On April 1, 2022, Harry Styles released his debut single leading the path for his new album “Harry’s Home.” The single, ‘As It Was,’ hit streaming platforms at 12 AM in the United Kingdom. After his ‘new music hiatus’ of two years and four months, Styles sneakily revealed he was producing again. 

On March 19, 2022, the Instagram account ‘@youarehome’ was created and gained a following from Harry Styles himself. The page provided no context regarding Styles himself, but it included pictures of doors with unknown photos featured behind them. Fans suspected that those photos were hidden clues that would lead to his new era of music. Eventually, on March 23, the ‘@youarehome’ page officially announced his new album “Harry’s Home” (coming May 20). 

On March 28, 2022, Styles revealed the release date of his new single ‘As It Was:’ April 1, 2022. Fans believe Styles’ costume at his Madison Square Garden Night II performance was a hint towards the release date on April Fools Day (as he dressed up as a clown).

The ‘As It Was’ music video starts off with Styles walking backwards, being essentially sucked into a door. He eventually goes through this door with a new outfit change. This symbolizes the entrance to a new era as his old era, “Fine Line,” has ended.

Once he enters the new era, he uses a spinning surface to represent the stages of a relationship. A female character appears and walks on a rotating platform with Styles. The platform changes pace and counteracts with their movements to symbolize the different stages of a relationship.  

First, he has his arm around her, symbolizing the early stages of dating. Styles’ then gets pulled away from her and is immediately drawn back in by a hug. This choreography represents the action of a couple fighting and reconciling their differences; their ups and downs throughout the relationship. Then, they freeze as he sings “you know it’s not the same as it was,” powerfully showing both members of the relationship reflecting on their experiences and what they plan on doing moving forward. Immediately after, the woman falls off the spinning platform, leaving Styles alone. 

After, the video cuts to Styles reaching for the sky. The video transitions to Styles in a new dream-like setting, mimicking his fantasy of being stripped away from reality. He is back with the woman from before, who was assumed to be gone from his life. They share a sentimental hug that takes them to a new setting once again. Although some may dislike the quick changes, the change in scenery kept me engaged and excited for what was coming next. 

The next segment of the video is quite misleading because it is hard to interpret as an audience member. The clip shows Styles and another woman lying on the floor of a room covered in abstract patterns, colors, and designs. They are lying with their arms and legs out, similar to starfish. Many fans have connected this scene to the pinning of butterflies. Styles has a butterfly tattooed on his lower chest, but  fans had trouble connecting this ‘butterfly’ idea to the actual song. Personally, I do not understand the significance of these clips connecting the previous parts of the video, but I think it is pleasing to watch and again, it is something new for the viewer to correlate with this song. Our job as viewers is not only to enjoy the physical beauty of the video, but to find the emotional reasoning behind his actions, and I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of this video.

The scene cuts back to the original spinning surface as they are now running. This could possibly represent the rushed parts of a relationship that are full of panic in confusion. But after a few seconds, Styles slides off the platform, the same way the woman did earlier. They are now both free from this relationship that wasn’t working.

The last portion of the video shows Styles running wild and free. He has a pronounced happiness that is prominent in this part of the video, dancing and smiling as he runs through the final gate of new possibilities. 

Styles did a great job of symbolizing his intentions for writing  a song about a relationship “as it was” when it was good. Styles used his actions to indirectly state this purpose. The concept of the rotating platforms, new colors, and costume changes created a clear definitive start to his new musical era. 

The full album “Harry’s Home” will be released on May 20.