all the ways in which harry styles is saying fuck you to gender norms

So by now we all know that I am so far up Harry Styles’ ass, I love every little thing he does – from the way he sings, to the way he handles interviews, and how he pouts as he picks up the mic he just dropped. But the one thing he does that I love the most is challenge gender norms. In the most public years of his life he’s doing things that society used to deem as ‘female’ and, although he still has his masculine traits, he’s embracing the full spectrum of gender by throwing on a pink shirt, and he looks pretty good doing it too.

As they did their sound check for Jimmy Kimmel yesterday, the hundreds of cameras around them spotted Harry pulling out a rose gold iPhone from the back pocket of his jeans. Now I can almost guarantee you haven’t seen another male celebrity with this colour phone, and it shows how he’s taking this huge step towards just doing whatever the heck you like. It’s so obvious that anyone can own any colour phone they like (permitting you’re minted enough to get the new iPhone as soon as it appears in its multitude of colours), but it’s the traditional portrayal of men to have the black phone and women to have the pink phone which is just total bullshit and it’s cool someone in the public eye doing something to symbolise the eye-roll we all give to that out-dated view.

In the same way, Harry often dons a pink shirt, or a floral shirt, or a silk shirt, or a women’s shirt – basically his wardrobe is 80% shirts, 12% jazzy boots, 5% patterned suits, and 3% jeans. You could make a Kim Kardashian-style photo book out of all the cool shirts Harry has ever worn (can someone actually make this I would buy it so fast) and it would be Urban Outfitters’ no.1 best seller. Admittedly he stumbles in the pitfalls of clashing textures, suede and silk… please Harry, but when you feel good and you’re nice and snug in your sheepskin gilet (yes, really) who gives a hoot if you look like a bit silly. We’re all the victim of a poor outfit choice we make in the 30 minutes between getting out of bed and leaving to go out for the day, so why should it be any different if you just happen to be in a band?

And its not just women’s shirts Harry has in his repertoire of clothes. He has previously been spotted wearing stripy women’s jeans and the odd women’s scarf. I can’t think of many other male celebrities who would be bold enough to go out in women’s clothes when its inevitable you’re going to get papped (okay, maybe that Matthew Grey Gobbler tweet springs to mind). I also want to mention those patterned suits he wears because he takes it so much further than a cool pinstripe. Whether it’s a printed Gucci suit or a velvet Lanvin blazer, whenever Harry steps out on the red carpet, you can guarantee he’s going to look good doing it. The point I’m trying to make, aside from cramming in as many pictures of Harry Styles as possible, is that all of this is in the public eye and all of this is being seen by young people – fans or not. And that’s one of the good things that gets put about them in the press.

Harry’s long hair has become something of a novelty to the media with articles like ‘Is this Harry Styles’ hair or a silky dog?’ and ’10 times Harry Styles could’ve been in a shampoo advert’. But it’s really grown on people (pun unintended). He’s probably been one of the celebrities at the forefront of the man-bun trend (love it or hate it), but he really makes long hair work. It’s become his number one accessory whilst he’s performing live – from a classic head bang, to flipping it back with his hand and making some excellent GIFs in the process, to letting their groomer (this is her official title, I apologise Lou) braid it into plaits I could only dream of. After he recently said he’ll be cutting it eventually for charity, you could almost feel millions of people putting their hand to their heart. On top of cutting off his tresses, Harry’s been known to slick on a bit of nail varnish for campaigns against domestic violence further brushing gender norms under the rug.

With all this in mind, is it any surprise that Harry was given the British Style Award at the BFAs (British Fashion Awards)? Also, props to the people who nominated and voted for Harry because you’re doing your bit to challenge gender norms too. On top of that (as if it could get any better) these people weren’t even One Direction fans, they were genuine fashionistas who know their stuff – proof that Harry really does make a ribbon neck tie look good.

