Harry Styles drops his album

Harry dropped his debut album at midnight, 12th May, and it has immediately become number one in over eighty countries. What's more, it has received really good reviews!

Harry in his interview for Ash London Live:

“To me, my favourite way to listen to the album is sitting and listening to the whole thing. Um, that’s… my personal preference. I think if I could encourage anyone to do- to listen to it in any way, it would be to set aside 42 and a half minutes and listen to it once. I think, there’s a lot of different kind of flavours, if you will, on the album. I think that- I was still learning when I was making this. I didn’t know what my album sounded like when I started the process. So, I was kind of working out what it was gonna sound like while making it, so I wanted those differences in there- in the finished thing. When people listen to it, I wanted them to go through that with me, I wanted them to see that I was… finding my way and not kind of being like: “Alright, this is the sound. I’m gonna make… 15 songs that all sound like this”, and that’s what my album sounds like. None of my favourite albums sound like that either. I think it’s… important to be exploring and I think that’s what most of my favourite artists have always done. Different albums and songs within albums that all sound totally different, but that’s what keeps it so interesting.”

Rob Sheffield for Rolling Stone:

 “Harry’s soft-rock fetish won’t surprise fans of One Direction gems like ‘Olivia’ or ‘Stockholm Syndrome,’ but this is the first time we’ve heard Sweet Baby Styles run with it for a whole album. The songs he tipped in advance didn’t play coy about his old-school inspirations – the Badfinger hook of ‘Ever Since New York,’ the ‘Blackbird’ guitar of ‘Sweet Creature,’ the way 'Sign of the Times’ tweaks Queen and Bowie in candelabra mode – yet they all sound like him, playful and tender in equal measure.”

READ MORE: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/review-harry-styles-harry-styles-w481586

Photo by Mary McCartney

Jeff Bhasker, the album's producer, talking about which track he is most proud of:

 “Meet Me in the Hallway’ draws from this rich tradition of the past and of rock music but it’s totally new sounding. Nothing out right now sounds like this song, I always love when I’m a part of something like that. It’s minimal and it’s magical. It takes you to another world. When they played it for me, I was reminded of when I was a kid and first dropped the needle on a Pink Floyd album I had never heard before. I’m not a big [pop] music listener. I listen to KLOS and KCRW and maybe the hip hop station. I’m kind of a classic rock dude. And Harry made a classic rock album. But that’s hands down my favorite on the album.”

Jeff Bhasker on "Sign of the Times":

  “That was kind of out there. And by the way, the song was made in four hours, from writing it to tracking it. That’s part of the reason why it’s so long because Harry just freestyled it towards the end. We tracked it like that and it was kind of awesome. Once we had it, we knew it was a winner. It starts out with Harry’s voice sounding so great and then you hit them with [the next verse] and you’ve got ’em. It is a hit in that sense, but it was so long that we weren’t sure if it could be the single. Thank God, [Sony Music CEO] 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.‘

READ MORE: http://variety.com/2017/music/news/harry-styles-producer-jeff-bhasker-interview-1202424598/

Photo by Mary McCartney

And... surprise! surprise! ... Nick Mason of Pink Floyd wants to play drums for Harry Styles! Really?

On the show, Mason described first hearing Styles’ song ‘Sign Of The Times’. He said: ‘I happened to be driving along and I heard Harry’s single. I listened to it and the DJ said afterwards, ‘It sounds a bit like Pink Floyd to me’ and I thought, ‘Yeah, I could play that’. I listen to music on the radio in a particular way, which is [in terms of the] drums and bass. My belief is that bands are made up of bass, drums and a bunch of novelty acts. Anyway, I heard [Style’s single] and I thought I’d ask Harry if I could play drums on a track on his next album.’ 

‘I would say yes,’ Styles replied, adding that Mason could play on his live tour. ‘My drummer Sarah [Jones, former New York Pony Club/Hot Chip drummer] is actually a major fan of yours,’ Styles continued.