C'mon Harry! We Wanna Say This Song Is So Good!(And we can’t wait for what’s to come!)
By Allyson J.L. Clayton
UM! Hello! Harries, how are we feeling?! I, for one, am absolutely beside myself with the release of Mister Harry Styles' brand new single “As It Was”. Like the evil mastermind that he is, Styles dropped the announcement for his third album, Harry’s House, around 9 a.m. on a random Wednesday in March after tweeting mysteriously from the innocuous @youarehome account on Twitter for the two weeks leading up to the announcement. And finally today, March 31st at 6 p.m.(CST), we got the first taste of the next Harry Styles era and it was everything I didn’t know I needed! This is not not a threat, but I actually can’t wait SEVEN entire weeks to get the whole album, so I’m going to need it NOW. Thank you so much!
Let’s take this piece by piece:
[“Come on, Harry, we wanna say goodnight to you”]
Yeah, so, right off the bat Mr. Styles is pulling at our heartstrings with some uber cute SOT (sound on tape, a term I have just learned from my musical aficionado friend Tess) from Ruby Winston–the daughter of Ben Winston, who has been a part of the HSMU (Harry Styles Musical Universe) since the One Direction days.
[Holdin' me back
Gravity's holdin' me back
I want you to hold out the palm of your hand
Why don't we leave it at that?
Nothin’ to say
When everything gets in the way
Seems you cannot be replaced
And I'm the one who will stay]
The first word that comes to mind is: effervescent. The tone of his voice; it sounds like the sheer curtains on a giant canopy bed billowing in the breeze coming in from the open windows. It immediately puts me at ease and I feel at home in this song already. Then, you listen to the lyrics and an immense sense of longing washes over, like you are sitting on that bed alone. These lyrics feel like yearning for things to be simple, but ultimately accepting that the things worth staying for never are. Accompanied with the visuals (in the music video) of Harry seemingly stuck behind a glass door and then being pulled backwards as everyone around him moves forward, it speaks to this universal theme of simulation; there’s only so much we can actually control.
[In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
As it was, as it was
You know it's not the same]
The chorus is simple, comforting repetition. Nothing stays the same, but at least we change together.
[Answer the phone
“Harry, you’re no good alone.
Why are you sitting at home on the floor?
What kind of pills are you on?
Ringin' the bell
And nobody's coming to help
Your daddy lives by himself
He just wants to know that you're well]
Loneliness is profound, dark, and all-encompassing. In the same way that Harry is alluding to purposefully isolating himself when he feels the lowest–something a lot of us know ‘All Too Well’– it feels like my brain is starting to tape over the events of the pandemic as a form of self-preservation. But to isolate and try to forget? What kind of life is that? Side note: did anyone else feel a bit faint hearing him sing his own name?
[Go home, get ahead, light-speed internet
I don’t wanna talk about the way that it was
Leave America, two kids follow her
I don't wanna talk about who's doin' it first]
Okay, now, woah. Slow it down. Run it back. Did you hear that? Harry, my dear, I think we need to talk about open communication being the pillar of any good relationship! Seemingly, ‘not wanting to talk’ is a common theme throughout Harry Styles’ discography. He mentions breakdowns in communication as something that causes a lot of pain and echoes that sentiment in the music video for “As It Was”, as the two spin around and around, never really being able to connect with one another long enough. Resisting the things that are good for us because they seem impossible or too hard often just muddles things further. We let ourselves drift from each other in order to avoid accountability and relationships falter as a result. At some point, you have to decide: “in this world, it’s just us”.
The drums are punchy and come in expeditiously, raising your heart beat and teasing your adrenaline while the dulcet tones of Harry’s vocals soothe your anxiety only to have your mind start to race once you absorb the lyrics. Hello?! It’s an 80s New Wave revival and I absolutely can’t wait for what’s to come. Are we hard and fast on that 7-weeks-from-now release date, Harold? Let me know!
Why does he know this phraseology?!
