We made it, folks.
After an excruciating year and change since One Direction announced their “indefinite hiatus,” April 7, 2017 marks the first day of Harry Styles’ solo career – and his debut single “Sign of the Times” is surprisingly marvellous.
The Jeff Bhasker (the mastermind behind Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” and Kanye West’s “All of the Lights”) produced track is a glistening glam rock ballad, rife with smooth guitar licks and a lilting piano.
While press surrounding the announcement of the track likened it to sounding a lot like Queen and The Beatles, “Sign of the Times” is wildly fresh. It’s an ambitious, risky song to launch a solo career, but let’s be real: with all the buzz surrounding Styles’ solo career, he could have dropped a trop-house Barry Manilow cover and his fans would eat it up. Thankfully Styles took his time to fully think out his debut, and thus we’ve got “Sign of the Times.”
Watch Styles make his live debut next week on April 15 as Saturday Night Live’s music guest, hosted by Jimmy Fallon. As guests generally perform two songs for SNL, we’ll be on the edge of our seat all week waiting for another song to drop at any moment.
In the meantime, kick your feet up and get acquainted with “Sign of the Times” above.