Harry Styles – Zane Lowe ‘Fine Line’ Interview

why did you connect with California I mean you could have gone to an airport and handpick anywhere in the world and started to some degree again right but you chose to come here for me honestly I think like so many of my close friends people from London who've moved here for work and stuff like that it's like I'd say since I left home I have I've never really had the place that feels like oh that's that's my home I'd say my house in London is the most homely that I feel anywhere just cuz I've been there the longest I've been there for like six years now with like all the touring and stuff that we did in the band I remember there was one point where we'd been away for so long I came home to my house in England and I was home for about five days and I walked in the door and I sat down and I was like I I don't know what to do like when I'm home oh I've been away for so long I didn't you know I hadn't seen my friends for so long I was I didn't know who was around I was kind of like what is this strange reality yeah so there was a point I guess where I realized I was more comfortable being on the road that's what you do up to five days did you head back off again yeah and I was like happy to get to go you know I think it's actually understandable I think there's something about that kind of gypsy lifestyle which particularly arts that make travel music and such and the idea of having sort of a I desire to be gypsy just but by a very nature they tracked one another to some degree I mean deep were you always a little bit kind of of interest as a kid were you looking further afield even when you're gone I don't know if I was really I had never been to London before I moved there which is crazy to me to think about now that is crazy you know it's not that far away from where I grew up that's like a three-hour drive but London was like where the rich kids went shopping on the weekends like that with their mum or something you know but also everything about it felt felt like it was like this is a new challenge and if it takes me to London then the whole thing seemed to me to just be a new challenge it was crazy watching it kind of from a distance and yeah watching what you and your friends were kind of going through and and the whole thing I mean I suppose with the benefits of some wisdom and some age now looking back on it you must even have a slightly different perspective than when it first ended in 2015 it's been four years and just kind of thinking what happened yeah it's pretty crate is pretty crazy now cuz this there'll be times where people all remind me of stuff that happens that I forgot about and you like relive it all over again you can't like oh yeah that was close cool too you know the first two years you don't even feel like you're working at all cuz you're just so happy to not be going to school and it's like wait me oh I get to do this great okay and you kind of go from also like you know and you're kidding you like you see a t-shirt that you want and you like save up the exact amount yeah but you'd have to account for like the postage and packaging so you'd actually have to like save up for this a man you know you're kind of like doing this and then you move to London and you work doing stuff that's fun and you're like can i buy this t-shirt and someone's like yeah if you want like okay and that kind of feels like what like yeah just goes from t-shirt kind of flat from flat the house to if you know you're lucky enough to have that kind of success I mean I'm interested to know to memories and we're not gonna stick around here for long cuz so much more to talk about but while we're here what was now you've been away from that experience what's the the strongest prevailing memory you have before one direction started like what can what's the sharpest most vivid memory you have in your mind before your life was upside down yeah before everything changed cuz it was so sudden I mean it was over the course of what ten weeks and all of a sudden that's it you know you're not going home again yeah I mean probably like a birthday meal I had with some fries to live next to a Chinese restaurant and it was like my favorite restaurant so I'd used to come home from school every day I'd go to my bedroom like open the window and stick my head out just know it yeah and that was like where I went for my birthday meals but I'd say probably the the biggest stuff would probably be there was a river called the river Dayne where you know everyone it'd go down and so mind you by that those little disposable barbecues he used to take and someone had been in charge of like buying sausages and someone would have to buy the drinks yeah and you like put them on the floor and then you try and squeeze like yeah somehow twelve sausages onto this like tiny okay what's the one prevailing memory you have today of that was it for years by five years yeah what's the one what's one that really doesn't one of my favorite memories I'll give you two the first one was when we'd just been formed as a band there was like a picture of us that had been taken from when we were at the show like someone's mom had taken it and it was like the first picture of us as the five of us and we were staying at my stepdads house we were like living in this little bungalow all of us together to like practice and we were just like singing songs and basically just had a sleepover for like four days and everyone drove down and there's a tiny little like news agents down the street and we'd heard this picture was being put in the paper so we were like oh gonna be in the paper like that's crazy so the five of us like walked like left this little bungalow and walk down to the news agents and got the paper and then came back and had breakfast and we're all just like sitting staring at the paper and like passing around the paper like let me say it Gayle everything and I don't know I guess just because we had we just didn't know it was gonna happen it's a timeless image that's a timeless image you so happy that first real piece of like recognition when you when you realize that it's not an it's not a controlled environment anymore like people that you don't know down the street can actually take a look at you or hear you is that's still without a doubt for life-changing