“Late Night Talking” by Harry Styles, Saturday, September 10, 2022

I've written a lot about Harry Styles since I discovered his talent on "Sunflower, Vol. 6" last August. Whereas Fine Line was kind of a sleeper hit record for me I was expecting a lot from Harry's House. In some ways, the record met my expectations, creating an old-time vibe that borrows from obscure Japanese jazz records and seventies singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell who even wrote a song titled "Harry's House / Centerpiece" on her 1975 record The Hissing of Summer Lawns. In other ways, the record feels a bit haphazard, blending the '80s sound of "As It Was" with '70s folk and disco. There's certainly a mood of the record, but it's not always the mood I'm in.

THERE'S A HAZE ON THE HORIZON, BABE.. Take for example the second track and second single "Late Night Talking." On the album, "Music for a Sushi Restaurant" sets up a tangy, tasty concoction of sounds. Lyrically, it's "Music for whatever you want" fitting as nicely into an Apple Commercial as music in the car, at a party, in the grocery story--because heck, the sexual innuendo is lost on the shoppers-- or even at a sushi restaurant. "Late Night Talking" in ways builds on the musical energy of "Sushi," but introduces an undertone of the melancholy that both plagues the record gives it its heart. The ambiverted sound of flamboyant horns and sad lyrics make the mood of Harry's House difficult to place. "Late Night" is said to be written for Harry's latest relationship with actress and filmmaker Olivia Wilde. The song is about stepping out of your comfort-zone to fall in love with someone, even moving across the world to be with that person. Sometimes the other person needs cheering up and naturally we long to be meet our own needs first. "Late Night" shows the speaker forgoing his needs in order to make his love "happier."

YOU STUB YOUR TOE OR BREAK YOUR CAMERA. As a follow up to the monster hit "As It Was," "Late Night Talking" feels a bit underwhelming, especially given the other punchy tracks the album has to offer, but that's probably Styles' strategy as "Watermelon Sugar" wasn't his lead single on Fine Line. Even though "Late Night Talking" isn't a folk ballad in the way that "Boyfriends," "Matilda," "Daylight" or even "Little Freak" is, "Late Night" feels like a slower, blander song on the record compared to the high energy tracks like "Cinema" and "Daydreaming." Despite the lyrics of "Late Night," I can't help but feeling the song mimics catching the flu or a bad cold that keeps you in bed for a while. Like many songs on the record, I just feel my sense of taste dull, and the grays that Styles uses in his singles artwork reinforce the dulling of the senses, kind of many things don't taste well when you're congested because you are unable to smell it. To me, the music video also reinforces that congested feeling of being in bed for the weekend rather than going out. While the images of all the people in Harry's bed caressing is supposed to give the viewer the idea that there will be something sexual happening, the scenes of the bed traveling to other locations remind me of a fever dream rather than something sexy. There's a haze over this whole album like coming down with a cold just when something important is happening, and perhaps it's all a metaphor for Styles' mental health during the pandemic. Maybe it's a collective feeling we have during a pandemic in which some of us get sick and others fear that we're going to get sick. "Late Night Talking" is a reminder that love can still happen when we're sick, and sometimes it's the disease, and sometimes it's the cure. 

Read “Late Night Talking” by Harry Styles on Genius