Four out five One Direction members have started their solo career’s. Harry Styles is the latest of the deceased boy band to release an album. When his tour was released a majority of the venue's sold out within minutes. As someone who listened to every one of One Direction’s albums, I was excited to see what each of the guys would produce once on their own. Harry was always the one I was sure would go solo and he made that notion true when his first single off of his self-titled debut album, “Sign of the Times” dropped a few weeks ago. The song is much different than what I expected from Mr. Styles first solo record. The song has almost a David Bowie feel, but I couldn’t get into it no matter how many times it was played on the radio. It set the scene for how I would feel about the album.
The album comes with ten tracks of a crooning Harry Styles. All of the One Direction boys have ventured off to try new sounds and Harry is throwing it back to 80s pop and rock scenes. “Kiwi” gives you some rock n’ roll feel and I can’t deny the rhythm it has. I like the guitar and the harder sound of the song. It’s much different from the feel of “From the DIning Table”, but I enjoy the eclectic mix that having both songs on this album brings. “FTDT” is heartbreaking and speaks of how a lovers presence is deeply missed. I enjoyed the song and the slow style that was interpreted. Another slower one from the album is “Ever Since New York”. It’s rumored that this is a clapback to Taylor Swift referencing her song off of 1989, “Welcome to New York”. The song is once again pretty sad and he’s mourning a connection that was lost. We don’t know exactly what that connection was, but losing it must have hurt like hell. The album picks up slightly with the ninth track on the album, “Woman”. Not in message so much, but in tone. He’s cursing a woman he is no longer with who is moving on. The lyrics are still pretty sad, but that awesome guitar is back in the bridge and it makes it all better. There is also a duck noise that is just Harry with effects. “Sweet Creature” is very similar to Vance Joy’s “This Mess Is Mine” in melody and that worries me for the song. The song is sweet and is about how a relationship is up in the air , but they will always fall back to each other. It’s the second official single off the album.
It seems Harry hopes to dazzle the audience with crooning since both of his singles are some of the slowest on the album. I enjoyed the album more than I expected to, but I still am not too sure of the path Harry’s music is taking, but I’ll keep my mind open. I’ll give the album a 3/5.