Eight hundred and eighty-nine days.

That is how long it has been since Harry Styles released his sophomore album, Fine Line. Since then, he has gone on tour, released a nail polish line, and has headlined at Coachella. 

Finally, on May 20, 2022, Styles gave his fans what they have been hoping for: a third album. Harry’s House is composed of thirteen tracks for a duration of 41 minutes and 59 seconds. Every single note, lyric, and instrument swirls together in perfect harmony to create stupefying music that rings bliss. Once I found out about Styles’ album during a boring day in fourth hour, I immediately knew that it was going to be breathtakingly amazing. However, I still managed to underestimate all that Styles can accomplish.

Unlike most other fans of Styles, I waited until 4 p.m. that afternoon to listen to the album. I went over to Jessie Warren’s house where I could fully immerse myself in the music and enjoy the album to its fullest potential. Following any sort of meaningful line or shock in the music was a string of comments or shrieks of excitement from the two of us. Needless to say, we were both extremely satisfied with Styles’ third studio album.

Track 1: “Music For a Sushi Restaurant”

This was the perfect way to open up the album. The song begins with a funky beat, leading into a crescendo of harmonic voices sprinkled intermittently throughout the song. Its chorus was accompanied by a brass solo that I cannot help but dance to. “Music For a Sushi Restaurant” is nothing but upbeat and releases copious amounts of serotonin throughout my body. Styles was correct to make this the first track of the album as it is an astounding opener to what else he has in store.

Track 2: “Late Night Talking”

“Late Night Talking” was one of the songs that Styles performed at Coachella 2022. I had already heard snippets of it on TikTok; nonetheless, I was excited to hear the full studio version. This song has a similar energy to “Music For a Sushi Restaurant,” which was extremely positive with both catchy instrumentals and lyrics. The song talks about a significant other in Styles’ life that he would follow to the world’s end. It is a cute song that I could listen to over and over again.

Track 3: “Grapejuice”

This song is a little bit more laid back than the first two tracks. The beginning hints to a soft rock-type of song, which stems back to the style of his first album, Harry Styles. “Grapejuice” is a relaxing song that I absolutely love. It is the perfect median between his super upbeat songs, as well as his sad and mellow songs. Styles’ voice in the song verses sounds like the voicemail recording while he sings normally in the chorus, which I think is a creative and different approach to creating a song.

Track 4: “As It Was”

“As It Was” is the only single in Harry’s House. The song opens with a little girl saying “Come on, Harry, we wanna say goodnight to you.” This is an actual voicemail Styles received from his goddaughter, James, who is Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds’ oldest child. In an interview, Styles explains that she normally calls him to say “good night,” but one evening he missed the call. He put the voicemail in originally as a filler but ended up loving it and ultimately including it in the final product. The sanguine demeanor of the musicality may be deceiving, given that the actual meaning behind the song is extremely sad; Styles sings about his experience with his parents divorce. “As It Was” is an all-around beautiful song with fantastic music and heartfelt lyrics.

Track 5: “Daylight”

Much like “Grapejuice,” the tone of this song is much more relaxed than some of the other tracks on the album. The musicality of the verses has a more pop-esque feel to it, while the chorus has more of a slow rock vibe with a greater presence of electric guitar. My favorite line in “Daylight” is when Styles sings, “If I was a blue bird, I would fly to you / you’d be the spoon / dip you in honey so I could be sticking to you.” These lines are so genuine and cute because it shows Styles’ love and devotion he expresses in his relationships.

Track 6: “Little Freak” 

“Little Freak” is about the memories that Styles had with a former partner and how he’d like to remember the good moments that he had with them. The name Jezebel, which is the name he uses when he is talking about his partner, is a biblical character from the books of Kings. She is the daughter of the priest-king Ethbaal and the wife of King Ahab, the ruler of the kingdom of Israel. According to Merriam-Webster, someone who is referred to as Jezebel normally possesses the qualities of being “an impudent, shameless, or morally unrestrained woman,” which could be how Styles viewed this partner. I adored “Little Freak.” The music was very light and ethereal, which perfectly matched the overall tone of the song.

Track 7: “Matilda”

When I first heard this song, the only words that I could form were, “Wow,” and, “Oh my God.” “Matilda” is such a beautiful song that it brought a tear or two to my eyes. In an interview with NPR, Styles was asked if he was referring to the character Matilda from the novel Matilda by Rohld Dahl. Styles said that it was not and that he actually used that name in place of someone that he knows. In “Matilda,” Styles sings about the trying life of someone he knows; specifically, the fact that their family didn’t show them the affection and attention they deserved. Styles continues to talk about how they had the strength to bring joy into his life by singing the lyrics, “You showed me a power that is strong enough to bring sun to the darkest days.” To accompany these beautiful lyrics was the beguiling combination of piano and acoustic guitar. “Matilda” was an enchanting song and by far one of my favorites on Harry’s House. 

