![]() “Meet Me in the Hallway” draws from this rich tradition of the past and of rock music but it’s totally new sounding. Thank God, Rob Stringer said, “I think you go with ‘Sign of the Times.'” Then, we tried to do major surgery on it to try and make a radio edit and presented it to him and, he was, like, ‘That’s cool, but I think we should push the full-length.’ We were looking at each other, like, what planet are we on that the head of the label says, ‘Yeah, let’s release a six-minute single.'”ĭo you have another track you’re especially proud of? It is a hit in that sense, but it was so long that we weren’t sure if it could be the single. It starts out with Harry’s voice sounding so great and then you hit them with and you’ve got ’em. We tracked it like that and it was kind of awesome. That’s part of the reason why it’s so long because Harry just freestyled it towards the end. And by the way, the song was made in four hours, from writing it to tracking it. Releasing “Sign of the Times,” a six-minute-long song as a single, was surprising as it breaks from pop radio norms. But one thing that did come up was a song that felt a little like Led Zeppelin, and he was, like, “I never really checked them out.” So we watched “The Song Remains the Same,” and he was, like, “Yeah, they’re kind of weird.” I was actually happy that we were not creating some pastiche of all these influences that he knew backwards and forwards, it was more of his gut. You know, we did not once go listen to Bowie or the Rolling Stones or Queen. Have you found his musical taste to be distinctly British? He’s a real musician.Ĭlearly there are nods to Bowie and Queen on the album. He has a feel and a sound and an emotion. I’ll tell you this much, the first time I saw him pull out the guitar, I was, like, ‘Oh damn, he can play!’ He has a nice stroke. ![]() Which is ultimately what I think we landed on. Obviously we’re trying to push the envelope of being a boy band, so early on, I was, like, “It has to be super edgy,” but then it was about knowing when to pull back up against the edge and be real. It’s easy to make a comparison early on, but as people absorb what this is and who he is, they’ll see that he’s his own thing. ![]() I think the charisma and the energy he has is on level with that, but he’s 100% Harry. There have been lots of comparisons of Harry to Jagger… He actually turned me on to some poetry and literature that I hadn’t been aware of. We dove into Bukowski, which is some pretty gritty dark s-, so we’d say, “Let’s make sure we go that direction and stay the course let’s not bail out and go with something safe.” I think I did push him in a lot of ways, but then I wanted him to have complete ownership of it and to sing what is really in his heart. I was pleasantly surprised at how witty, clever, and well-read Harry was. Was there a lyric you were particularly impressed with? It was a really small team - Me, Tyler Johnson, Mitch Rowland, Alex Salibian, and Ryan Nasci, the engineer - and we stuck with that team all the way through the album. In the first week, they did, like, 10 songs, half of which ended up on the album.Įveryone was involved in the writing. He’s pretty clear, in the coolest way, about what he likes and doesn’t like, so it really got the album off on the right foot and finished on the right foot. And he was very specific what kind of ideas turn him on. It’s very much Harry’s album and the music he wanted to make. ![]() What was Harry’s main role in the sessions? You went old school for the recording of the album, sequestering Harry and the band in Jamaica for a stretch. Variety spoke with Bhasker about the recording of “Harry Styles” ahead of the album’s May 12 release: Just like I didn’t know. He’s obviously very famous and beloved, but people don’t know the depths of what an amazing personality and artist he is.” People have no idea that this is what Harry Styles is like. But he needed a buddy who plays guitar like he’s Keith Richards.” The insinuation being: Styles is the Mick Jagger in this scenario.Īdds Bhasker: “I’m so proud of the album itself, and also of Harry for being so brave, and committing 100%, and writing the kind of vulnerable lyrics that he wrote, and not pandering to what people thought he would do. ![]() I got it, and could see where if we pulled this off, it would be one of the coolest things ever. “He started playing references of what he wanted to do, which sounded like a cool rock band. Once music came into the mix, Bhasker was sold. ![]()
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