Styles the solo star shows he still has the X Factor
FEW tears were shed last summer when it was
announced that The X Factor would not be
returning to our TV screens after a 17-year run.
Simon Cowell’s Saturday night singing contest had been battling dwindling r atings — and (worse) it was no longer unearthing top-notch talent.
But, as the past week has shown, its legacy lingers on. Last Saturday saw the three remaining members of Little Mix, who formed on the show in 2011, play a tearful ‘farewell’ concert before a packed O2 Arena in London. And, this morning, Harry Styles releases his thirdsolo a lbum.
Styles, 28, began his career on The X Factor in 2010, initially as a solo wannabe and then as one fifth of One Direction, a groupwho moved the art of the boyband away from blazers, ballads and choreographed dancer outines to something more c ontemporary. They conquered the world in the process.
Like G eorge M ichael a nd J ustin Timberlake b efore h im, H arry h as since pulled off the awkward
transition from bubblegum idol to mature solo performer. Harry’ s House rubber-stamps his status as a proper, grown-up superstar.
His progress hasn’t come without the odd stumble. His first solo effort, self-titled and out five years ago, hopped betweentrends,searching fora voice. But its 2019 sequel, Fine Line,show-cased his charisma and finesse—and thenew a lbum refines that approach.
There are throwbacks aplenty. Current single As It Was, now in its sixth week at No1 , harks
back to Norwegian trioA-ha’s 1980s hit Take On Me.
There are bouts of acoustic introspection , retro R& B groove sand Prince-like dance tracks.
A sense of continuity is aided by the fact that Styles has retained his b ackroom t eam. B ritish i ndierocker Kid Harpoon and U.S. multi-instrumentalist Tyler Johnson return as producers and their bright, agile arrangements are largely a delight.
On t he p oppier n umbers, S tyles sings in a soft falsetto. Synthdriven opener Music For A Sushi Restaurant finds him venturing into jazzy scat vocals while
bizarrely i nforming h is l atest l ove interest that he ‘could cook an egg on you’.
Grapejuice is an auto-tuned c elebration of downing ‘a bottle ofrouge’withapalonHampstead Heath. Harry’s House clearly has a well-stocked drinks cabinet. D aylight i s more syrupy, with Styles declaring: ‘If I was a bluebird, I w ould f ly t o you.’ For all his maturity, he can still croon a doeeyed, boy-meets-girl tune to the hordes of screaming fans, now older themselves, who followed him in One Direction. As befits an album that shares its name with a song (Harry’s House/Centerpiece) from Joni Mitchell’s 1975 album The Hissing Of Summer Lawns, there are some folky, acoustic moments. Joni h as e ven g iven h er b lessing to Styles’ choice of title and — given that she once described
modern pop as ‘shallow and shocking’ — her seal of approval is quite shocking itself.
The shimmering, featherlight production occasionally sinks
into b landness. I f ound m y a ttention wandering during Boyfriends, a n a coustic b allad p enned with Tobias Jesso Jr, co-writer of Adele’s When We Were Young.
BUT this is a confident return from a singer happy to entertain without striving for any great depth. Styles might have m odelled h is l ook o n a y oung Mick Jagger, but he’s never sounded so at ease with himself as a performer. Six years after
leaving O ne D irection, h e’s s till g ot the X Factor.
▪ D AVE STEWART turns 70 this year, but the former Eurythmics member is approaching that landmark with all the energy of a teenager. He recently produced Joss Stone’s e xcellent c omeback a lbum, has co-written (with Stone) the music for a forthcoming West End adaptation o f T he T ime T raveller’s
Wife and is soon to be inducted (with ex-bandmate Annie Lennox) into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in America.
He’s also put his heart into a semi-autobiographical solo album, Ebony McQueen, which he hopes to turn into a film.
Set in Stewart’s hometown of Sunderland, the record tells the tale of a teenage boy who is visited by an imaginary blues queen. Its short, sharp songs examine the teen’s m usical l oves, f rom t he b lues to The Beatles, and his dreams of moving to London.
With 23 tracks — and strings by the B udapest S coring O rchestra — it’s a sprawling, theatrical affair that sometimes goes over the top. But its maker is a master craftsman w ho c ombines d ecent m elodies and heartfelt words.
The title track is an affectionate salute t o T he F ab F our. T hings W ill Never Be The Same nods to Revolver-era psychedelia.
He casts the net wide, too, with musical detours into New Orleans jazz and acknowledgements of his early years in the Wearside folk clubs. Out digitally, and as a five-disc, two-cassette box set (£107), i ts i diosyncratic a pproach i s a hallmark of one of pop’s
enduring mavericks.
▪ LYKKE LI’S songs of doomed romance have made her one of the queens of sad-girl music, although the S wedish s inger h as o ften e ased herheartachewithhumour.Herlast two releases have been So Sad So Sexy and Still Sad Still Sexy.
She’s not so droll on new album Eyeye, a record she describes as her break-up with the break-up album. Instead, working from her LA bedroom, she gave herself a set of rules: no digital instruments; all vocals to be recorded on a $70 drum microphone.
The upshot is an intimate record on which her singing recalls E lizabethFraser,oftheCocteauTwins, and the analogue synths generate a warm, fuzzy sense of grandeur. ‘ Night f alls, i t r ains, a nd I wake up alone’, she laments on Highway To Your Heart. If this is really h er f inal b reakup a lbum, t hen parting is sweet sorrow.
Harry StyleS starts a UK tour at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, on June 11 (ticketmaster.co.uk). lykke li plays the Barbican,
london, on October 22 (barbican.org.uk).