Fine Line

A review of Harry Style’s new album

Fine+Line

Julie Stephens , journalist

Harry Styles first became famous in 2010 when he auditioned for the X Factor, a show where people compete with their talents. Simon Cowell, producer and judge of the X Factor, put him and four others into the band One Direction. Together the band sold over 50 million records worldwide. 

 The band ended up splitting in 2015. In December of 2019, Styles came out with his second album as a solo artist, Fine Line. The album has 12 songs that people say are very different than the songs he sang while in One Direction and his first album as a solo artist.

The album starts with the song “Golden” and ends with “Fine Line”. It is 46 minutes and 37 seconds long. 

 Fine Lines’ genre is pop rock. It has a couple slow songs in it, while the others are upbeat. I personally think that this album is so much better than his first one because he is more open and expressive about himself.

In an interview with Zane Lowe, he says that he wrote the song “Falling” in about 20 minutes, while sitting in his towel with his friend Tom at the piano. “Falling” is one of the slower songs of the album. 

The first time I listened to “Falling”, I started crying because it is so good and emotional. I can tell Harry put so much emotion into it.

“What am I now? What am I now? What if I’m someone I don’t want around? I’m falling again, I’m falling again I’m falling. What if I’m down? What if I’m out? What am I someone you won’t talk about? I’m falling again, I’m falling again, I’m falling.”

Styles wrote a song called “Cherry”, but he did not feel that it was complete, so he added in a voicemail of his ex girlfriend speaking French. He said in the interview with Zane Lowe that once he added it in, it felt complete. “Cherry” is about a breakup and he talks about the things he misses about and how she influenced him. 

“Coucou! Tu dors? Oh, j’suis désolée… Bah non… Nan, c’est pas important… Ouais, on a été à la plage, et maintenant on- Parfait! Allez!”

He said in an interview for the Rolling Stones magazine that through the process of the album, Styles experimented with psychedelics. He thinks that mushrooms help with the creativity process and played a big role in the making of the album.

Styles had a saying during his first tour as a solo artist and it was “Treat people with kindness”. He ended up writing a song after the saying. “Treat People With Kindness” is a fast and upbeat song. It fits the saying really well, and it really makes me want to treat people with kindness, just like Harry has.

“Maybe, we can find a place to feel good and we can treat people with kindness. Find a place to feel good.”

Overall, this album has made me an emotional mess, but in a good way. I 100% recommend it. 

“Don’t blame me for falling, I was just a little boy. Don’t blame the drunk caller, wasn’t ready for it all.”