Made in The A.M. is One Direction's finest work

So this morning, after my alarm went off at 8:30, I got dressed pretty speedily and headed to the city (despite the rain) to grab a copy of One Direction’s new album; Made in the A.M. (ultimate fan edition, of course). I tried to not look too keen as I wandered around hmv at 9:30 in the morning on my day off, looking at other DVDs that I quite frankly couldn’t care less about. I even stopped for a coffee before going into the store to try and look more nonchalant. Eventually, after sticking my card in the machine and stopping off to buy a fedora, I got home and hit play. But this wasn’t the first time I’d heard the album. Of course it was available on Spotify at 00:00 last night (I’d like to take this chance to thank Spotify for having their shit together last night) so I was up till about 3am listening to most of the songs for the first time.

Generally, all of their music has matured and gotten more complex as they’ve grown up over the past five years. And this comes through strongest in their lyrics. All of the songs are about something that you could imagine they’ve experienced themselves (especially Temporary Fix which is definitely about a one night stand) and that their singer-songwriter pals have helped them transform all these things into songs. There are 4 different genres on the album (honestly, I counted; rock, pop, ballad, and big band, yes, really, big band is on there) so there's a song for everyone and it proves to people who take the time to listen to the album, that One Direction are actually talented and versatile and are not just that manufactured band from the telly. On top of that, not just anyone gets to record at Abbey Road Studios - so that’s another thing.

There are some absolute anthems on this album. I was literally standing on my bed last night with the volume on max (definitely bad for my ears) doing some John Travolta style dance from Pulp Fiction. Never Enough and Temporary Fix are the obvious dance songs which will be such a delight to witness live when they tour after the hiatus. These tracks are about being young and just having a good time – including sex – and have an aspect of recklessness to them. Never Enough has a few screams and Temporary Fix is so fast paced its hard not to tap your feet (and then forget about your work altogether and get up and dance with your laptop on full volume). You’ve also got Drag Me Down, a real middle finger to all the critics who want to write them off because of a song they produced 5 years ago. Gritty bridges in all their ‘rock-ier’ songs really show that the band has developed musically and are putting their own stamp over the ‘pop’ label they had thrusted onto them.

Of course they have some calmer songs that have a bit of a pop feel, but they also have other aspects mixed in with this so it’s more palatable and they sound way better. You’ve got songs like Wolves, End of the Day, Hey Angel, Olivia, and I’d go as far as to include (my favourite) Walking in the Wind in this category. They’re cool songs that are perfect for early morning listening as they’re not too heavy. It’s just good, toe-tapping music that has elements of electric guitar that I just can’t help but sing along to as I stir my supernoodles; much to the dismay of my flatmates.

In contrast to this, there are a number of ballads that appear on the album, but they’re the best One Direction ballads literally e v e r. There is no way to describe how A.M. made me feel the first time I heard the opening two lines (“wont you stay till the A.M., all my favourite conversations always made in the A.M.”) – I had a chill run down my spine and in the best way ever. If I Could Fly and Long Way Down are paired beautifully next to each other about a third of the way into the album. The guys previously discussed how, with this album, they were able to focus on making songs they just liked without having to worry about how they’d sound live – and that absolute raw emotion in these songs and Love You Goodbye and I Want to Write You a Song is kind of breath-taking. They’re stripped back and honest with no complicated music to distract the listener. Lyrically, throwing in lines like “for your eyes only” and “I try to forgive you, but I struggle cos I don’t know how” is something that’s so engaging and makes every single song personal. I was sitting on my windowsill last night at 2am looking at the city lights and I felt like Kate Moss or some shit; it was stunning.

But the major surprise on this album was Olivia. Liam leaked about 7 seconds of the song about a month ago and I have to admit I wasn’t convinced. I thought that it was really poor and I shocked myself by disliking a One Direction song (can we remember I’d heard only 7 seconds and was very quick to judge – I have seen the error of my ways now I can assure you). There's elements of big band in this song with the pace of the song and the instruments you can hear in it - who doesn't love a bit of trumpet and brass in a song? This is the track that was recorded at Abbey Road Studios which, not only is that really fucking cool, it’s props to the guys for being serious artists. They don’t let any old people record there and I think it’s hard evidence that One Direction are legit artists and not just that boyband that people think are cool to slag off. Newsflash: it’s not.

