Harry Styles - As It Was - Single [Review]

Following the late 2019 release of his second solo album Fine Line, Harry Styles is releasing his third studio album, titled Harry's House, on May 20th. The album's lead single, released on April 1st, is titled "As It Was" and broke records on its first day of release. The song is an uptempo alternative pop song with synth that gives it a bit of an '80s and early '90s feel. (Parts of it, in fact, especially the motif with which the song opens, remind me of The Cure's 1992 song "Friday I'm in Love.") In keeping with the title of the album (which, again, is Harry's House), the lyrics of the song definitely do seem to address some sort of isolation or being held back from human interaction: "'Harry, you're no good alone. Why are you sitting at home on the floor?'" Styles also claims that he can't interact in the way that he would like to because "gravity's holdin' me back" and asks for someone else to be the one to make the first move of reaching out: "I want you to hold out the palm of your hand." The intro of the song, in fact, features a young child speaking the following words: "Come on, Harry, we want to say goodnight to you." As Styles has confirmed himself, that is actually Harry's goddaughter Ruby and is from an actual voicemail left by her: "[Ruby] got a streak of calling me every night before bed," he revealed, "and I missed it once, and she wanted to let me know that she was quite angry with me." Once I learned that, this song (and especially that intro) became so much more precious, and it definitely fits with the song's theme of social isolation. Harry has also further elaborated upon the meaning of the song, commenting, "The song is about metamorphosis, embracing change and former self, perspective shift and all that kind of stuff." I personally love the fun, synthy energy of the song and can't wait for the album, especially since I feel like if this song is a harbinger of what's to come on the album, this may just end up being even better than Harry Styles or Fine Line!