Harry Styles Channels Rock and Roll Greats on His Debut Album

Stephanie Hernandez

One Direction fans will rejoice, and everyone else will simply be pleasantly surprised: Harry Styles’ self-titled debut has finally dropped. Half emotional ballads, half top 40 rock jams, inspired by icons of the past, Styles channels his influences with a no-nonsense attitude. Strumming guitars with the same charisma we’ve come to expect from this floppy-haired Brit, the record steadily tugs along and keeps you engaged for its duration. Blending his love of eclectic 70s rock with polished production, the ten-song debut helps Styles breakaway from his saccharine boy-band image. By the final track, he emerges as a legitimized solo artist—not bad for a 23-year-old X-Factor graduate.

It is no surprise that Harry and his merry team of co-writers turned to the stadium legends of the 1970s and 80s to churn out hits for this Jagger look-alike’s first solo venture. Calling on everyone from Elton John to David Bowie and The Eagles, no classic rock act was left unturned in their search for inspiration. “I just left your bedroom/Give me some morphine” hooks you into the album’s opener, “Meet Me In The Hallway.” A purposefully laid-back love song built on lightly-picked acoustic guitars, cool enough to be played with the top down through the winding Hollywood Hills but intimate enough to warrant a solo listening laid in bed with your headphones on. The record’s obvious stand out comes early with the Bowie-esque “Sign of the Times.” Clocking in at over five minutes, this epic homage is great but definitely not the pinnacle of what Styles can do. Committed to revealing just a taste of each of his many facets, this album pulls together every genre, from funk to punk and everything in between.  “Two Ghosts” and “Sweet Creature” show Styles’s versatility, allowing him to flex his unused country muscles and tackle past relationships with the maturity of an artist beyond his years. Other tracks like “Carolina” allow for a more upbeat spirited rock star to break through. Tying up loose edges with polished intimate lyrics like the ones found on “From The Dining Table,” Styles has clearly been through some growing pains.

Though ballads are clearly Styles’ strong suit, his anthems are not half bad. Bouncing between soft croons and punchy radio friendly rock, the Rolling Stones references come hard and often. “Only Angel” makes you want to passionately bang a cowbell on stage as he throatily sings “Couldn’t take you home to mother in a skirt that short.” The allure of depravity continues on “Kiwi,” where Jeff Bhasker’s masterful production ensures Styles doesn’t miss a beat on this sexy backroom stomp. Though Harry’s stylistic references ring true to their origins, there are very clearly moments on the record where he toes the line between imitation and appreciation a little too closely.

A grab bag of throwback delights, the ten tracks that make up Harry Styles’ self-titled debut still manage to keep a sharp modern edge about them. With a well-rounded collection of tracks spanning decades of genres, Styles clearly is in this for the long haul. Stepping out of the huge shadow left for him by his bygone group, this former boy band member faced the challenge of reinvention from sugary sweet, charismatic persona to versatile solo artist with impressive aptitude. That being said, it is clear Styles is still learning the ropes. As he tends to rely too heavily on the past as an attempt to infuse the record with innate legitimacy, listeners may still be asking themselves just what the “real” Harry Styles sounds like.

Harry Styles’ self-titled debut is available on Apple Music May 12.