Harry Styles has said that his forthcoming album Harry’s House will be by far his “most intimate” record to date.
The pop superstar, 28, is due to release his highly anticipated third studio album on May 20.
The Grammy-winning singer admitted that he was previously concerned about his records being a great commercial success but now he focuses on making music that he can be “proud of for a long time”.
Styles told Better Homes & Gardens magazine that his upcoming album “sounds like the biggest, and the most fun” but that it is “by far the most intimate”.
He released his chart-topping self-titled debut album in 2017 and his second offering, Fine Line, in 2019, which peaked at number two in the album charts.
Reflecting on his first solo album, the singer said he felt that he could not make “fun music” on the back of his time in One Direction if he wanted to be “taken seriously as a musician”.
While with his second record he felt “freer” but he became concerned with making “really big songs”.
He explained his priorities for this upcoming album are different: “Finally it doesn’t feel like my life is over if this album isn’t a commercial success”.
“I just want to make stuff that is right, that is fun, in terms of the process, that I can be proud of for a long time, that my friends can be proud of, that my family can be proud of, that my kids will be proud of one day”, he added.
Styles created Harry’s House during the pandemic after his typically hectic schedule came to a halt for the first time since he rose to fame on The X Factor in 2010 when he was packaged into the hit boyband.
Better Homes & Gardens. June 2022.
Photographed by Tim Walker. pic.twitter.com/9BLnsmGHDK
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) April 26, 2022
After realising he would have to ride out the time at home like everyone else, he used lockdown to self-reflect and confront things he had not previously considered.
He said: “I realised that that home feeling isn’t something that you get from a house, it’s more of an internal thing.
“You realise that when you stop for a minute”.
While his second album Fine Line referenced a lot of Styles’ favourite musicians including Joni Mitchell and David Bowie, he said this time he deliberately did not play anything other than classical music so he could start with a “blank canvas”.
The album’s first single As It Was has already been warmly received, topping the UK singles chart for the past three weeks.
Styles credits his upbringing with influencing his outlook on his success, saying: “My producer keeps asking me when I’m going to have my big breakdown.
“The most honest version I can think of is, I didn’t grow up in poverty by any means, but we didn’t have much money, and I had an expectation of what I could achieve in life.
“I feel like everything else has been a bonus, and I am so lucky.”
The full story can be found on Better Homes & Gardens’ website.