moment for every artist having respect yeah cuz it only happens one time so after that but everything kind of changes yeah cuz we were we were watching x-factor at my family were at my cousin's house the day that my audition went on-air and you know we watched it and like oh my god that's crazy and then we're driving home and we go to a petrol station to stop off and fill up I'm in the petrol station and this guy goes were you just on x-factor and I was like yes I was but yeah I'd say that and then the other one I guess wants the band of really start it was we were in Sweden recording what makes it beautiful in the studio someone came up into the room was like there's two girls outside and we were like why and they're like that they're like looking for you and we were all just like but we're in Sweden so that was like another super innocent name yeah that was kind of thing like oh my god that's so crazy like we're in Sweden how have you know fast forward to the end of it and you are out here a few months afterwards and like that decompression leading into the writing of the first album right leading into your self-titled album that idea of um having some independence for the first time really to kind of do whatever you want how'd that feel uh pretty amazing actually I didn't really have a plan for like when I wanted to make a record I knew I wanted to start writing at some point and that's kind of why I came out here and I started with get up on said sweet creature was the first song we did that was like in my first writing sessions when I kind of started like because up until that point I'd done a lot of sessions with different people and I tried to write with as many different people as possible just to feel like just to like learn I just wanted to learn it was like the best way I've ever heard songwriting described as like it's kind of like surfing in that you can prep this gang up on the board as much as you want and sometimes the wave just doesn't come or the wave comes but you haven't practiced getting up on the board enough every now and again you've practiced enough and the wave comes and that's when you write that song song that's when that's when it comes through that's when the music everything's in the right place so I kind of always wanted to be prepared to stand up on the board whenever the wave came TCF not enough I wish I surf tomorrow I actually the waves that are really entirely intent and I think the last time I surfed was here and I got absolutely be enough I kept like flipping just terrible yeah I mean it's it's a good look until you get in the water and you realize that you're a little out of your depth literally um how important was friendship to you when you started out as well because you were trying out with like you say you were trying lots of different songwriters but I felt like when the album finally came out you found a tight group of friends who well yeah just collaborating I'd say to finish the the thought when I'd been writing in the band it was kind of like if I'd ever written stuff that that was just with a friend or something it was kind of like well I'm not gonna release any music but what would it sound like if I was to write a song that was for me was that a contractual thing or was it just a loyalty band thing just didn't really want oh yeah and definitely didn't have time to yeah right but I knew that like maybe one day I'd want to do it but I wasn't like I can't wait to get out of this thing so I can go make my Red Cross yeah you know so did the end of it creep up on you a little bit well I wouldn't say crept up I guess the last year of it we all kind of knew we were going to stop at the end of that year so how do you not know you know it's it's this juggernaut it's just non-stop we would have like we'd sit down and have conversations about like everyone good everyone wants to keep going yeah yeah yeah that kind of thing and there was a part of me where I felt like all of the decisions I've made as an adult that affected my life and what I had what I was doing with my life had been made as a group and I think there was a part of me that felt like I wanted to make some decisions for myself where it was like you never really had to make the decision because I could I could put my hat in the ring but still be like our majority rules and I got outvoted I felt like I need to make some decisions that just affect me you know Zayn already did that and he bounced out mid-tour and I think it was pretty amazing you guys saw that tore through for fans I think there's probably a wobbly 24 hours for people where they thought well that's gonna start something yeah looking back on it now like how challenging was that to complete that tour and to see that through and and how you know how impactful was that decision for him to to not see see it through to the end yeah I mean it was uh I mean it was it was hard you know part of it was it was kind of like we were sad obviously that someone had left but also sad that he was so he was not enjoying it so much that he had to leave because I think at the time to the tour and everything was going so well and we were everyone had kind of got this place where everyone was kind of living in a way where if I think felt pretty good well enjoy yeah enjoy it yeah it felt like everyone was kind of enjoying it and yeah I'd say a big part of it was was kind of being like wow you didn't realize it wasn't enjoying it that much you know you know obviously there was a big those big moments for us where we were like what we doing you know so we were about to start recording a new album and stuff and it was like we just are we recording this without him and but I'd say in the moment I guess the the four of us became closer because we were like okay this is a hurdle that we weren't expecting and I think you deal with this in many different places when you're what with like traveling and touring and it's a demanding thing and not everyone likes doing it but it's kind of like if someone's not enjoying it you'd rather they don't do it that's why contracts are strange to me like I understand is that does I do them when there's a lot of money involved in a particular witness there are certain businesses that really work for the Arts and things that are creative I can never understand of keeping people against their