Harry Styles - 'Fine Line' Album Review

I missed the One Direction craze. My sister went to see them in a 2010 concert, and I got mad because I couldn't go to see Jacqueline Wilson - I didn't understand music then. In fact, I didn't go to my first concert until 2018.

Until very recently, I thought that 1D and its members were mindless, and only dumb teenage and pre-teen girls liked them. Boy, was I wrong. When I looked into them more closely, I realised that I missed out on something major. I've listened to all of the members' solo albums now, and have bought CDs for the band left and right. I love One Direction - I'm kicking myself now because I didn't take my mum up on the offer of going to see them in concert.

But none of that explains why I'm obsessed with Harry Styles' 2019 album, 'Fine Line'.

The album is Harry Styles' second solo album, released on 13th December in both the US and UK. It was supported by four singles; 'Watermelon Sugar', 'Lights Up', 'Adore You' and 'Falling' - but really, I think that every song on it could have been a single. I adore them all.

It debuted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart, and reached number 1 on the Billboard 200. In the US, it was Styles' second number one solo album. Quite a feat for a then-twenty five year old.

'Fine Line' has been described under the genres of rock, pop and pop rock. However, it also had elements of prog-pop, psychedelic pop, folk, soul, funk and indie pop... wow. Quite a list.

The album opens with Golden, which I think sets a certain tone for the album. Immediately, the album is upbeat, and I suppose that that sets a precedent for how the rest of the album is going to go. It's also a catchy song, which was stuck in my head as soon as I took the time to listen to each of the lyrics instead of just having it playing in the background of whatever it was that I was doing. Golden, I think, is the perfect way to start a day - uplifting and bright. It gives the impression of sunlight, and makes the listener feel good. What a perfect start to an album like 'Fine Line'.

The second single to be released from the album, Watermelon Sugar, is awesome. With catchy lyrics which make anybody who hears it instantly conjure up the image of summertime by a pool, it's clever because if you listen closely to it, then there is an underlying meaning to the lyrics. It's my joint-favourite song on the album, and despite being released in November, the whole thing shouts SUMMER at me.

Adore You is a song which was released as the album's third single. It gives off the vibes of a good night out, which I think, given the current problem with Covid-19, we could all do with. I love Adore You because it sounds so energetic without being jarring.

The fourth track on 'Fine Line', Lights Up was the lead single, released in October 2019, and debuted at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The chorus is one which will have you singing along all day long if you're not careful. The right choice for a lead single, I think, because it set the precedent for what was then the upcoming album which had been long awaited since 2017. I think it showed especially how far Styles had come as an artist in such a long time.

Cherry is a simple song, and the fifth track on the album. Oddly, I think it would make a great song to play at the end of a sad 'Grey's Anatomy' episode - yep, it gives off those vibes. Indie-hipster vibes. It's awesome. Slow but romantic, sweet but not sickly so. Far from boring, which is what some albums have with their simple songs. Cherry is a song which I don't find myself listening to during the day, but rather at night. It's a relaxing song, and I absolutely adore it because it is so soft.

With a beautiful piano intro, Falling is like something from the end of the first instalment of a series of romance novels - if you could hear music through novels, that is. Within it, you can clearly hear the emotion and feeling in Styles' singing, and it is raw. This song is special, and I would think that it holds a special place in Styles' heart - it sounds like it does.

At the beginning of To Be So Lonely, there is an odd guitar part. It's great. You wouldn't think that it belongs on an album like 'Fine Line', but there it is, and it definitely fits, of that there is no denying.

She was the first song that I heard from this album. I would even go so far as to say that it turned me onto 'Fine Line'. Thank God for Twitter, where somebody recommended the song to me. It's dark and twisty and romantic, alluring and mysterious. And on top of that, the music video is gorgeous. The video is below:

Many would say that Sunflower, Vol. 6 is an odd name for a song - and it is - but it just fits it, somehow. That doesn't make a lot of sense, I know... but it's just perfect. Seemingly a song about heartbreak, when one listens closer to the lyrics, it can be assumed that it is about Styles reflecting on the good times in a relationship. It's clever that way. It conceals meanings and feelings. My English teacher always said to 'show and not tell' the reader what you're feeling. Harry Styles does this here, I feel, reflecting on the good times in his relationship, and also the beautiful things in life which are no more. A metaphor for the relationship which he was in, perhaps. Beautiful, nevertheless.

Canyon Moon is catchy. I would say that it pairs up well with the previous track, Sunflower, Vol. 6 very well, and is another song about reflecting on a relationship which is no more. I don't know what a 'canyon moon' is, but it's a beautiful piece of imagery anyway.

The penultimate song on 'Fine Line', Treat People With Kindness, starts off quite strange. However, the first two lines are bright, and carry a very important message, 'Maybe we can find a place to feel good / And we can treat people with kindness'. It has positive vibes, and is a song which I subconsciously bob my head along with or tap my foot along to. I don't listen to it a lot because I feel like it only works properly if I'm listening through the entire album - this song, I feel, has the most important message of any on the album.

The final and titular song, Fine Line, is, like Cherry, simple. Like She, it is alluring. Like the beginning of To Be Lonely, it has a guitar part, though it isn't odd or weird. It's sweet, beautiful, mysterious. It sounds so familiar. The lyrics appear to be melancholic, and the guitar part bends around these. Fine Line, the song, therefore, sounds melancholic, like the closing of a chapter. It's a beautiful way to end a beautiful album, though perhaps not the most uplifting way to do so. 

All in all, 'Fine Line' is a wonderful album. Beautiful, enticing, simple but so complex at the same time. I love it. I adore it. If it was a God then I'd worship it. It's been almost six months since this album was released, and every song is still going round my head, and I'm still listening to most of the songs daily.

I hope you understand now why 'Fine Line' is, in my opinion, one of the best albums I have ever heard. Yes, 'Rubber Soul', 'Dark Side Of The Moon', '(What's The Story) Morning Glory?' and so many others are all masterful, amazing and timeless - but there's something special about this one. Is it the simplicity? The masterful storytelling which seems to be concealed behind and inside each lyric? I don't know. I couldn't tell you. Maybe give it a listen and decide for yourself. Let me know if you find out.