With this debut album, Harry Styles steps out of the shadow of . The successful British boy band came to a halt in 2015 after 's departure . Styles had to watch his old bandmate release a well-received R&B record. On his own debut album, Styles proves to shake off his boy band image just as easily. However, the singer does not make hip R&B or dance, but retrospective 70s pop. Everything
… is right; the guitar songs, the sound, the polyphonic vocals. He makes music that his (grand) parents could have liked. What the singer lacks in his own ideas, he more than makes up for by the quality of his songs. During an intimate release show, none other than sangalong. Styles thus has the blessing of a 1970s pop queen. And the fans seem to appreciate his transformation too. This album entered the first place in the Dutch, Australian, English and American charts. (JE)more
