Well, well, well… would you look who’s back?! After some not-so-subtle clues and teases, Harry Styles has returned with his first new music in two years, and with it, he’s inviting everyone to join him in the light.
At the stroke of midnight on Friday (October 11), Styles casually dropped “Lights Up,” a dreamy, Tame Impala-leaning track that’s all about lucidity and self-discovery. “All the lights couldn’t put out the dark / Running through my heart,” he sings. “Lights up and they know who you are / Do you know who you are?”
Ever the generous rock star, Styles also released the track’s accompanying, steamy-as-hell video, which was filmed in Mexico. In it, he’s mostly shirtless and dancing in the middle of a throng of sweaty guys and girls. Elsewhere, he rides on the back of a motorcycle, floats above a red pool, and sticks out his tongue. It’s a vibe, and all we have to say is: Welcome back, Harry!
“Lights Up” arrives after a slew of hints about Styles’s second era — there was the Rolling Stone cover story, then the cryptic one-word tweet, and, just yesterday, the emergence of mysterious billboards and an online compliment generator.
In the aforementioned RS story, the former One Direction singer discussed the follow-up to his 2017 self-titled debut solo album, revealing, “It’s all about having sex and feeling sad.” He also admitted that psychedelics played a significant role in the creation of the album, so — who knows? — maybe “Lights Up” has a deeper meaning than we know. Watch the vid up top and decide for yourself.
