Before you say it, don’t say it. You don’t need to say it. We know what you’re going to say already.
One Direction wasn’t for everyone, and out of the fivesome, Harry Styles seemed to draw the most ire out of the lot, so getting invested in his new musical career and direction is a bit of an uphill battle.
However, with his first single ‘Sign Of The Times’, Styles may just silence the nay-sayers by, y’know, releasing a very decent song.
Aside from the obvious Prince-title nod, you can’t help but listen to the track and hear some very heavy Bowie influences, especially in those layered guitars once the first chorus starts to kick in.
There’s also some pretty heavy subtext going on, because what sounds at the start like another song about the end of relationship begins to swell and grow into something bigger and darker, and the doom and gloom gets almost apocalyptic. Which is very Bowie-esque, if you think about it.
The track is co-written and co-produced by Jeff Bhasker, who was worked on everything and with just about everyone in the last few years, from Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreaks album, to ‘Uptown Funk’ with Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, to Lana Del Ray’s ‘National Anthem’, which was obviously another jump-off point for Styles’ new track.
You can listen to the full, five-minute plus track below:
Clip via HarryStylesVEVO
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