As It Was (carried into 2023)
Harry Styles
"As It Was" arrived as Harry Styles's most commercially dominant moment and his most emotionally ambivalent: a song about disconnection delivered with the energy of a pop hit. The production is pure 80s pop revivalism done with enough conviction that it doesn't read as ironic — the synth arpeggios pulse with genuine urgency, the drums are enormous, and the whole thing breathes with the kinetic energy of a song trying to outrun something. Styles's voice here is less mannered than in some of his earlier work: he sounds urgent, slightly desperate, the vocal performance doing work that the bright production almost conceals. The lyric premise is the difficulty of being needed by someone when you don't know how to be present — a mature theme wearing the clothes of something that could soundtrack a montage. It carried into 2023 as one of those songs that had simply become part of the air, inescapable without being annoying, which is its own achievement. This is for running, for road trips in late afternoon light, for moments when you want to feel something large without having to name it.
fast
2020s
bright, polished, energetic
British Pop
Pop, Indie Pop. Synth-Pop / 80s Revival. euphoric, melancholic. Opens with kinetic, almost desperate brightness that gradually reveals an emotional disconnection running underneath the whole surface.. energy 8. fast. danceability 7. valence 6. vocals: urgent male, slightly desperate, earnest, melodically clean. production: pulsing synth arpeggios, enormous drums, 80s revivalism, bright and kinetic. texture: bright, polished, energetic. acousticness 2. era: 2020s. British Pop. Running or a late-afternoon road trip when you want to feel something large without having to name what it is.