{"id":3142,"date":"2021-04-14T11:21:09","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T15:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=3142"},"modified":"2021-04-22T11:21:20","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T15:21:20","slug":"arachnophonia-harry-styles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2021\/04\/arachnophonia-harry-styles\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Harry Styles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student manager Colin (class of 2021) and features English singer songwriter Harry Styles’ eponymous debut solo album<\/a>. Thanks, Colin!<\/em><\/p>\n

Harry Styles<\/a><\/p>\n

Harry Styles<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

Harry Styles\u2019s self-titled debut album<\/a> marked the transition in Styles\u2019s career from popular member of the boy band One Direction<\/a> to his own solo work following the hiatus and eventual separation of the teen musical group. During his time in One Direction, Styles amassed an enormous fanbase from around the world, and the split of the group shocked these fans. Zayn Malik<\/a> was the first member to separate from the group, which may have led to the eventual collapse of the group as a whole, and he started to release his own music in 2015, creating his own solo album in 2016 titled Mind of Mine<\/a><\/em>. Eager and attentive fans turned their attention to the other members of One Direction to anticipate which teen sensation would begin releasing their own music next. Harry Styles would soon find that both himself and his music would become the spotlight of these fans, as his self-stardom rose above all other members and continues to this day. <\/p>\n

Harry Styles<\/a><\/em> would lead this craze, as Styles\u2019s first solo album connected well with varying audiences. The album was teased with the release of its first single, \u201cSign of the Times<\/a>,\u201d in April 2017, projecting a combination of soft rock and pop music into a wistful ballad that was a completely new sound for Styles. This single is famously accompanied by its music video<\/a> that was released a month later in May 2017, in which Styles flies over a body of water quite majestically. The full album would follow this video with its release four days later, meeting the anticipation of fans. <\/p>\n

\"Flying<\/p>\n

Harry Styles<\/a><\/em> would achieve a new musical direction for the artist, as fans and critics were surprised with the range of musical styles incorporated throughout the album. Songs featured throughout the work include a mixture of pop, British pop, rock, and soft rock styles, being influenced by famous and innovative artists like Queen, Elton John, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, and the Rolling Stones. Overall, I enjoy how each song on the album feels different and refreshing, never becoming too stale in their approach and delivery. There are 10 tracks on the album, and some stand-out pieces to me include \u201cOnly Angel<\/a>,\u201d \u201cEver Since New York<\/a>,\u201d and \u201cFrom the Dining Table<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lyrically, \u201cOnly Angel<\/a>\u201d is a strange dichotomy between the love Harry Styles has for himself and love for the girl he references as \u201cangel.\u201d He begins the song by singing \u201cOpen up your eyes, shut your mouth and see\/That I\u2019m the only one who\u2019s been in love with me,\u201d expressing to listeners that Styles is confidant in being himself and that rampant tabloid exposure on all of his romantic partners are typically blown out of proportion, and he seems to be telling his audience and the media that his public relationships are often misunderstood. This is then contrasted with the chorus of \u201cShe\u2019s an angel, only angel\/She\u2019s an angel, my only angel,\u201d in which Styles is turning his attention towards his romantic partner that he refers to as an angel. What I particularly like about this song is not the lyrics however, but more towards the production of the Rock pop composition of the piece. This song comes across to me as a modern-day pop version of Elton John<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cEver Since New York<\/a>\u201d is a tribute to Styles\u2019s late stepfather who passed away following a battle with cancer, after Styles was delivered the terrible news of the affliction while staying in a New York hotel. The song deals with Styles\u2019s grief in the aftermath of his stepfather’s passing, and the feelings he carries with him about how people try to support him, by singing \u201cOh, tell me something I don\u2019t already know.\u201d This emotional ballad is characterized by the driving force of the instrumentation, which upon initial hearing does not immediately indicate to the listener that this is a song about missing someone who has tragically passed away. However, Styles chose to allow the production and orchestration of this piece to be more gospel-like in nature with a sonic depth of sound surrounding the lyrics, indicating that Styles did not intend to make this piece overly dramatic but rather a strong remembrance of his late stepfather. <\/p>\n

Finally, \u201cFrom the Dining Table<\/a>,\u201d is another emotional love song but directed towards Styles\u2019s lost love and longing for a past relationship. This final piece to the album relates to the first piece of the album, \u201cMeet Me in the Hallway<\/a>,\u201d in numerous ways. First, both subjects of the song and lyrics are reflections on a past relationship, in which Styles implies that he put more effort into it and that he is the one who still cares for the lost romance, indicated by the chorus line \u201cWhy won\u2019t you ever be the first one to break?\u201d Another connection is that both song titles refer to a sense of home, in which it can be implied that Styles and his partner were living together, and he is referring to significant places in the home that meant something in their relationship. Finally, both songs feature similar instrumentation, characterized by an acoustic guitar and emphasis on Styles\u2019s vocals. The change in orchestration is different across both songs, but the similar feeling of vocals paired with acoustic guitar only emphasize the feeling of longing and desperation that Styles is singing about. <\/p>\n

\"Publicity<\/p>\n

Overall, this album is a great listen and while it may not be perfect in my eyes, it certainly won the hearts of many fans that were longing for more music from the most prominent member of One Direction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library\u2018s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[61217,15223,15236],"tags":[61217,162474,120805,162606,37973,15282,15334,37972,61343],"class_list":["post-3142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arachnophonia","category-collection","category-guest-post","tag-arachnophonia","tag-colin","tag-harry-styles","tag-one-direction","tag-pop","tag-poprock","tag-popular-music","tag-rock","tag-rock-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgMV3E-OG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3142"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3153,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3142\/revisions\/3153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}