will if you're not gonna get it I never get that with like the record deal stuff where it's like why would you you know when people I won't release people from contracts yeah it was like why would you want why would you want to be grudged employee in a creative place I don't get it make stuff for you when they don't want to make so it seems like completely counter productive to me but I mean you know I'm also not businessman so are you doing it right at the farm there so you've got some good instead you know you hire well I don't know if maybe I'd say my gut is the only thing that I do trust in terms of people that's really important right I mean there's only two rules you should really live by instinct and diligence right one gets you into the room the second one makes you double-check and make sure you should stay there I can also tell because the times where I've ever been like really really upset by people yeah is when I'm more upset with myself when I've got it wrong yeah cuz I feel like I have a rule I'm like I feel like I'm a pretty good judge of character and that's the only time I feel myself get really upset with stuff like that it's where you're like oh I trust this person odd you know I feel like there are good then it goes the other way and you're kind of like I got that wrong and then I ended up like really bummed out about it for a while yeah yeah that's classic hard on yourself syndrome to be honest with you you know taking other people's bull Sri and blaming yourself have you tried that therapy oh yeah have actually yeah I love it yeah I think for a really long time especially when I started coming to California there was a big thing for me where I felt like everyone went to therapy they do right and I think for a long time I was like I don't need that you know it's very like British way of looking at it I think and then I think there was a point where I kind of was trying to work out a lot more stuff about myself because obviously then I was then it was just me work around you and I think it kind of comes with when you're trying to make music you're it's so navel-gazing you're just like like that making an album I feel like is the most self-indulgent time you can think of do it cuz you're just like oh if you didn't have it just share it if you didn't actually share it with us it would be Gnosticism of the most perfect order and you imagine you just make like an hour but just don't release it yarrabee I suppose in a weird way but then we get we get the trade and so we get as we get the trade on it we get all that kind of navel-gazing as you put it in that self-reflection right somehow for performs this magic shape that we get to apply to our own lives and then we become narcissistic cuz we say well Harry speaking to me yeah so I could supply but yeah I think I think with the therapy thing I just realized I was just getting in my own way you know it's been a thing where I've definitely felt to have an impact on my life and something that I've kind of introduced some friends to who were gone through stuff and they were very skeptical about it I would assume you're a good friend you're a loyal person try to be yeah so who are some of your best friends with the people that help you through these times that are some of the people that you know really that you close to I'm pretty lucky actually with with that stuff because and it's probably why I didn't go to therapy earlier is because I have those friends where I'll have the same conversation that I would have with a therapist I was at this talk thing where Alain de Botton was talking and he was talking about how like real friendship is just built on vulnerability the second you open up to someone with like a real thing is when you actually get to know someone so I definitely got if there was someone that I was friends with and I felt like I want to be like close to them just open up really kind of straightaway and doing that as definitely caused me to become much closer with like just people just my all of my friends in general I'd say how did you feel about um when you start started on this on this new album right on fine line I had your opinion changed about your self-titled debut with the things that you felt in the heat of the moment and the process of coming out of one direction and making a solo record that you would do differently or that you felt that album didn't quite achieve and when I like listen to the first album now I can hear all the places where I feel like I was playing it safe because I just didn't want to get it wrong I just didn't want to get it wrong decided with a mid-tempo seven minute single Drive I mean it wasn't this yeah yeah apart from that but I guess a big part of going into this album was I spent a lot of time kind of thinking about the whole process of you make an album then you put it out and you you know kind of release it and then you tore it and all of the bits that I didn't enjoy as much I kind of went into the second one feeling like I want to work out how to make all of this feel really fun so that's why you drink margaritas and do mushrooms if yeah I guess I think it was going to matter okay I had this moment where I was like I would rather not do it then yeah do it and it not be fun making this album was all about freedom yeah well sis has it I had a big moment of I guess through the whole making of this record I was kind of trying to redefine what success meant to me for so long especially in the band it was like every album got bigger and every tour got bigger and it was like always growing and I think when I went to make the first record it was kind of freeing because I felt like well I don't have to do this anymore you're still like well if the last band thing was this and then your first thing when it was lined up to judge everyone is lined up to judge like you come out with that first album and it doesn't smash it it's like oh well I guess out of the band it's a no-go right right and so for me when that album came out I felt you all wrote already were kind of redefining success in your own terms because you went connected with your audience I thought to me at least it's like in a very real way like he went back to to trying to really connect with people you can't connect in ass baseball stadium right that was the thing that I'd always said I wanted