Track 8: “Cinema”

The tone change from “Matilda” to “Cinema” was abrupt. Styles brought back the upbeat music that he welcomed us within the beginning of his album. This song was groovy with a faster pace, which was nice after being smacked in the face by melodrama and authentic devastation lingering from the past two tracks. “Cinema” was a catchy song with a classic guitar solo in the middle of the song that I truly relished. This song was a little bit more on the risqué side of his music, talking about intimacy and possibly drug usage. Despite the more mature content in “Cinema,” it was still a fantastic piece of work done by Styles.

Track 9: “Daydreaming”

This is another one of my favorite songs on Harry’s House. On this track, Styles sings about how one of his relationships was quite a daydream. Though I love the lyrics in this song, what really sold it for me was the musicality. Everything about “Daydreaming” was perfect. The combination of background vocals, electric guitar and piano, and brass section altogether with the cheerful tone of the song was phenomenal. The song burst with yellow euphoria that I could not get enough of. This paired with Styles’ extraordinary vocals made for a fantastic song.

Track 10: “Keep Driving”

As the title of this track would hint, “Keep Driving” emits the perfect energy of a summertime song to blast in the car while driving. The second line of the song is “yellow sunglasses.” The color yellow tends to correlate with feelings of joy and happiness, which helped set the overall tone of the song. Styles sings about little moments that he shares with his romantic partner such as having breakfast and promising to forever love them. This short but sweet song was a cute aspect of the album with a catchy tune and endearing lyrics for the most part.

Track 11: “Satellite” 

The beginning of this song made me think that it was going to be another sad track on the album. However, it immediately picked up-tempo to be much more optimistic and fun right as the chorus began. In a literal sense, satellites orbit the Earth with the help of the gravitational pull, but when Styles sings, “Spinnin’ out waiting for ya to pull me in / I can see you’re lonely down there / don’t you know that I’m right here?” he is saying that he is going insane waiting for a specific person to notice him; Styles wants to become closer with them to grow their relationship. I love the exciting energy of this song that stems from the quick tempo and tune of the music. It is a song that I cannot help but dance to.

Track 12: “Boyfriends”

Like“Late Night Talking,” “Boyfriends” was performed at Coachella but hadn’t been released yet. After a string of happier songs, Styles decided to re-welcome the melodrama into the tracklist. “Boyfriends” is absolutely beautiful. This song was just Styles’ voice and an acoustic guitar—nothing else, which is an aspect of the track that I loved. The song is nothing but delicate and gentle. Each lyric seems to be sung with care, and each chord of the guitar seems to be plucked with solicitude. “Boyfriends” is dainty in the most heavenly way possible. There has been some debate over what the song is about, but the theory that makes the most sense to me is that he is describing himself. Styles talks about the poor actions that boyfriends tend to perform, but he sings them in a way as if they were mistakes he has made in past relationships. This song is also extremely down-to-Earth as Styles mentions his imperfections as a human being, which is yet another reason as to why I adore this song so much. 

Track 13: “Love Of My Life”

Just like how “Music For a Sushi Restaurant” was a perfect opener for Harry’s House, there was no better way to close the album but with “Love Of My Life.” Though it was not as buoyant as the first track, it still had a positive tone in both the musicality and the lyrics. The song was, as stated in the title, about the love of his life. Styles expands on that idea in the song, and he talks about little things he loves to do with them, along with how he is going to put in the effort to learn everything about them and devote time specifically for them. What I loved the most about this song was the ending. When Styles announced the impending release of the only single “As It Was,” he leaked two separate parts of the album. One part was the lyrics to the chorus to his single, “In this world, it’s just us / you know it’s not the same as it was,” and the other part was a snippet of an unknown song on the album. Many people were quick to assume that the two parts correlated and tried to fit the lyrics to the snippet. When “As It Was” was released, that little snippet was not included in the song, and I mostly forgot about it. The snippet was brought back to the front of my brain as it finally showed up at the end of “Love Of My Life” which made me scream in excitement. It was a seemingly perfect way to end a seemingly perfect album. 

Though I have been able to say so much about Harry’s House, it is still difficult for me to fully put into words how much I love this album. Each of the thirteen tracks are perfectly crafted, from the versatile musical composition to the wonderfully heartfelt lyrics. Every instrument, note, and word had a spot on the album, and not one aspect went unnoticed. Jessie and I rightfully were enthusiastic about Harry’s House because of how different it is from his first two albums. The multiskilled artist showcased his talents in a brilliant way.

Though the wait of eight hundred and eighty-nine days felt agonizing at times, I am perfectly pleased with the outcome—another superlative work of art by Harry Styles.