Basically, One Direction have blown up tiniest, most ordinary parts of the world and its pretty dazzling.

Some people will think that’s enough of a review, but if you want to read my track-by-track analysis (who doesn’t really) then carry on reading below but if not, that’s cool, thanks and kudos for making it this far. I’m glad you cared enough about One Direction to even click on the link.

TRACKLIST:

1.         Hey Angel

2.         Drag Me Down

3.         Perfect

4.         Infinity

5.         End of the Day

6.         If I Could Fly

7.         Long Way Down

8.         Never Enough

9.         Olivia

10.   What a Feeling

11.   Love You Goodbye

12.   I Want to Write You a Song

13.   History

Bonus Tracks

14.   Temporary Fix

15.   Walking in The Wind

16.   Wolves

17.   A.M.

Hey Angel

There is very high chance that the angel they speak of in this song is Harry Styles himself as they sing “do you wish you could be more like me” and I think we could all do with being a bit more Styles because there isn’t a more chill, good-hearted person than Harry. Anyway, this song isn’t One Direction’s musical highlight, in fact the “oooooohhhh”s in the background are actually a bit annoying, but they kind of the make the song in a weird way. It's a great song and I'm warming to it the more that I listen to it, it just wouldn't be one I'd play to others to make them a One Direction convert. The vocals on this song are so mint even if they’re a little bit drowned – you find yourself screaming the adlibs more than the lyrics. Either way, a definite driving anthem.

Drag Me Down

Everyone’s heard Drag Me Down by now and if you haven’t – literally where the fuck have you been? A definite dramatic hair-flicking chorus, wedged between confident but thankful verses means this song is the perfect mix of self-certainty and good old rock/pop music.

Perfect

This song has a tattoo gun noise in it – do I need to say anymore? It’s a weird romantic song. Discussed are the uncertainties of being in a relationship, but also the perks of being in love. Yes, I would like secret rendezvous. Not only is the video stunning (all in black and white, how edgy), but the bridge is a great rise and fall. This was the first taste we got of emosh 1D on this album, and it was a shit ‘okay brace yourself for this album’ because the other ballads on this album fucked me up.

Infinity

Harry’s favourite. It starts of small with just vocals and keyboard but by the end of the track you’ve got the whole of London screaming “infinitaaaaay yeaaaaaah” in harmony. It’s maybe the least One Direction-y song on the album; if you played it for anyone else the last people they’d guess it was would be One Direction. I think there’s an element of frustration in this song; “when everybody wants you” and “how many nights does it take to count the stars, that’s the time it would take to fix my heart” show how fame has obviously not been a smooth road for any of them and its that honesty which is the deal clincher for this track.

End of the Day

I love the story telling in the first verse of this song – “just me, her and, the moon”. If you shrugged your shoulders and managed to turn that into the song; it would be this song. There’s a funky backbeat to the verses that totally disappear when the chorus starts and they don’t even sound like they come from the same song. It’s an odd way to produce a song, but it kind of works. Or I’m so far up their asses I’m blinded and I say it works anyway. Harry has a lot of vocal highlights on this album but this is definitely one of the best ones. I really love the lyrics of this chorus: “you want what you want, and you say what you say, and you follow your heart, even though it’ll break sometimes” because you can’t plan for the majority of things in life and this song captures that, sometimes, you just have to roll with it. It’s also my favourite of the songs they released before album release day.

If I Could Fly

The first of the painful pair. This song essentially says “we’re really close now and I’ve got your back pal” and it resonates a lot within me, not for the connotations with romantic relationships, but for friendships that you make. It’s really quiet musically, there’s just violins and a piano and some mint vocals. There’s a bit at the end of the song where the four guys sing a line each and it hurts my feelings: “(Louis) for your eyes only, (Niall) I show you my heart, (Harry) for when you’re lonely, (Liam) and forget who you are”. There’s a delicious high note from Harry followed by a passionate and emotive final chorus where they all push their vocals to the limit and the harmonies are spectacular. A proper nice ballad.