to do when we kind of start even when we started doing the music it was like I kind of said to my manager like the first tour that I do I want it to be really small and then I guess with this one it was like I just wanted to have fun I just wanted to have so much else what success is that's what you landed on the redefinition of success yeah and one of my friends kind of said if you're happy doing what you're doing then nobody can tell you you're not successful I mean it's so obvious but it's also the kind of thing where probably four years ago if someone had said that to me I'd be like okay because you were too busy making everybody else happy and also I guess when I was in the band there was a big thing of because we would make the last three records we made on the road and I had friends who are musicians who I knew would like they would tour and then they would take six months off to go me I better I used to be like oh my god you can do that what see you're just like you're just making that's it that's all you're doing room 1607 you're just making at the Marion Hong Kong remember like Oh for mattresses and one over the top exactly on the last two tours as well we bought this like old surveillance van and converted it into a studio so it would follow the tour around so like at the venue you'd go into this tiny little surveillance room they had no air conditioning what you're one direction would go the back we've recorded songs in the back of a van on the road so we had the bossiest yeah so if people are walking past the van I've got no idea let it be like in the vent in the venue right okay it's crazy yeah it's funny to record it like that it's just a totally different process the album starts with the golden which is like he said before the vulnerability is the way to great friendship and I feel like that song establishes that I mean there's a lot of like I know you're scared but man I'm just gonna tell you the truth yeah I feel like that's what that song is about it's kind of it's it's the stall out for the album - it's a very personal album gold or not we wrote on day two of being in shangri-la that was kind of like and immediately as soon as we'd done it it was like oh this is this is track one he knew it right I love that feeling it's why the spots are making a record as yeah it's so good cuz I always end up with track one and the last track Ryan you're like okay let's see she knew fine line would be the last track yes do you know was the album title as well no it's such a powerful piece of music we can skip to the end if you want that's like that is one of my favorite songs of the year I mean that's just that's a stunning man golden came really early and then I used to drive from here to the studio and listen to it and it's kind of like as soon as we had it golden was like the perfect nice eh Sun magic you know it's like driving down the coast it was just that is what the song is for like it feels so malleable to me that song I heard that the first person who played the full album - was Liam Gallagher is that true one of the first people yeah I guess by accident I guess what happened well he was in we were working in a studio in London and he was in we were kind of trying to finish up and he was in the studio next door he came in I can't remember how it happened but you know that's the first years the first time it kind of just ended up in the listing which was crazy you know I was a massive voices fan of us and then he invited us all over to golus to his records and we listened and we all like had fish and chips and talked and surfing he's really he's cool I'd imagine what a melon sugar would have been a standout for him I don't know why this kind of feels like it's his vibe that was I don't even know yeah I may have we played in that but none of it none of that stuff was finished I don't think that had horns on it Yeah right lights up I don't think was written lights up adore you treat people and yeah those three I think we all hadn't been done yet they were all like the last week basically what a melon sugar which at this point is out and you performed on SNL and everyone's kind of figured out what it's about the joys of you know mutually appreciated oral pleasure look what it's about is it what everyone's saying yeah always good to leave it open to interpretation of course but it's something that just seems to kind of followed you around that idea of you not just being a sex symbol but that you a lot of your music isn't slow like this yeah I reckon but I actually wanted to ask you genuinely serious question about that because people throw it around like it's fodder but it is actually awkward right like how do you feel sometimes when people seem very focused on you and net light you know honestly I try and think about it as little as possible because it's a very strange dynamic thing it's also like a weird thing to think of about yourself totally like I guess the thing with like sex in general is like it used to feel so much more taboo for me to even like even like wearing the band like the thought of people thinking that I had sex was like oh no that's crazy like what if they know but it's like you know yeah so come even just like coming into this record out I wanted to feel a little less like guarded with stuff I wanted to feel a lot freer and just more joyful and like honest and I think a lot of the time with like when there's like tabloid stuff for example of like people breaking up and you know it's like I think people forget that there's like a person who's also broken up with someone which is sad well yeah yeah it's sad when you break up with someone yeah it feels to me this album in part and excuse me if I'm being too personal but based on the music it feels like a breakup recorder and in some respects it's one particular song like song called sherry which is crazy I mean cutting right to it you know with some real imagery of losing someone to someone else and they're still being that remnant of your relationship moving into a new space which is right at the core of heartbreak yeah that's like one of the most devastating images if you're lucky enough to get your heart broken that's one of those devastating images you can go through and you were sequester kyouno in terms of it feels to me like it's quite specific and referencing your