I’m currently listening to Harry Style’s number one hit ‘As It Was.’ It’s a beautiful song in my opinion: catchy, but also self reflective and deeply thoughtful.

I spoke with my therapist about this song actually. She asked me what I thought Harry was singing about? I said maybe he was singing about a different era, the noughties or the 90s even (I’m not sure how old Harry Styles is). Maybe he was singing about a period in a previous relationship. Harry seems to make reference to this when he says “your daddy lives by himself, he just wants to know that you’re well.” And of course the song features what sounds like a young child talking at the very beginning suggesting that the song is about a period in Harry’s life when he was happier and more fulfilled in terms of his family relationships. 

I like the way he speaks to (his) child directly and with sincerity in the above mentioned lyric. A lot of separated parents can get bogged down in the anger of the separation, at the other partner.

I spoke briefly to another friend about how Harry Styles came to be famous. He started off on X factor. Thats a TV show. He was apparently quite humorous in his first TV appearance. He worked in a bakery (at the time) and reportedly said ‘the Dream Rings are pretty good’ when asked what was the best product the bakery sold. Dream rings are a sort of sugar doughnut that’s popular here in Britain. I personally don’t watch TV or X factor. Though X factor (and even TV) represent a different era to me. The era of the tabloids and Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole. Before social media was available on your smart phone. Before people were linked up to the internet 24/7. Harry references this when he says “Go home, get ahead, light-speed internet

I don’t wanna talk about the way that it was.”

When I first heard the song I thought Harry was saying the world was better a few decades ago. Or maybe Britain was. I’m only 32 myself so I’m not sure how well I can comment on this. Donald Trump’s followers seem to share this view, with their slogan “make America great again.” Implying the US was better in some way before. Its a view a few older people (than me) seem to have.

The music video on Youtube has 792 million views. Harry has certainly adapted to the digital age well. I’ve watched the music video many times. From the look of it the start is set in London, a place that is in someway familiar to me. I was born there, lived there as a baby for a few years, then lived there for a few months in my adulthood. 

I’ve watched the music video many times. My favourite bit is both the start and the end. The end where the bells start to come on and Harry dances about (slightly unusually) by himself. Its a bit happier than the rest of the song that bit. Harry seems a bit more upbeat in that instance. At the beginning Harry is walking through some sort of arched walkway with what I assume are busy, well wrapped up, commuters around him walking. Harry is wrapped up in a red jacket/coat. Harry then starts to walk backwards against the flow of the pedestrians back into a doorway where he takes off the coat.

I could easily write another post about the Milky Chance cover of ‘As It Was.’