Long Way Down

A bit more defeated than If I Could Fly or a positive song – it made me cry the first time I heard it because I was so unprepared to be hit with something like this. Not in a i-love-one-direction-and-i-love-every-single-one-of-their-songs-so-much-im-a-12-year-old-white-girl type way, more in a this is so honest and raw and there was no way I’d thought of this aspect of my life. I think if any song talks about the difficulty of growing up and not being able to change the past, then its this one. It’s heart-breaking. We’ve all got things we’d do differently and especially because they’re a few years older than me and are in the public eye literally everyday, they’ve probably got more things they’d redo. It never ceases to amaze me the places music can take you to, whether it be The 1975, The Smiths, The Rolling Stones, or One Direction.

Never Enough

Like on FOUR, One Direction really want to fuck with you with the order of the tracklist on this album. It’s the second raciest song on the album because it’s difficult to look past the indirect lyrics about needing relentless sex and not even caring about getting a broken heart. Also you literally cannot ignore the grunts and screams in the background. Asides from this, its quite funky with the solid bass line in there. You’d definitely dance along if you were having a sleepover with your pals and it was 2am and you were wearing your onesie, swinging the tail around and giving your best friend a fake come on.

Olivia

What. Happened. Here. I cannot believe that this happened to One Direction. Big Band and Abbey Road Studios happened to One Direction. If you’d have told me this time last month that One Direction had a big band song in the pipeline I would’ve laughed in your face, but now its infront of me and I’m still a bit gobsmacked to be fair. It is a love song but it’s so mental. Even Liam in their Radio 2 interview said that this is just nuts. You can hear Louis going “no way” at the end of the song and I think that’s a pretty appropriate reaction because there is no way in a zillion years that I’d pair One Direction with big band – but it really works. The rise and fall in the song is amazing and its just so typical of that genre of music, you can almost hear Niall’s inner Michael Bublé fan crying from inside him. It’s just a really fun song about being in love which, yeah it’s very overdone, but there’s nothing quite like a love song is there? It shows just how versatile they are and it makes you really happy when you listen to it, or maybe it makes you feel like you belong in a musical – bit of both.

What a Feeling

They released this one pre-album too and the first thing I thought of was S Club Junior’s New Direction (RT if ur a tru 90s kid) with their magic carpet music video. Apart from that, its one of their songs that I could take or leave and I do feel a bit guilty for saying that but it doesn’t do a lot for me. Its really chilled out and it's good to have a calm song on the album to break up the tracklist - they've considered our feelings when choosing the order of the songs on this album unlike on FOUR. There’s not much substance to this song as it doesn’t really rise and fall or peak and trough or do anything really. But Niall does have a killer solo just before the penultimate chorus.

Love You Goodbye

Louis’ shining vocal moment on Made in The AM without a doubt. It’s actually really sad but does sound a bit like its about having break up sex – “if tomorrow you wont be mine, wont you give it to me one last time, oh baby let me love you goodbye”. I mean, that’s okay, they’re 21+, do you expect them to still be singing about the cute girl in their English class? Louis said he had a real tie to this song and I think everyone knows he’s talking about his break up with Eleanor, but anyone who’s been through a break up could’ve written this song or can relate to this song. It’s only right that they gave Louis the bridge and he friggen smashes it – you can only imagine what this would be like live, the arena would be in a stunned silence.

I Want to Write You a Song

A song about writing a song … really stretching for ideas here 1D. Nevertheless, this track is so gentle and mellow, the song is acoustic too which has a nice effect. It’s nice to break up the heavy ballads and heavy dancing songs that come before it on the tracklist too. In my opinion, this one’s about struggling to compose something to express accurately how you feel about someone. I can relate to that because I’m a serial double-texter and have been know to send paragraphs at 3am to people who mean the most to me as I lie upside down in my bed. It’s also lovely to hear something that’s so human, miscommunicating is frustrating so if this is a song about being frustrated because you’re trying your hardest to get your feelings across- “everything I need I get from you, giving back is all I wanna do” – its nice to know that even superstars struggle with this too.