relationship you've been yeah and it's kind of like it's a weird one for me because I'm always like you know I don't like to kind of explain songs or like kind of explain the meaning behind them and stuff like that but I think with this record it's so much more open yeah that it's like but you've told us yeah yeah like it tells you what it is you know I think a thing that I like about kind of definitely where this record went especially compared to the last one is like when I start making an album I don't feel like oh I'm making an album I'm gonna put out in December of next year or it feels like I just start writing some songs and then so then I can be as honest as possible and then the time when you get to decide if you think it's too honest is when you're putting it out and I never want to like trim that stuff down so you never thought for one second when you listen back to cherry later on that would be a very conversational fan or other people would be listening to it trying to decipher it how that would make you feel we felt you wanted to be true to it I think I wanted to be true to it I think the moment that I wrote it I wanted to be true to the moment that I wrote it and how I was feeling then and the thing with the same feeling in not great okay the but I think also in the moment I felt I felt like I was realizing some stuff about it was all part of like being more open and you know not being like I don't care it's like now like you get petty when you know when it's when something is not going the way that you want like you get petty with that stuff and I think there's something with cherry where it's like it's so pathetic kind of in a way denied that I wrote it we'd been writing for a few weeks and everyone had left the studio it was me Tyler and Sammy who's our engineer and we were kind of sitting around talking like 2:00 a.m. maybe and I was saying that I was feeling a lot of pressure because the last record wasn't like a radio record I felt like a lot of pressure to be making these like big songs and I was like I feel like it this record has to be really big so I feel like I need to make certain songs you know I have all these ideas about records that I want to make and I want to make this record in five years I want to make this record in ten years and I want to make like just these ideas for records that I want to make and we had this conversation and Tyler just said to me you just have to make the record that you want to make right now that's it there's no like let me make sure this one's a commercial success so that I can make what I want later down the road you just have to make the record that you want to make right now he's right so then we stayed up and wrote cherry that night so how did you see from there when you wrote it how did you feel when you finished it so good yeah like I loved it so much it's amazing who's this - speaking at the end what's the vocal of dynamic that was my ex-girlfriend yeah so that's interesting and I think it's super cool that you lift that in obviously from a sort of imagery point of view because I love all that stuff I love hearing things that revolve around music and not necessarily just tied to a structure but the decision to keep you know your ex-girlfriend speaking at the end of the song is like so blunt and so straight up like yeah what's going through your mind like anyone else is just broken up with someone right now I was like not on a war Wireless day what idea and uh I don't know I think it was like cuz it got added in later on and it felt so part of the song it just felt like it needed it with friends and stuff so I asked her if it was okay and she was okay with it what it's thinking saw him I think she liked it come on that's written about it right you got to go you got to love that yeah that madness is a song called falling on the record which the first time I heard it was like everyone was just floored and it's a real standout it's gonna become something I think that people will carry with them respective of the context of the album though zero in on that song as well in its own way and um tom was telling me that that that was that came super fast I was going out for dinner I think and I was getting picked up from Tom's house so he came to pick me up and I was showering and he was like playing on the piano and as I came after shower he was playing like good then and and and I went and stood next to him a piano just in a towel and we just kind of wrote the whole thing it was really hot how long did it take I say falling maybe took like probably 20 minutes what I mean that's 20 minutes in a towel that's real friendly yeah that's yeah three days okay we finished it please go that's one of those moments right where this surfing the surfing analogy where the wave and the practice yeah all comes together what do you think they came from the subject matter if it came so quick what do you think he was saying in that song listen to back to us now I think it was like for me what I hadn't really experienced before was during the making of this record the times when I felt good and I felt happy we're like the happiest I've ever felt in my life and the times when I felt sad was like the lowest I ever felt in my life and I think it was kind of that feeling of when you can feel yourself kind of falling back into one of those moments yeah where you're there and the chorus says like what am I now am i someone I don't want around it was kind of like yeah it's powerful it's super-sub resorbed and self-indulgent in a minute yeah so I guess in a way kind of I guess it was a big moment or I was kind of asking myself like Who am I like what am i doing yeah kind of and his imagery in there have been too drunk and wandering hands and all that stuff that it all the all the guilt points yeah I was like I kind of started to feel like threads if you know where I could see myself becoming someone I didn't want to be and and that was really hurt but I think that the thing that's nice with that is you get to write a song about it and be like okay next you know and who helps you at those moments does your mum still play a really important role your family and by the way you don't have to be you right here people doing all kinds of things in all walks of life who are losing their way and need people to bring them back of the iron