rose & dagger

FIVE minutes and 40 seconds.

That’s how long it takes former ONE DIRECTION heart-throb HARRY STYLES to establish himself as the world’s most exciting new music star.

His debut single Sign of the Times is a soaring, epic rock ballad that sounds like a cross between DAVID BOWIE and LANA DEL REY (as weird as that sounds).

It goes against the current trend of non-distinguishable dance tracks — the length alone would make it commercial suicide for any other artist.

Its main instrument is the piano, which Harry has been studiously playing in private for years.

For large portions of the track he sings in falsetto, showing off a quality voice with much more range than we ever saw during his five years in 1D. This song has the potential to become a timeless classic.

Harry co-wrote it with the brilliant, highly regarded Grammy-winning producer JEFF BHASKER, best known for his work with KANYE WEST and JAY Z.

Whether anyone in the industry will take young Harry seriously as the “next Bowie” remains to be seen, but the 23-year-old is certainly putting his best foot forward.

The lyrics are “deeply personal”, sources close to Harry tell me, but they’re also open to any form of interpretation.

Sign of the Times begins with him singing over the piano: “Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times. Welcome to the final show, hope you’re wearing your best clothes.”

Could it be about a break-up? Possibly. Or maybe about death? More likely.

The refrain throughout the song is his need to “gotta get away from here”. From what exactly isn’t clear.

“We could meet again somewhere, somewhere far away from here,” he sings, poignantly.

Many people think Harry has disappeared up his own backside with an arty promotional campaign designed to distance himself as far as possible from the 1D heritage that has given him this opportunity.

That said, I give him huge credit for releasing the most daring and well-delivered debut single of the decade.

okAY OKAY OKAY

it was announced harry is going to be on the graham norton show on 4/21

it was announced harry is going to be on ryan seacrest’s show on friday morning

it was announced harry is going to be on darryl morris’ show on monday

some new photos of harry came out from sign of the times and there were pictures of his stunt double in a mask that look super creepy but also some VERY adorable pics of him standing ‘round with beautiful windswept curls

quotes from harry’s interview with nick grimshaw came out where he talks about (most of these are from twitter so i’m not 100%):

he wrote 70 songs for the album (30 like full length songs)

one of the songs on the album is a song he wrote several years ago

he said that he made music he wanted to listen to and that was the funnest part about making the album for him

he said he started writing in feb 2016 and stopped while filming dunkirk and then started again in july and finished in december

he was stressed about what he was going to do with it, but he went to jamacia and was able to unplug

his album is his favorite album to listen to right now

ed sheeran listened to the album and he didn’t end up putting one of the songs he liked on the album

he gave adele big praise and said she gave him her ‘21′ album when he turned 21

he said he felt naked when he got his hair cut off

he said he buys his own groceries and that he likes keeping work and being at home with his family separate

he said he doesn’t tweet much because he doesn’t like saying something just for the sake of it

he said he doesn’t want to be viewed as a womanizer

he said he hasn’t dated in a long time and that he’s very busy

he said he snores and likes routine

he said he is NOT dating obama