‘As I Was’ shows this is Harry Styles’ world and we are living in it

A moment of silence for the ‘Fine Line’ era please. Harry Styles’ sophomore album, released just months before the pandemic, has flourished and thrived over the last two and a half years – sustaining us fans sufficiently, whilst garnering an even bigger audience for the star (a seemingly impossible feat). There were Grammys, feather boas, music videos of him… running?, along with many other glorious moments, however it’s time to bid farewell to this iconic album’s life, as Styles releases ‘As It Was’: the lead single from his upcoming album, ‘Harry’s House’.

At only 2 minutes 46 seconds, ‘As It Was’ is a shimmering ode to 80s pop, with wistful melancholic vocals dancing over a glistening synth. Styles contemplates, mourns and comes to terms with various forms of change, repeatedly declaring in the pre-chorus that ‘in this world, it’s just us, you know it’s not the same as it was’, through luscious vocal layering. Lyrically, it’s dark, and hyper-personal: the second verse alludes to a concerned phone call to Styles, asking ‘why are you sitting alone on the floor?’, and ‘what kind of pills are you on?’. 

The accompanying music video is unsurprisingly, wonderful: clad in a sparkly, red two-piece, Harry prances and leaps around The Barbican in London (as a fan on twitter neatly summed it up: ‘If The Joker was yassified’). Despite some aesthetic incoherence, it serves as an effective visualisation of the song, with the images and production aligning gloriously after the bridge, as church bells elevate the final chorus and Harry’s dancing intensifies in a satisfying conclusion to the track.

The song is a subtle introduction to the star’s third album; not the boldest lead single, in comparison to 2017’s ‘Sign of the Times’, (when he kick-started his solo career with a lengthy piano ballad), or 2019’s ‘Lights Up’. It could perhaps be more suited to being an album track, considering its length and minimalism, however, it does serve as an indication of what’s to come from ‘Harry’s House’ in May, giving us a taste of the nature of the record.

Having broken multiple streaming records on Spotify and Apple Music, it is set to be the singer’s second UK number one this week on The Official Charts. Styles will debut ‘As it was’ live at Coachella in the upcoming weeks, where he is headlining the festival, and will kick off the second leg of ‘Love on Tour’ in June in Glasgow, which includes two sold out nights at Wembley Stadium. Additionally, Styles has two films set to be released this autumn: Olivia Wilde’s ‘Don’t Worry Darling’, and Michael Grandage’s ‘My Policeman’. To put it simply: in 2022, it’s Harry’s world, and we’re just living in it.

Cover image: BBC