so let's just talk about that relationship for a second because I know family's a big thing for you my father like I'm so lucky with my family they've always just been really supportive and that's kind of its kind of all you can ask for with with like doing this is obviously you know sometimes you don't want to go home and be like I'm miserable right now because you want to be like no I'm fine don't worry about me and that happens too but also have the relationship with my family where if I need to have that conversation I can what's the best bit of advice your mom's giving you the thing with my mum is she's less of like she's less of like a soundbite of advice she's more she's like the kindest woman I know you know so for me it's always been like just watching her how she is repeat falling and stuff is like she just I just don't think she has like a bad bone which is an incredible thing to grow up around to have that person like supporting years it's amazing she's versed she's like actually the best so who do you missed the most who do you wish was still around probably my stepdad stepdad passed away a couple years ago that's tough he was pretty great he's like pretty great guy yeah what have you learned sort of going through life now is you kind of experiencing loss because we all have to cross that bridge and yeah that's kind of sobering and then that's when adulthoods really knocking on your door and you start to risk take advantage of and reprioritize things and you know coming out the other end of that really really high octane visceral childhood that you had into your 20s and getting into your second album and being an independent human being who's got a strong relationship with your family like how have your priorities shifted and what are the things that really come into focus for you now friendships probably just the most important thing to me like the people I'm really close with but just I'd say way more important else I've definitely felt a difference in the conversations that I have with friends I guess since you like experience death more when you're a kid and but you lose a grandparent or something yeah and it's really sad but also it's like Oh grandparents are the people who die first yes and there's some natural order to that yeah and I think like the first time you lose like a friend is when you really feel like an adult you're kind of like wow that's because it's one of the first experiences you have I think when you lose control completely lose control you know I think you have those those moments where and every single person does it has ever lost a friend where you know whether you're close to them or not I think everyone has that thing of like I wish I'd just asked one more time if they're okay you know and if there's any positive thing that could possibly come out of that it's that now the conversations that I have with friends about that stuff is way different in terms of like you know you asked a friend if they're okay and it's like yeah I'm good and you're like I'm like more prepared to have that like no but you know there is actually okay me the roast you know and that's like their conversations that I have with my friends there and you're equally viable in your own way and you're absolutely and I think that's like a really important thing and that obviously like I said earlier is we're like real friendship comes from I don't think everyone's lucky enough to have it and I don't think it happens all the time so so interesting that you know you came out of this experience which is if so many people isolated and fearful and paranoid and not wanting to connect with human spirit because they've had non-stop human spirit surrounding them for years right and you're like so different it's like you just kind of cool time on it and then just went searching for real human experience almost immediately you know you came to California in the search for people one for experience and for ya and for relationships I mean the thing with my relationship with California's like is also definitely changed over the last few years but when I first came here it was like oh if you get to move here it means you've made it like you did good I mean it should be fair yeah this is my house you know you get this like it's everywhere you've seen in movies and you're kind of like oh it's amazing like you're in the mix and you get to be here and I think the more time I spent here I was like oh no actually if you can come here and then leave is when you feel really great if you're like oh yeah it's amazing see you two months see in a bit yeah but that just goes back to what you were saying about you straight me as being someone who's just Restless yeah I mean the thing with air is like I've never felt at home here in LA which is you know in one sense not great but at the same time I always feel like I'm on holiday when I'm at yes fair so I really enjoy being here a lot of my closest friends there which is where I usually feel the best is when I can see those people so is this kind of as this conversation comes to a natural end as the Sun Goes Down on an arched on our time on our time together what is London to you then if that's the closest thing to home London's like just where I want to be at some point and it's a weird one because after traveling so much I don't think I don't look at the future as like I'm gonna live in this one place and then I'll never move anywhere I think it's just about like being happy I just want to be happy in this and I feel pretty good right now yeah you had fun making this up yeah so much fun was the most fun memory of making this happen I'd say I'd say probably my favorite memory from from making this one off at least was the day we were out golden we and went to have dinner and we're all set in the kitchen at shangri-la and we kind of just played it like on one guitar and everyone kind of singing it around the table like and it just felt really good like it felt so much more joyous than last time and I think that makes sense because like you said the first single was a seven-minute banana valid so like it would have been weird to come out being really joyous but you keep going oh yes yeah it's keep your great and and I think part of the thing was like the mushrooms things for me is that I never do anything when I'm working and I