Harry Styles Career in One Direction

“If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender – whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you,” he told the screaming crowds. “I love every single one of you.,” a quote by Harry Styles. From Number 1 ranked albums, to SNL performances, creating his own name after being in one of the biggest boy bands in the world, and simply helping his fans and everyone else, Harry Styles has worked tiredly to help the people who support him find happiness through what makes him happy. Harry Styles is the artist of the decade because he started off in one of the biggest boy bands in history, while writing music for them and his solo career which showed his emotional vulnerability, made a name for himself this decade through his refreshing take on masculinity, his self-expression through his music, and his commitment to treating his fans with kindness, and preaches equality and self-expression, which is a thing many celebrities do not use their platforms for.

Harry Styles was only 16 years old when he joined One Direction after he auditioned on The X Factor in 2010. Simon Cowell threw him and four other boys together, and people immediately fell in love with the boys and people were even comparing them to the Beatles with their hundreds of thousands of young fans. Harry Styles soon became known for his unique style as he often pushed many gender boundaries with his fashion choices, but behind the scenes, it was his talent for his way for writing music that further set him apart from the members of his band. As soon as Harry started his solo career, his name only grew in not only Hollywood, but around the world and it is safe to say Harry takes home the medal for artist of the decade. Now, this is a very bold statement given there are many artists who write and produce amazing music, but Harry has something that sets him apart from those other artists. On top of the chart-topping music, Harry is often holding up different types of LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter flags, signaling to all his fans that he loves and supports them. This is just one of the little things that sets Harry apart from his fellow artists in the industry. Harry also has the stats of his music to back up him deserving artist of the decade, and the amount his has persevered from the age of 16 to now just sets him apart further.

Harry Styles puts his money where his mouth is. On his 2018 world tour, Harry generously donated a large portion of merchandise sales to charity, giving $1.2 million to a charity that he could have pocketed for his own profit. He supports the March for Our Lives movement, which is a plea for gun control run by Parkland high school students who survived the devastating shooting on Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 2018. Because of his heavy activism and constant action of making everyone feel inclusion, there are thousands of stories circulating about how Harry Styles has made people feel safe in their own skin, from expressing their sexuality, to tatting themselves up, to dressing to express themselves.

The man, the myth, the legend, starting topping charts at sixteen with One Direction when they released the iconic song ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ which was a cultural reset, paved the way for One Direction’s album ‘Up All Night’ which, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart, which made them the first UK group to have their first album debut at the top spot. According the billboard website in an article written by Andrew Unterberger it states, “However, at this point, Harry Styles no longer needs the ‘of One Direction’ to establish his place in the musical mainstream — he is very much a solo star in his own right, with his own identity (and plenty of his own fans) totally outside of 1D’s massive shadow.” This shows that Harry, unlike many other former ex band members, has the talent and personality to carry himself and made a name completely unassociated with One Direction, Breaking away from a band that large is hard to do and shows that he is a warrior. Harrys second album, Fine Line, had one of the best first-week numbers of the year, moving 478,000 album units in the first week and it’s still in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart, months later. Fine Line has seen two singles, ‘Adore You’ and ‘Watermelon Sugar,’ that completely took over the radio, becoming his first two top five hits on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart and his first two top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 since his solo debut ‘Sign of the Times’ was ranked at No. 1. If those stats don’t impress you, the face of Gucci and Co-host of the 2019 Met Gala, was the first UK male artist to debut at Number one with his first two albums and has managed to book several acting gigs in Hollywood.

Now, some of you might be thinking, So what, there are many other artists that help the community and make good music, but Harry is one of the few if not the only one, that recognizes his audience and uses his platform to help them after struggling with expression through his years in one direction.

Harry is a very accomplished man who uses his platform to help and motivate others, while releasing record breaking music from various genera’s. Through all of this, Harry deserves to be named artist of the decade because of the things he has done in and outside of the music industry, and that sets him apart from others. Harry has given a side of Himself to the public that many people would be scared to do, and he is vocal that he does it not only to express himself, but to help others be able to express themselves, and shows how he has grown from a young naïve 16 year old to a smart motivational superstar who dedicated his entire career to others no matter your race, gender, or social status. Harry Styles could be artist of the decade in his music success alone, but it’s who he is as a person that makes his success all the more important, and he people need to go learn who he is as a person and as a musician just to learn about the amazing person that dedicates his life to help others. Put that Taylor Swift song on pause and go stream Fine Line.  

Works Cited

1. Billboard Staff. (2012). One Direction scores historic No. 1 debut on Billboard 200. Billboard.
2. Billboard Staff. (2019). Harry Styles' 'Fine Line' debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 albums chart. Billboard.
3. Caramanica, J. (2019). Harry Styles is an evolutionist pop survivor. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/arts/music/harry-styles-fine-line-review.html
4. Kaufman, G. (2018). Harry Styles' world tour to support March for Our Lives. Billboard.
5. Parkes, L. (2019). Harry Styles' Met Gala 2019 co-hosting gig with Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, and Gucci's Alessandro Michele. Vogue. https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/harry-styles-met-gala-2019
6. Pierson, L. (2017). How Harry Styles is reinventing masculinity. Dazed.
7. Thompson, A. (2017). Harry Styles donates $1.2M in concert merch sales to charity. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2017/06/12/entertainment/harry-styles-charity-donation/index.html
8. Unterberger, A. (2020). Harry Styles becomes his own man on 'Fine Line' album: Review. Billboard.
9. Unterberger, A. (2020). Harry Styles is the person of the year (and decade). Billboard.
10. Yahr, E. (2017). Harry Styles's first solo tour is an LGBTQ safe space, with an emphasis on 'safe'. The Washington Post.