History

This one is allegedly the song for the fans, I mean it kind of feels like it – “you and me got a whole lotta history, we could be the greatest team that the world has ever seen” – its certainly a nod to their unprecedented success and how they survived the rollercoaster they’ve been on in the last five years. I’m a fan of a good clap in a song (probably why I like Disclosure’s music too) and this one has it running throughout and a guitar – the simpler, the better. It’s a good way to gently pick up the tracklist after the fragility of I Want to Write You a Song before you’re thrown into Temporary Fix.

Temporary Fix

I got a bit of a shock from listening to Niall talk about this one and those ‘grungy’ nights. He was quite honest about how this song is basically about having a one night stand without explicitly saying that it is about that. There’s bits that are a bit raunchy; “we can roll in the darkness, let me touch you where your heart is”, but its very clear about not putting labels on these things; “and we can call this what you like”. It’s another upbeat tune which opens with Niall strongly leading the song and he carries that on throughout the song. Even if Harry and Louis’ solos dominate the song, it’s a very playful song with some great drums in the brief instrumental towards the end of the song. Many people on twitter say this is their favourite because its just feel good music about having fun – and, if that’s your thing, then go get your fix.

Walking in The Wind

Without (much) doubt, this song is my favourite on the album. Before the album was released, I watched a video of Harry talking about his inspirations for this song (Paul Simon would you believe) and it was cool to understand how they take their own inspirations and bring them into their music, especially in this song. This song is special to me because it talks about how people can go their own ways but still be really close. It also brings in that ‘uncertainty about the future’ thing which is always a bit of a tear-jerker – “goodbyes are bittersweet, but its not the end, I’ll see your face again, you will find me, in places that we’ve never been, for reasons we don’t understand, walking in the wind”. It’s upbeat and optimistic, and it’s reassuring without committing to anything. The song makes you feel as if the unpredictability of life is softened by the people who you keep in your life and that’s what really matters. It has a great drop for the final chorus and all of Harry’s vocal acrobats are in this song which, really, is just the icing on the top of a pretty incredible cake.

Wolves

This song is so jazzy, it opens with a jazzy guitar riff and is a real click-along song. There’s a bit of a throwback to FOUR with all the similes and metaphors in this track, but the lyrics are obviously more mature than the last album and it would be so out of place on that record. It’s your classic I’ll-do-anything-for-you kind of song; “one by one, I gotta take them down, we can run and hide, ain’t going down without a fight”. You could imagine the video being all the boys in different scenarios trying to save their respective girls and getting absolutely battered; its probably something to do with the wolves analogy. It’s a bit jokey and has a humourous twist to it, it’s got a prominent keys backing which makes it more upbeat and jolly. It’s a cheery, confident song showing they don’t take them selves too seriously – they’re only in their early 20s as of now, so it’s the kind of record you’d expect a group of young people to make.

A.M.

Are you ever listening to an album and then you hear the album title in one of the songs and you’re like ~yo~ because that’s what the opening of this song is like. I literally get chills when I hear this song. Also, this is One Direction’s first (semi) expletive! They said “speaking out of our asses” if you were wondering. In context, they’re singing about the crazy, emotional chats you have with your friends after 5 pints, or the nights you stay up till stupid o’clock acting out conversations that’ll never happen in your head – “won’t you stay till the A.M., all my favourite conversations always made in the A.M.” I think on this album they really capture the little things everyone does that are really personal and they blew them up and chucked them on a billboard and it’s a bit like that bit in the Perfect music video where Harry’s lying on that bed thing with his eyes screwed shut because he can’t bear to look at the city being projected on the walls around him – but you’re forced to look at yourself. It’s so brutally honest. It’s breath taking, scary, and emotional - kind of like what being a fan of One Direction is like.

Summary: Olivia bangs, Long Way Down and A.M. made me cry the second I heard them, Walking in the Wind is my fave, Temporary Fix is about gettin some, thank you for reading.

Listen to Made in The A.M. on Spotify here.

Buy Made in The A.M from iTunes here.

If you read all that; kudos because you just read over three and a half thousand words about One Direction – my brother.