Harry Styles is back in full force with new album announcement | The Triangle

Harry Styles is back in full force with new album announcement

In an Instagram post made on Nov. 4, singer-songwriter Harry Styles, formerly of internationally-acclaimed boy band One Direction fame, introduced the release date and title of his upcoming album. The album, “Fine Line”, was set to drop on Friday, Dec. 13 with Columbia Records after Styles’ year-long hiatus from releasing new music.

Styles’ single “Lights Up” dropped mid-October, to the delight of fans everywhere. The Oct. 10 music video has over 31 million views on YouTube. Styles mentioned in an Oct. 22 Tweet soon after that a new song, entitled “Watermelon Sugar”, is set to be the new “Kiwi” (the seventh track from his self-titled album) as “Kiwi walked so that Watermelon Sugar could run.” The cover art featured Styles in what seems to be his favorite outfit: a long-sleeved shirt and high-waisted pants.

Styles has had minimal online presence during his hiatus, signing off from Instagram July 18 of last year after thanking his fans, band and crews for their loving adoration. He assured them that his break was to write music and wished them “goodbye for now.”

Fans hope that original songs performed during his 2017-18 tour are included in the new album, including original tracks entitled “Anna” and “Medicine” and hopefully a professionally recorded version of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.” Speculation surrounding the upcoming drop runs high as fans scramble to piece together information from radio interviews and leaked photos of a supposed video shoot — possibly for “Watermelon Sugar.”

Along with the album name and release information, Styles also released new merchandise, including pre-orders for the new release on CD and vinyl. Also featured are white and gray T-shirts sporting the album cover for $34.95. Fans who pre-order the album gain access to Styles’ Inglewood, CA performance. The one-night-only event will take place at The Forum venue. Tickets for this event are $25.

During a radio interview with popular British news show Capital FM, Styles recently mentioned that he turned down the role of Prince Eric in Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” adaptation to partake in another world tour.

Hype for the album has been building substantially since he graced the cover of Rolling Stone this summer, during a tell-all interview for the music magazine.

The singer also supports multiple charities internationally, all of which are listed on his website, hstyles.co.uk. He has a supported charity listed for almost every city from his first international tour. Styles’ first tour mantra was “Treat People With Kindness,” for which he sold packets of hair ties and T-shirts, with all proceeds going towards charity.

Styles will be featured on popular late-night sketch show “Saturday Night Live” as both the musical guest and host on Nov. 16. This is his first time as host, though he was featured as the musical guest (alongside Jimmy Fallon as host in 2017) after the release of his first album. Harry Styles has also graced the SNL stage as a member of One Direction when the band was a musical guest prior to 2017, and he co-hosted “The Late Late Show with James Cordon” in 2017 as well.

Harry Styles has expanded his horizons since his time with One Direction (which has been on an indefinite hiatus since 2016) and crossed into the acting and fashion world. He has his own record label, Erskine Records, under his contract with Columbia Records as well. Columbia Records produced both Styles’ title album and “Fine Line.” He began his film debut in Christopher Nolan’s war film “Dunkirk,” saying goodbye to his famously long locks and rock-star label.