don't even drink when I'm walking if I'm touring or anything I don't drink really at all and when I was in the band it was like to me it felt like it was so much bigger than any of us yeah that I kind of felt like I'm not gonna be the one who set up so I was like now is the time in my life when you probably go out and experiment and do this and you take this and you do this it's not your shoulders and that's what you do with your friends and I was like I'm not gonna be the guy who messes it up so I was like I'm not gonna do any of that stuff making this record felt like I just felt so much like it so much more joyous and I was with my friends and we were in Malibu saying it was like yeah I felt so safe it was like I want to take some mushroom latexing like now's the time to have fun like we're in Malibu 24 I'm also in music I'm not like you know it's like you know it's like I'm gonna be the first musician experiment in that environment I'm not like a politician I don't think it's that crazy I don't think it's that crazy it's definitely what does the enjoy it yeah I think my thing with with drugs is like if you're taking anything to escape but to try and hide from stuff then you shouldn't even drink and if you're taking anything to like have fun and be creative then great and I was with my friends and making an album you obviously get so in your head and you get so like self-conscious about everything and you hit these bumps in the road where you're kind of thinking this is good enough and is it this enough is it that enough there's I can after flow of some of that stuff where sometimes you take something and then for 10 days after you're like don't worry about it everything's gonna be fine it's like what it's like kind of stress relieving and totally in a sense and and that's where you're at now I guess in your life is as you redefine to success and you had fun making this album is that you're just trying to worry less I think so yeah I think that that's like been a big part of this whole thing for me is like I'm just trying to go through life being a little less worried that stuff definitely with like working because ultimately it will be okay it's like if you don't hit the top of the chart your life doesn't change like I think realizing that it's like if that was what I was aiming at and then it didn't happen then I'd feel so much worse but redefining it for me has been amazing to be like oh but I'm that's not the game I'm playing you did it as a freedom with that and you know you don't get to go out on arena tours with Ginny Lewis if you're trying to play the game she's the best you don't take Kacey Musgraves out before she won the Grammy if you're trying to let these are bold moves of it's obvious how talented Casey engineer but you would be making a far more methodical chart based decision you know taking someone else out that would fill a different kind of void you know what I mean in the night yeah but as it just strikes me that you're making decisions based on what's making you happy especially with that stuff because Casey I just love her her coming on tour was I was more thinking of like who do I want to watch every night for like 30 shows yeah you know and you were so tired and the timing was unbelievable because that album is so special yeah then eventually if I push you wish I was booked before the album came and they're just nuts cuz I just think she's so good unbelievable no I just want to watch people who are inspiring and you just want to be around like good stuff I'm just a massive fan of hers so when she came out it was really cool for me that she was coming and I was worried the new album came out and that was like this is amazing you know same with I mean Leon came out last time he got KP coming out in the UK she's coming out this is Jenny Lewis coming out in the u.s. all by all than men and this album is really it's a it's an amazing listen from beginning to end covers a lot of different ground really revealing and in a really beautifully written some amazing lyrics in there that really kind of I even heard people putting it into context before someone's like falling and you know we talked about cherry and fine line double mallow moments but also you know even talking about you know the canyon song where you know you're just putting a deck into into you know the idea of reflecting and reminiscing on a time and it was so cool and it's just really great man from beginning to end thank you um it's been good to connect and talk to you for the first time appreciate it it was fun what are you gonna do fit for the for the Christmas break I mean you don't start in earnest or next year right I'll be doing something sure probably Christmas I go home I go to my mom's yeah you ready for next year though I mean do you up about dira and everything else I'm really excited about it gonna be it's my favorite part really even more than I mean I've completely fallen in love with being in the studio now because of like the freedom that comes with it and I think also now I'm kind of learning a different way of doing it I think I'd get like chunks in a studio I'd book like a studio for two months and then I'd go and I'd be in there every day I felt like I'd kind of be like well we've booked it so we have to be in there and I think at some point you've written everything you have to write in the moment and you realize you're not actually living because you've just been in the studio for three months so I'm kind of working out still the balance of like next time maybe I'll go in the studio for a couple weeks at a time while continuing to just kind of live you're gonna act again and yeah anything on the horizon - I think for me it's like with the acting thing like I never wanted to do it as like just doing it to like take a job there was something about like the Dunkirk thing where when I heard about it I was like I want to be involved in that so bad I just remember the way that it kind of hit me and where I was excited to watch it it's like whether I was in it or not I was like I can't wait to see that and you know a few if you get to make stuff that you're passionate about and you get to make something that makes you happy then you're happy and I'll call you I'm successful which is great that's - redefinition and success my name thanks for time bro thank you

