Harry’s House Album Review

Harry's House Album Review

By: Emma Lenkov

If there's one thing the pop artist Harry Styles knows how to do best, it's to surprise his audience. Styles’ new album, “Harry’s House”, came out at midnight eastern time on May 20, and it already has 98 million streams on Spotify, making it the 5th biggest first day album debut in Spotify history. The album consists of 13 tracks, the most popular being his single “As It Was”, which is currently 1st on Spotify’s global chart for the 5th week in a row. If you think you know Styles’ music, get ready to be surprised while listening to this album.

Styles released his first solo album, called Harry Styles, in 2017. Previously, he was in a band, One Direction, for 5 years until they broke up in early 2015. His self-titled album is classified as pop, with 10 songs on it. In 2019, he released his second pop album, called Fine Line, which was off the charts. With singles like, “Watermelon Sugar” and “Adore You”, Styles’ status as a solo artist made its way to the top. When he announced his new pop album, Harry’s House, his fans were ecstatic.

The album showcases a distinguishable 70’s/80’s pop sound, bringing to mind a modern day David Bowie. It opens with the track, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant”, and while hearing it I can’t help but dance around. With this being the opener, you can immediately tell that Styles has decided to expand his musical sound. On tracks like “Grapejuice” and “Daylight”, it isn’t difficult to identify Styles experimenting with different sounds. Thanks to the album producers, Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, the 3 of them were able to blend sounds from many genres ranging from synth-pop to funk. While reading the lyrics, you can easily compare the messages to songs from his other albums, bringing a sense of maturity with these new songs, “Matilda” and “Boyfriends” in particular.

The song that stands out to me the most is his opening track, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant”. The harmonies with his bandmates, Sarah Jones, Elin Sandberg, and Ny Oh, sound completely angelic. Styles made the choice to add horns in the background of the chorus, and it was one of the best choices he made on the album, as it is the cherry on top of the perfect song already. His guitarist, Mitch Rowland, plays on the song, and displays an intricate and phenomenal performance throughout the entire song as always. In the short time the album has been released, I’ve listened to this one about 30 times so far. I smile throughout the song, just as I can hear Styles smiling through the recording of it.

Of all his albums, I have to say this one is my favorite. He took a risk with his new sound, and it worked out beautifully. The album lacks a single bad song, and it’s a difficult task to pick a single favorite. I look forward to listening to the album much more, and I’m excited to see what else Styles has in store for his growing audience.