More about: Harry Styles

Through and through, Harry’s House is Harry Styles’ love album. He’s quite literally screaming it from the rooftops, launching into the album with an outright declaration of “I love you babe!” on 'Music for a Sushi Restaurant'. But stepping into Harry’s House is to step into the intricacies of the feeling — the giddy crushes, the could-have-beens, the domestic, the family fights, the rebellion and the return.

After establishing himself as something entirely separate from the boyband world, Harry’s House feels like a homecoming, reuniting with something he shunned. Moving away from the indie and classic rock elements that coloured Fine Line, this album is pure pop. Leaning into the '80s pop standards that blasted from the family kitchen, influences from Elton John, A-Ha, Duran Duran and, god forbid we say it, One Direction flow through it. As though he’s no longer afraid to return to a mainstream pop world, this is an album to dance to, prioritising vibe over all else. From the first moment ‘Music From A Sushi Restaurant’ creates a score for the perfect first date, like an audio interpretation of Heath Ledger’s grand gesture in 10 Things I Hate About You. Full of horns, catchy beats and giddy vocals, it’s sickly sweet, celebrating the early stages of love and that kind of obsessive infatuation that fans feel for Harry himself. 

Clearly writing with a live audience in mind, Harry’s shows have been evolving recently. Now packing out stadiums with a crowd that come ready for a disco, it’s all about extravagant outfits and conga lines. There for a good time, it’s no wonder the new album provides plenty of dance-along songs with tracks like ‘Late Night Talking’, ‘Daydreaming’ and ‘Grapefruit’ providing good beats above all else, with the vocals and lyrics layered back in sound and seemingly priority. But that isn’t to say that the album never lets up even for a second. 

As though set in two rooms, we move between a party in the kitchen and quiet, private moments alone in a bedroom as ‘Little Freak’ and ‘Matilda’ provide a brief interlude. As the equivalent to ‘Cherry’ or ‘From The Dining Table’, these soft ballads are always set to become fan favourites, focusing in on Harry’s crisp vocals and sweet tones for the first time on the record. It’s on tracks like these that the album seems to come back into focus, putting the big, excited love aside for a moment for a more intricate vignette. As ‘Little Freak’ ponders on the almosts and could-have-beens, the lyrics gain space to breath and form into a fuller story, pulled back from grand statements and zoomed in on small moments and the strange emotional spaces that end up scattered between the ends and re-starts of love.

Immediately followed by ‘Matilda’, the two tracks give a bit of breathing room. Returning to the more cryptic lyricism heard on the big hitter single ‘As It Was’, the inclusion of different angles of love and domesticity brings so much that I can’t help but wish there was more, like the party could settle down for, like, four more minutes. Full of childhood nostalgia, the tender lyrics tackle familial love, growth and guilt in that special way that keeps people captivated by Harry’s ballads. Singing "You don’t have to be sorry for leaving and growing up" and filling the bridge with choral harmonies, these gentle tracks feel less like frantic love and more like a kind hug — something so necessary after five relentlessly upbeat tracks, like water after a run of shots.

Typing the word “however” feels scary. As such an adored figure, supported by a cult of fans and generally liked by pretty much everyone, Harry has become almost sacred. But with comments likening him and this new album to Prince, it’s like we’ve forgotten that Harry is a popstar, through and through. While the album is full of nods to '80s hits, from the electronic elements to cheesy horns and cheery guitars; all the references stay mainstream and palettable. Unlike Prince’s constant experimentation and risk-taking, Harry’s House gathers up all the best sounds we grew up listening to. From Elton John ballads, Queen theatricality and even moments of Simon and Garfunkel–esque harmonies, these are fool-proof shoes to borrow. Harry’s House stays firmly in the mainstream, only really straying as far out of pop to touch on 2010's radio-friendly indie like Phoenix or Vampire weekend. None of this is criticism. We’re listening through an album that will undeniably become a feel good standard that will feed fans and soundtrack summer parties for years to come. 

For fans of softer sounds and Harry’s more introspective lyrics, Harry’s House probably won’t dethrone tracks from the previous two albums. Lacking the high-low variety that filled the emotional journey of Fine Line, the new album doesn’t go as deep. Basking in a kind of perma-sun, for the majority of the album it is L.A.; it’s roof-down drives, it’s sparkly jumpsuits and happiness. Harry is in love, and most songs simply tell you that from the viewpoint of a different date or in a different way. As the singer settles back into a pop place, no longer shy about reuniting with his origins and celebrating the excitement and glitter that fills his public presence, it’ll be interesting to see how the album endures into winter and into fans own lives, through the complexities of ups and downs, heartbreak and darker, trickier stuff that doesn’t breach the gate of Harry’s House. 

Despite it all, Harry Styles has delivered the soundtrack for a cinematic summer. As the final piano notes ring out from ‘Love Of My Life’, it’s like hearing the credits roll on something stuck between a romance movie and a reality show. As each track builds the score for a new scene or chapter in a story of several kinds of love, moving between big boisterous declarations into small moments, every second gains the same hefty romanticism. Rarely taking his foot off the pop pedal with track after track of good vibes only, could it fizzle out quickly? Perhaps, but for now; Harry’s saying this summer is for the lovers, so get yourself a new crush and press play. 

Harry's House arrives 20 May via Erskine Records.

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More about: Harry Styles