#rande gerber

Maybe even before the Fine Line era, Harry already wanted to distance himself from the whole LA scene, and the pandemic ended up completely changing the way he viewed that city (and Rome entered the chat ❤️)

During the last year of the band and HS1 era he was constantly at Rande’s Malibu restaurant. He even had his birthday party there one year (the year Louis famously tweeted “happy birthday, mate.” He vacationed at their home in Canada a couple of times IIRC. And he was hanging out with their daughter, Kaia (and spoke others) in those photos of him on the beach in that rainbow unicorn shirt.

Kaia Gerber, Cindy Crawford, Rande Gerber, and Presley Gerber

He was sold as the breakout star to the general public based on what, actually?

He was not the best singer, dancer, speaker, or writer in the band.

He just dressed differently, had long hair, and distanced himself from the others. How did this make people believe all the advertising that the Azoffs did for him?

Was it pity that drew people to him? Was it the Larries’ fantasy that made people interested in him? Was it the fear of being labeled as homophobic if you weren’t supporting Harry?

I think you’re looking at Harry Styles retrospectively, instead of from Irving Azoff’s and Rob Stringer’s perspective back in 2012, right after One Direction broke big in the USA.

What X Factor hypothetically selected was the best entertainer, but what these shows actually pick out— with the manufactured sob stories, onscreen psychological manipulation, the promise of wealth and celebrity— are the most receptive human raw material to music industry molding.

All of One Direction succumbed to the lure.

Irving Azoff knows raw material when he sees it, and he certainly knows about industry molding. Sony wrote the textbook on building and destroying musicians.

Harry was young, charismatic, beautiful, talented, and super hungry. The industry insiders weren’t looking at a solo musician in the making; Harry was a whole corporate empire. Harry was their sexy foundation to a new management company (FSM), to early dynamic pricing (-DEMAND- his fans don’t say no), to huge revenue from unprecedented venue residencies (MSG, LA Forum, possibly Sphere), to attracting talent to FSM, to building support for venues worldwide, to a lifestyle fashion and make up company (Pleasing).

If Harry had acting talent, he would have been the Azoffs’ entrance into a world of cinema. They tried, anyway.

When we look back on 2016-17, we can clearly see that it wasn’t just normal “advertising” for Harry, but industry using connections to make money for each other. Rolling Stone, Variety, and Conde Nast (Anna Wintour, Rob Sheffield, Brittany Spano, Shirley Halperin) benefited from Harry’s appearances and hype. Victoria’s Secret benefited from his girlfriends (Shanghai show, sales). Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The Kardashian businesses. Rande Gerber’s tequila and restaurant. More than anyone else, Fulwell (Ben Winston, James Corden) built their rise by association to Harry’s business partners. It’s symbiotic, of course. Ben Winston produces the Grammys, Harry performs. Azoff owns the venues and sells concessions, Harry performs. By showing up with Winston and Corden to Liam’s funeral, Harry signaled that these industry men are closest to him now, not 1D. Fans have known this for a long time. It was as public of a rejection as he could make.

And of course, Harry Styles rose to become the dominant star from One Direction. Is he actually deserving, or good? I think the answer is actually something no one cares about, not even Irving Azoff who used to say Harry was like his fourth child. Maybe fans care and argue amongst ourselves, but fans are not arbiters of taste or history, merely consumers with open wallets.

But the appearance of industry legitimacy, more than actual talent, is important. It’s very important for Harry’s domination to look like it came about organically— hence the rapid switcheroo from “I love ‘70’s rock” (HS1) to “I love TikTok pop” (Fine Line, HH) to whatever his next thing is, as long as Harry can 1. generate numbers and 2. “earn” industry awards.

This focus on legitimacy has trained most of Harry’s fans to care the way his team cares, in terms of numbers and awards. They don’t need to listen to his music except as a means to the end of data chasing. Ironically, they use the same metrics to conclude that other artists have “flopped,” unaware of their unpaid work for HSHQ, Sony, Pleasing, FSM, etc.

The way that Harry has made himself palatable to his fans is to appear to be an enigma publicly, but a sweet cupcake from the stage. His fans conclude that he must be the victim of all these bad adult men, forgetting that Harry is also— at 31-years-old— an adult man, and has been for a long time.