Ranya Merchant — Editor-In-Chief

Harry Styles is dropping new music for the first time in two and a half years. 

Grammy Award-Winning Singer, Harry Styles, recently announced the news of his upcoming Album, Harry’s House. 

The release date is set for May 30, and the album will contain 13 new tracks, including his newly released single “As It Was.” Styles broke the news with a 40-second trailer featuring him walking out onto a theater stage with a house rising behind him. The music in the video was played backward, which played forwards is the tune to the single. 

“It’s the best I’ve felt about making music, it’s the best I’ve felt about something I’ve made,” said Styles in an interview with Z100 New York. 

“The forced pause that I had gave me time to think a lot about who I am and who I want to be away from music. I feel like going through that while making an album, kinda gave me a chance to create from a new place of freedom,” he added.

Many fans of Styles anticipated the release as the singer leaked subtle hints and clues over social media and on his 2021 tour for his last album, Fine Line. 

Junior Rebecca Hoffstein says she didn’t believe the news at first, “I was in school when he announced it, and I came home, opened up Instagram to a million posts, and I thought it was a joke.”

“When I finally realized it wasn’t, I screamed so loud that my dad left his meeting to check up on me,” she added. 

In an interview with Audacy, Styles said that he struggled to keep the album under wraps while touring almost every day. “I did all those shows, I felt like I was keeping a secret the whole time. So now it’s kinda funny to hear people saying Harry’s House out loud, kinda nice,” he said.

The first single was released on April Fools Day, with a music video preceding its release. The song received generous reactions, making it the most-streamed song in the United States on its first day. 

Junior Tanya Wadekar says the song immediately lifted her spirits. “The music, the video, the outfits, and the concepts were amazing. The whole video just made me happy,” she said. 

Hoffstein says the single revealed a lot about Harry’s past while also being upbeat and catchy. “ It was an 80s synthesizer with a trauma dump and I loved everything about it,” she said. 

Junior Aastha Patel says the song didn’t live up to the high expectations set by her friends who are avid fans of Styles. “Don’t get me wrong, It was a good song, but people hyped it up so much that I felt kind of underwhelmed when I first listened to it.” 

Junior Madelaine Burton says she’s not a regular fan of Styles but enjoyed the single. “I don’t listen to him much but I love As It Was. It’s a perfect song to sing and dance to,” she said. 

The style of the complete album remains a mystery, but it’s clear that it will showcase a new side of Styles than his past releases have.

“I think it’s gonna be different, and way more personal. From the single, it doesn’t like anything he’s put out before,” said Hoffstein.

Styles says he can already feel a drastic change in the release of the album. “The time of putting out music always feels pretty stressful, [but] I feel quite relaxed this time. I’ve never felt better about being a musician and I feel lucky to be able to do this,” he said.