Over the weekend, Harry Styles launched a 15-night stand at Madison Square Garden. This is an impressive feat befitting of one of the world’s most popular musicians. (He will begin a similar stretch at Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif. in October. His tour in support of his latest album Harry’s House consists of a series of residencies.) Boy band One Direction is still relatively early in his solo career and has established his sonic ideas. Two New York Times critics attended Love on his first two nights of his tour in New York to see how he exerted his gravitational pull.
John Caramanica More or less, I’ve always liked One Direction. Or maybe they liked what this group represented: the rejection of over-processed boy bands and, by extension, the realization that you can do the least and earn the most. were not trying to fool the audience about their artistry. But that approach has faded in his solo career, and I found myself bugging myself more than once during the Harry Styles show at The Garden on Saturday night. , a collective exuberance, a sufficiently capable band, yet Styles at its center was immense. At least musically. Rarely have I seen someone so confident in their stage ownership that everything beneath it felt faint. what am i missing? (I haven’t missed anything.)
Lindsay Zoraz Hmm, John, maybe a boa? Despite the construction around Madison Square Garden, I had no trouble finding the entrance to the venue. At least half of the crowd seemed to be sporting Styles’ signature he trailed a trail of iridescent feathers shed from his neckwear. My thoughts on today (and his 15-day residency at Styles in the coming weeks) are with his crew cleaning up the garden.
I’ve long considered One Direction to be the quintessential boy band of the fanservice era — ready to deftly respond to the demands of their dedicated, social media-savvy stan army. — and after catching Styles’ show on Sunday night, I’m also ready to declare him the defining solo artist of the era. wave So much out of my life stage? About a third of his performance seemed to consist of waving, pointing and kissing different sections of the audience. Most of the time, I couldn’t hear Styles enough to tell if he was hitting every note, but the crowd’s reaction was energetic enough that they didn’t care. The show, like much of Styles’ music, felt first and foremost for the fans.
harry styles dream world
The British pop star and former member of the boy band One Direction has developed into a charming and provocative performer.
Caramanica Let’s extract the musical proposition of Harry Styles. He’s nowhere near the resolute enthusiasm of, say, Shawn Mendes. It doesn’t come close to the suppleness of Justin Bieber’s singing voice. (Also: #FreeZayn) And of course, despite the rampant Eltonism throughout Styles’ solo catalogue, and the (sub?) conscious echoes of John’s glamorous outfits in Styles’ Gucci gear, he’s still a fan of John. Nowhere near vitality or panache. All the foundations for building this famous skyscraper are very fragile.
But yes, waving. Also quite carefree shimmy. And what he did in the middle of the show when he took a fan’s cell phone and tried to call her ex with it. (Josh, if you’re reading this, you’ve been washed, buddy—everyone in Madison Square Garden hates you.) See: He’s singing “Happy Birthday” to his friend Florence. increase. Florence Welch of The Machine? No, his co-star Florence Pugh in the upcoming movie Don’t Worry Darling? No. Florence, the daughter of Sony Music Group Chairman Rob Stringer? yes.
This is the essence of his charm. He’s not top-down fame. He’s a friendly but protective friend who leads with good judgment and progressive sanity. The most awkward part was when he explained how the mid-round performance worked. “I try to distribute my face and butt evenly throughout the show. There’s a lot.”
Zoraz Styles didn’t call on any exes on our show, but he did something funny when he tried to count all the “golf dads” in the audience – apparently 34. I gave you solemn “bad news” about what just happened. He “blowed his tongue on the soup.” That’s right, effortlessly charismatic banter, he works every corner of the stage. The set and wardrobe were a little more minimal than I expected. I expected at least one costume change. But I would describe the look he was going for in a red and white striped jumpsuit as a “sexy candy cane.” Fashion, fans, strength of character. I feel like we’re talking about everything but music here. How did the songs affect you, John, and did you get something from them that wasn’t on his record?
Caramanica Basically, we have opposite opinions about the Styles album. I like the newest “Harry’s House” better, but I know you lean towards the older “Fine Line.”When a song was…funky—and I use that designation very Roughly — his performance felt more substantial. I think both are “Satellite” and “Cinema” from his new album. Rhythm he leads the section but doesn’t overwhelm him.I also liked what he did in “Adore You”, melting the chorus into a more restrained tease. . When “Sign of the Times” Styles’ first solo hit was a heavyweight, karaoke take on mid-1970s power mope.
Zoraz Between the music Styles wants to make—the big, bold, somewhat conventional-sounding rock of the ’70s style on his first album—and the more pop-oriented productions that better suit his personality. You may notice that there is a gap. Unsurprisingly, the songs I’ve done best live have been able to satisfy both of these urges, like the groovy, Tame Impala-esque “Daylight,” and the still-ubiquitous hits. It was a song. “as is” I wish he had ended the set on that note, but alas, he had to play one more song afterward. That’s Led Zeppelin cosplay his rocker “Kiwi”. But as usual, he seemed to enjoy playing the part of his star, the pretentious rocker.
But it was refreshing that Styles hadn’t strayed from his former group on this tour. The first song on his pre-performance playlist is One Direction’s “Best Songs of All Time.” On all words — and during his set, he actually performed a louder, more rock-oriented version of One Direction’s 2011 hit “What Makes You Beautiful.” called It’s a derogatory word that can’t be written here. What did you think of Styles’ raucous 1D cover of him, Jon?
Caramanica It was one of the high points of music, if not its peak. It was as if the rowdy bar he band temporarily resided in Styles’ very deliberately low-key crew. People completely lost it on Saturday, too, when opening his bar for “Best Song Ever” hit right after Blood Orange’s gentle and classy opening set. This was the purest release of pent-up demand I’ve seen in quite some time. And that was the rest of the night too – demand led supply. Emotionless enthusiasm (and certainly no friction). An arena-sized canvas just scribbled on with a pencil.
A friend lent me a few of her pink and white boas for the record, but to no avail.