6 years after departing from One Direction, Styles picks up an adoring new sidekick – a fish from the remote island of Eroda.
Art by Katherine Ku
“He made me feel…very invested in the future of the fish.”
The only person able to generate this effect on another is none other than Harry Edward Styles.
Since his 6-year journey with One Direction, Styles released his first album as a solo artist in 2017. While his fellow (disbanded) bandmembers also embarked on solo journeys, Styles has retained by far the most generous and supportive fan base, who have experienced an agonizing two years of waiting for Styles’s new album Fine Line.
It was well worth the wait, though. Style’s resurgence to the music scene last December included the drop of the music video for his new single “Adore You,” featuring Styles and his best friend – a gold-mottled fish.
Rather than jump right into the song, the music video plays a 2:30 introduction comparable to a short film. Many viewers, I included, appreciated this mini cinematic detour. The voice of Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia begins the narration followed by a snapshot of the gloomy, frown-shaped island of Eroda. The story tells of a young boy, Styles, from Eroda’s fishing village who has a special ability to blind people with his luminous smile. The boy continues to be ostracized by the ever-frowning villagers and attempts to drown himself among the weather-beaten boulders by the shore. He is immediately stopped by a small, golden fish that threw itself onto one of the rocks. The irony. Fate has brought the two outsiders together, rescuing each other from death.
No, it’s not a real place. I am also devastated.
The song begins right then. Aside from Styles’s magnetic, irresistible smile amidst the colorless fishing village and cheerless Erodeans, the song’s groovy and bubbling beat that seems to evoke an underwater ebullience, is the only other source of light. Decorated with a pulsing synth and bass, the instrumental introduction sets the pace for Styles’s highly time-sensitive mission to get the fish to a safe place, while simultaneously keeping listeners in anticipation.
The lyrics don’t immediately make people think of a relationship between a human and a fish. But they tell the simple, sweet excitement of stumbling upon someone during a rough patch and finding joy in each other’s presence. Styles starts off the song strong and marching, but alone. He then rolls into a progressive rhythm until he hits the climax of the chorus, singing in falsetto with layers of self-harmonies and subtle veiled vocals, all of these musical features most appropriately paired with montages of Styles and his fish picnicking and dancing atop a mountain. The ultimate pairing.
It’s a love song and a romantic film, but in the most platonic way.
According to a devoted listener, “I was really sad when [the fish] crashed through the glass, but then I felt very hopeful when people came to help carry it. I really liked how cinematic it was,” referring to the ending scene, where the fish had grown so large that Styles had to drag it across the village in a cargo-sized tank. After seeing a fisherman butchering a bucket of fish, it panics and breaks through the glass. While indeed heart-wrenching, the scene is balanced by a continuum of Style’s falsetto chorus offering a sense of comfort that everything will be okay.
But that’s not the most emotional part. The villagers, seeing the fish and Styles struggling, band together to help Styles haul the fish to sea. The song ends rather abruptly but with Styles’s assuring voice shouting with passion, “Just let me adore you./ Like it’s the only thing I’ll ever do.”
Styles’s album cover for “Fine Line.” We’re looking at him through a fish lens. Coincidence? I think not.
Three months after the release of the music video for “Adore You,” Styles partook in an NPR’s Tiny Desk concert, where he performed four tracks from the album: “Cherry,” “Watermelon Sugar,” “To Be So Lonely,” and “Adore You.”
Styles is accompanied by his touring band, this time with mostly acoustic instruments: Sarah Jones on the drums and vocals, Mitch Rowland on the guitar, Adam Prendergast on the bass and vocals, Ny Oh on the guitar and vocals, and Charlotte Clark on the guitar, Wurlitzer, and vocals.
Swiveling around on the chair in front of his mic, Styles awaits his cue as Jones playfully taps the cymbal and snare. Prendergast immediately follows with the bass creating a similar groovy pulsation from the original recording. All vocalists harmonize a full 8-beats with a mild crescendo, paving the way for Styles’s entrance.
Two things are missing from the Tiny Desk rendition: the fish and the mystical, abyssal background music.
Stripped of these and the theatricalities of the music video, the message still stands. According to Styles himself, “It’s about a fish. And uh, I just had this fish. And I just really liked it. And that’s kind of the whole story behind the song,” his facetious answer backed by his bandmembers cueing the sprightly intro to “Adore You.”
Styles and his band in their element. Everyone is there for the purpose of supporting the main star: the fish on Styles’s sweater. (“Adore You” begins 15:10)
All jokes aside, Styles confirms that the point of “Adore You” is to express the initial excitement of meeting someone (or multiple someones) and riding the flow of the shared joy and ease. And it is especially evident in the Tiny Desk concert, where Styles and his bandmembers are filmed just jamming, having fun, and purely enjoying each other’s company. The vocalists are much more apparent, and unlike the original recording, Styles ditches the falsetto. The guitarists each show off a mini solo.
Styles has proven that he can truly do it all. From being the face of boy-band heartthrob during his One Direction days to now flirting with many different genres in his solo music, Styles has created his own (pun not intended) style. Fine Line brings to the table tastes of the 70s, indie rock, modern pop, and rock, all of which are represented in “Adore You.”
Between the music video and the Tiny Desk concert of this single, what really shines through, besides Styles’s blazing smile, is the versatility and flexibility of Styles’s artistry.
If that’s not enough to convince you to give “Adore You” a go, the adorably lovable relationship between Styles and his favorite fish will be.