Channel: undefined

Views: 6,083,342

Rating: 4.9869661 out of 5

Keywords: harry styles, fine line, zane lowe, beats 1, apple beats 1, interview, harry styles interview, harry styles fine line interview, zane lowe interview, harry styles zane lowe, one direction, hs2, harry styles new album, harry styles album, harry styles record

Id: moIOVVEIffQ

Length: 49min 23sec (2963 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 22 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/charcoalandblusher]

Well my dudes, safe to say i have never been more excited for any record ever. Fine Line is gonna be massive.

[u/mgmmspud]

This is the best interview I've seen of him! He is finally open with us but also makes sure that he protects his private life. My excitement for this album just skyrocketed 100%! I hope Fine Line is a single because Zane said it's one of his favorite records of the year. I'm also especially curious for Cherry, like from a man who never puts his love life on display a voice record is just a surprising transparent move for him.

[u/bachball]

This was an amazing interview. I could have listened for another hour! Zane was so respectful and let Harry finish everything I loved it

[u/Togmahm]

Best interview I’ve ever seen of Harry. This album is about to rock my world

[u/a-l-p]

Lovely interview, great questions, great setting. Could listen to him talk for hours, he has the most calming voice, I swear. And I want that house with that "back yard", the view is just amazing - so jealous lol.