That headline is a little misleading- there is no actual house for sale. But Harry’s House, the new album by Harry Styles just dropped on May 20th and it is definitely worth taking a (listening) tour of. 

For starters, this album comes after a three year drought of new Harry Styles songs. With his last album being Fine Line, which dropped December 13th, 2019. So it’s safe to say that it’s been on repeat in any big fan’s ears since its release. 

This electronic third album plays with the idea of home, viewing it more as a state of mind. “Imagine it’s a day in my house, a day in my mind,” Styles told Apple Music. “What do I go through? I’m playing fun music. I’m playing sad music. I have doubts. I’m feeling stuff.” 

That intimacy of his “home” is most definitely reflected in the songs, which are conversational and honestly confessional, as if he’s thinking out loud and you’re in the room. 

The album starts off with “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” which is a pretty weird title if you go into the album completely blind. Even after listening to it a good 20 times, I still don’t think it would play in a sushi restaurant. But its charm is in its backstory. 

During an interview with Zane Lowe through Apple Music, Styles explained how exactly it came to be. “After Fine Line, I had an idea of how I thought the next album would open. But there’s something about ‘Sushi’ that felt like, ‘Nah, that’s how I want to start.’ It becomes really obvious what the first song should be based on what you play for people when they’re like, ‘Oh, can I hear a bit of the music?’ It’s like, how do you want to set the tone?”

Set the tone it certainly does. With its hints of disco and upbeat melody, this song makes you want to get up and dance for the duration of the entire album. It will definitely be an opener on the Harry’s House tour- mark my words. 

A song that specifically stood out to me as different was “Grapejuice”. Again with the weird titles, but there is a method to the madness. The song starts off with a breathy, “1.. 2.. 3..” and immediately goes into the most catchy tune I’ve ever heard in my life. This song is one I could listen to over and over and genuinely not get tired of. With lyrics such as, “There’s just no getting through without you.” It’s the perfect score for an indie movie.

While this is Harry’s House, many people were invited in to help. A good example of this is the song, “Daylight” with credits to Styles, Tyler Johnson, and Kid Harpoon. 

When asked about the writing process of “Daylight” in his Apple Music interview, Styles said, “We were like, ‘We have to find a way to stay awake and finish this, because if we all go to bed, then this won’t turn out the way it would if we finished tonight.’ So we powered through, finished it, and went down to the beach as the sun was coming up and it was like, ‘Okay. Yeah.’ It felt correct that we’d finished it in that place. Life, and songs in particular, are so much about moments. In surfing, for example, sometimes you don’t get the wave and sometimes the wave comes and you haven’t practiced. But every now and again, the wave comes and you’re ready, you’ve practiced enough that you can ride it. Sometimes when the songs write themselves like that, it feels like, ‘Okay, there’s a reason why sometimes I sit out there, falling off the board a bunch. It’s for this moment.”

My personal favorite song on the album is his single, “As It Was”. While it’s an insanely popular song, I don’t think that takes away from its meaning. If I were to get lyrics tattooed across my forehead, they’d be from this song. 

“‘As It Was,’ to me, is bittersweet. It’s devastating. It’s a death march. It’s about metamorphosis and a perspective change, which are not necessarily things you have time with. People aren’t like, ‘Oh, we’ll give you a couple more days with this moment and let you say goodbye to your former self,’ or whatever. No. Everyone is changing, and by the time you realize what’s happened, [the moment] is already gone.” Styles told Apple Music.

The last song that stood out to me on the album was a song called “Matilda”. Not only because that was my comfort movie, but because its lyrics genuinely resonated with me upon listening. 

This song felt like almost a lullaby to those struggling with family trauma. With lyrics like, “Nothing ‘bout the way that you were treated ever seemed especially alarming till now” and “You can throw a party full of everyone you know, and not invite your family ‘cause they never showed you love”, it’s hard to not shed a few tears after listening. No matter how many times you listen. I was really impressed yet again with Harry’s ability to get me on the verge of tears after a single listen. 

“I had an experience with someone where, in getting to know them better, they revealed some stuff to me that was very much like, ‘Oh, that’s not normal, like I think you should maybe get some help or something.’ This song was inspired by that experience and person, who I kind of disguised as Matilda from the Roald Dahl book.” Styles said about Matilda. 

Sometimes it’s hard for artists to continually top their previous works, but Harry’s House shows that it is absolutely possible to continue to make your best work. Even if you’re not considered that “young kid from the boy band” anymore. 

“To me, it’s everything. It’s everything I’ve wanted to make.” Styles said.