Fine Line: One Year On
On December 13th 2019, Harry Styles released his sophomore album ‘Fine Line’, following from his self titled debut in May 2017. It peaked at number 3 on the UK charts, and topped the Billboard 200 chart the week after release. Now, a year on and 5 music videos later, the Fine Line era is still relevant, as his world tour ‘Love On Tour’ was unable to take place this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With a total of 12 songs (two more than his last album), Fine Line is 46 minutes long, opening with the fifth single Golden, and closing with the title track Fine Line - one of my favourites. The overall genre of the album is pop, and has some diverse sub-genres with pop-rock numbers like ‘She’, and psychedelic pop with ‘Sunflower, Vol. 6’. There are also hints of folk in ‘Canyon Moon’, along with classic pop ballads such as the third single ‘Falling’.
So far, the album has had a total of 5 singles, with the potential for more in the future. Beginning with ‘Lights Up’ in October 2019, a song of ‘self acceptance’. The follow up single was ‘Adore You’ in December of 2019, then ‘Falling’ in February 2020, ‘Watermelon Sugar’ in May, which reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August. The most recent single from Fine Line was ‘Golden’, with the music video being released in October. Out of these singles, my favourite has been ‘Lights Up’, as I feel it was the perfect song to be a lead single, encapsulating what Styles wanted this new era to sound like.
My personal favourite song on the album is ‘To Be So Lonely’, the seventh track. It almost provides a break in the album, as it is possibly the lightest song in terms of the instrumental, and arguably also the lyrics. If I had to choose, my least favourite would be ‘Falling’, purely for the fact that it was a single and became overplayed. This doesn’t take away from the fact that it is still a beautiful song, and that I still listen to it when I’m playing the album.
Overall, after a year of listening, I think Fine Line remains one of my favourite albums of all time. It has the perfect mix of slower, more emotive songs and fun, bouncy tracks, along with a universal appeal; the album isn’t designed for one age range or gender, it’s for everyone. I am looking forward to what Harry decides to do next with the album, or whether the next step will be an entirely new era. Since writing this at the end of 2020, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ has become the 6th single, with the music video starring ‘Fleabag’ actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge released on January 1st.
My personal favourite song on the album is ‘To Be So Lonely’, the seventh track. It almost provides a break in the album, as it is possibly the lightest song in terms of the instrumental, and arguably also the lyrics. If I had to choose, my least favourite would be ‘Falling’, purely for the fact that it was a single and became overplayed. This doesn’t take away from the fact that it is still a beautiful song, and that I still listen to it when I’m playing the album.
Overall, after a year of listening, I think Fine Line remains one of my favourite albums of all time. It has the perfect mix of slower, more emotive songs and fun, bouncy tracks, along with a universal appeal; the album isn’t designed for one age range or gender, it’s for everyone. I am looking forward to what Harry decides to do next with the album, or whether the next step will be an entirely new era. Since writing this at the end of 2020, ‘Treat People With Kindness’ has become the 6th single, with the music video starring ‘Fleabag’ actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge released on January 1st.
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