Lucky Harry Styles fans didn't have to wait until summer to see him live on tour. The 26-year-old singer performed an intimate iHeartRadio Secret Session at Bowery Ballroom in New York City and it was a night to remember.
Before hitting the stage to sing, Styles sat down with host Tanya Rad of OnAir With Ryan Seacrest to answer questions about his second studio album, Fine Line.
Styles opened up about the vulnerability on Fine Line as well as why you won't always find him telling us exactly what certain songs are about.
When asked about the vulnerability of Fine Line and how he was feeling during the writing process, the “Lights Up” singer explained, “I start off writing it for me… I start out writing it for myself and I just find that I make more honest music that way. There are parts of it that are vulnerable and emotional and I guess sad at times, but what I love about the album is that even in the saddest moments there's quite a lot of optimism and there are moments of joy.”
With any song, there is speculation about what certain lyrics mean or who a particular song is about and while Styles has given small hints about some of his lyrics, he explained that he doesn't like to give too much away in order for fans to connect with songs in their own way and relate the lyrics back to their own lives.
“I tend not to explain songs too much is I think it's important to allow it to mean whatever it means to different people,” he explained. “I know there are songs that I've loved in my life when I find out it's about something else, I'm almost like I wish I didn't know that because it means so much to me. I think it's amazing if people can relate to the music.”
And for anyone thinking he set out to make a Number One album, think again. The superstar brushed off the idea of trying to create music that would please other people and went into the studio to create an album he loved. I think it's safe to say he did the right thing since it went straight to the top spot regardless!
“At the start of this album process I had a little bit of expectations of what I thought people wanted me to do and I'd kinda try and tick some boxes and I just found, I can obviously only speak from personal experience, I just found that every time I try and tick boxes I make my least favorite music,” he said. “I think just kind of accepting you have to make the kind of album you want to make in the moment and not be like, 'okay let me make a big commercial album and in 10 years make the album I wanna make.' It'd never make me happy. I don't think that's who I really want to be.”
After the Q&A, Styles took to the stage to do what he does best and gave the crowd a hint at what they can expect when he heads out on tour this summer.
Styles opened his set with the first song on Fine Line, “Golden,” before moving into “Adore You.” Later in his set, Styles told the crowd he was “going to play an oldie” which turned out to be his debut solo single, “Sign Of The Times.”
While he was only supposed to play five songs, Styles surprised everyone with an encore performance of the fan-favorite “Kiwi” to end the night!
If you want to hear Styles' full performance, don't forget to tune in and listen to the live stream Sunday (March 1).
Fans can listen and tune in free for an audio stream of the exclusive iHeartRadio Secret Session with Harry Styles at 7pm local time via iHeartRadio's Hit Nation — listen online or via the iHeartRadio app.
Harry Styles iHeartRadio Secret Session set list:
“Golden”
“Adore You”
“Watermelon Sugar”
“Sign Of The Times”
“Falling”
“Kiwi”
Photos: Thomas Falcone for iHeartRadio // Getty Images; Kevin Mazur