Harry Styles’s latest chapter in the book of Fine Line involves an in-depth Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music, which hit on Monday (March 16). This four-song show features Styles explaining the processes behind some of his newest tunes, giving us an idea of how Fine Line came together.
Styles opened the show with a folk-adjacent run of “Cherry.” With his guitar decorated with the nighttime sky, Styles made his performance feel like relaxing next to a dying campfire under the stars.
“The next song that I’m going to play for you, I actually wrote in 2017 while I was on the tour for the first album,” Styles said after “Cherry” was over and he swapped guitars to play “Watermelon Sugar.” “I was in Nashville on my day off, and we went to the studio to play around for a little bit. It’s probably the longest that it’s ever taken me to finish a song. I kind of liked it when we first had it and then I hated it for a long time.”
“It’s kind of about that initial euphoria of when you start seeing someone, or sleeping with someone, or being around someone and you have that excitement, you know,” he continued before trailing off into a smile. Then he plucked the strings to begin the arousing tune, belting to the skies about his horny happiness.
After refueling with some water, Styles explained how “To Be So Lonely” came to be. “This next song was one of the first, all-night, through-the-night songs that we did,” he said. “On the record, it’s been one of my favorite songs to work on.” A warm performance of the tune started with him smiling as he said everyone’s favorite line: “And I’m just an arrogant son of a bitch.”
For his last tune, Styles picked “Adore You.” “I had a fish and I just really liked it, and that’s kind of the whole story for this song really,” he joked. “It’s kind of similar to what ‘Watermelon Sugar’ is about — that initial excitement of meeting someone.” Shoulders bopped around the stage as Styles got into its full swing. “Adore You” ended with Styles thanking the audience profusely for the experience.
Check out Styles’s awesome new Tiny Desk Concert up above.
