantine, as a forced pause caused him to step away from music properly for the first time since he was sixteen. Thanks to being able to take this break creatively and focus on himself, he was able to create the new album from a space of having fun, when in the past creating new music has been surrounded by a sense of nervousness for Styles. 

Harry Styles found his rise to fame after being in the band One Direction, which took the world by storm. Only after the hiatus of the band in 2015 was he able to begin working on solo music and find himself through his own creative process separately from other people. The exploration of his solo work can be found in his self-titled debut album as well as his sophomore album Fine Line.  

Fans are excited to see how his style has grown and changed for the new third album coming in May, the singer is known for being very open and his work and not holding back when it comes to expressing his emotions and the things that he goes through while creating the records.  

“As It Was’’ is a strong start to this new era, as the song has already surpassed “Watermelon Sugar” and “Adore You” in the amount of streams within the first day of release. Harry Styles has also stated that this is one of his favorite tracks he has created off of the album as a whole.  

The single also broke the record of the most streamed song on Spotify within 24 hours of release, surpassing Adele who previously held the top spot. 

Listeners should get ready for Harry’s House as it is sure to be a knockout album if it is anything like this first single.