In 2013, One Direction is the new British sensation. Formed in 2010 on the set of the show The X-Factor (following the failure of the solo candidates), the English quintet has a string of hits with teenage girls: Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis and Zayn have indeed sold since their meeting nearly 2 million copies of their first album in England, 3 million in the rest of Europe and 4 million in the United States, thus becoming the first group to reach the number one position in the charts upon the release of a first album. While their second opus has the same stratospheric distribution figures, One D no longer touches the ground and is logically dissipated in interviews – like the Beatles in their time, finally. Thus, in 2013, a journalist from Paris Match recounted his interview with the post-teen boy band in these terms: “Meeting five 19-year-old kids at the same time is like looking for a needle in a haystack. We launch leads (…), we ask questions, in vain. The One Ds don’t give a damn (sic) and counting the minutes until recess. Only the very serious Harry Styles tries to save the day”.
Tackled by Mick Jagger
Our colleague had not typed next. Almost a decade later, 28-year-old Harry Styles is the clear winner of the One Direction experience. Like George Michael, Robbie Williams or Justin Timberlake, survivors of boy bands before him, Styles has managed to make a name for himself. Moreover, when the media evoke this new pop star, we no longer speak of One D but more of his so “stylish” look or his “irreproachable” political commitments.
On the music side, after two albums acclaimed by critics and followed by the public, his latest single As It Was, an a-ha-like synthpop track, is particularly well on its way to being this summer’s cross-generational hit. In short, you will understand, at the moment, everyone loves Harry. Really everyone? Not so sure. Lately in The TimesMick Jagger wanted to dot the i’s with those who present – a little hastily, according to the Rolling Stones – the ex-One D as his artistic heir: “He doesn’t have a voice like mine, he doesn’t move on stage like me either. He just has a superficial resemblance to my younger self.” That’s said… However, the septuagenarian and his younger brother have one thing in common: Harry, like Mick, had a rather turbulent youth.
Styles, The king of style
In 2012, journalists from the Sun had gone to Holmes Chapel (near Manchester) to meet Styles’ ex-friends who had kindly commented on his teenage behavior in rebellious mode: “We acted like fools in public. Harry would walk into Tesco, pretend he had Tourette’s disease and walk around screaming and screaming. Harry loved it. He was always the first to have fun, do stupid things, laugh and he didn’t care what people thought”, says a certain Will to the British tabloid. A desire to mess around which can be explained by the divorce of his parents, Desmond Styles and Anne Cox, which occurred when he was 7 years old. This did not prevent him from studying science with the intention of becoming a physiotherapist. Only, in the meantime, he took up music, formed a group called White Eskimo and won his high school’s “battle of the bands”. What to qualify for the English radio-hook The X-Factorwhere he will meet his future companions of One Direction.
“Boys and girls are there, I mess around with them and it suits me”
As the journalist from Paris Match in 2013, Harry quickly distinguished himself from the lot: more mature than the others, he frequented women who were ten to fifteen years older than him, invested in stone in London by buying a beautiful property of 215 m2, and got angry, in 2014, when Louis and Zayn made a video in Peru in which they smoked a joint. Nourished from childhood on the sounds of Fleetwood Mac, Harry Nilsson, Rick Springfield, Carole King and Pink Floyd, he delights journalists who fall in love with this young rock scholar who knows his business so well. Result ? The music business, the media and the fashion world will immediately support him when he goes solo in 2017. Five years later, this should also be the great consecration for him: his latest album is a hit, he will be the star of several festivals this summer and will be on view at Don’t Worry Darling, a film directed by his current fiancée, Olivia Wilde. In the meantime, Styles plays her bisexual via lyrics like “Boys and girls are there, I mess around with them and it suits me” of the title Medicine. A guy of his time, and committed, he who helps a fan to come out in full concert, at the end of 2021, or who recently allocates 1 million dollars to an anti-arms association in the United States. Harry? The pop star who wants you well.
Harry, the Seducer
In 2011, he wraps Caroline Flack, an animator who is fifteen years older than him, and whom he will leave for Lucy Horobin, also fifteen years his senior (and married). From 2012 to 2013, it will be a six-month love affair with Taylor Swift that will cause a lot of ink to flow and from which Taylor will come out unhappy. Concern ? Harry finds that he and her have nothing in common. He will then continue, from 2013 to 2016, with Kendall Jenner as part of a relationship in sex friends mode. Then it will be a fling with a Victoria’s Secret Angel, Nadine Leopold, who puts an end to it in order to favor her career. He takes refuge in the arms of another model, Camille Rowe, but it also fails because of their overloaded schedules. Not top, the tops! But in 2020, it’s love at first sight with actress Olivia Wilde, who is ten years older than him. For Harry, love has no age…
Her looks
Cool dandy alert!
In a very British glam rock style of the seventies, Harry cultivates a dandyism à la Bowie, even Gary Glitter – in the clip As It Was in particular, with her sequined red jumpsuit —, which plays with masculine and feminine codes. Enough to seduce the big brands including Gucci, with which he signed a contract in 2018. Harry has since been the muse of the Italian label, on the red carpets as well as on stage. The new Gucci spirit? It’s Harry.
Harry Styles in numbers
– 50 million albums sold solo
– 2 billion views on YouTube
– 45 million followers on Instagram
– 82 million euros of his estimated personal fortune
– 1.1 million euros: the value of each of his posts.
His very inspired collaborations
Like Madonna, Harry Styles likes to surround himself with the cream of pop culture in order to nourish himself both intellectually and artistically. From choreographer Martha Graham to photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino, he navigates between universes: he collaborates with Woodkid on Sign of the Timeswith Rosalia on Adore You or with the actress of the series flea bagPhoebe Waller-Bridge, on the clip of Treat People With Kindness. Otherwise, he poses with Lizzo, the body-positive icon, and Stevie Nicks, of Fleetwood Mac, who sees in him the “son she never had”. Just that !
His film
2017: DUNKIRK
Christopher Nolan spots Harry’s cigeny and gives him a role in a major WWII movie. It begins well.
2021: THE ETERNALS
A foray into a Marvel production directed by Oscar-winning Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zaho.
2022: DON’T WORRY DARLING
A psychological thriller set in the fifties. Harry stars in it opposite Florence Pugh. He got on well with the director, Olivia Wilde, who has since become his companion…
2022: MY POLICEMAN
A film by Michael Grandage about a love triangle. Styles co-stars with The Crown star Emma Corrin and David Dawson.
His music
2010: THE X-FACTOR
Passing solo auditions, Harry and his future accomplices are encouraged to form a boy band under the impetus of one of the members of the jury, the famous Simon Cowell. One Direction was born.
2011 TO 2015: ONE DIRECTION
With five albums, XXL tours and around 200 awards, One D became teenage idols and made millions of euros. However, in 2015, the group announced that it was taking a break.
2017: HARRY STYLES
After unveiling the single Sign of the Times, Harry Styles released a self-titled debut album, a tribute to 70s British rock, Queen and David Bowie. Critics are charmed.
2019: FINE LINE
Supported by four singles including Adore You and Falling, this second album, which cheerfully mixes rock, pop, funk and indie rock, is carried by lyrics that evoke his relationship with Camille Rowe.
2022: HARRY’S HOUSE
The latest album, released on May 20. His first single, As It Was, is already a huge hit.
See also: Harry Styles proclaims his love for France
Sylvain Monier