Breaking Through The Atmosphere

Harry Styles “Sign of the Times”

“Sign of the Times,” Harry Styles from One Direction’s first solo single, starts off in a tasteful but sorta dull place that sounds like someone trying to hack the piano part from John Lennon’s “Imagine” the way Noel Gallagher did for “Don’t Look Back In Anger” without also plagiarizing that song. And then it shifts into something a little more Coldplay-ish. But then the drums kick in, and it evolves into a full-on rock power ballad. It’s an incredibly effective song, and I felt like I needed to wave a lighter around and scream along by the fourth minute of it the first time I heard it. It helps that this song is full of fabulous drum fills that ramp up the drama at every opportunity.

Styles is wearing his influences on his sleeve here, big time – in addition to the aforementioned artists, there’s traces of The Verve, Queen, David Bowie, and Guns N’ Roses in its melody and structure. Styles is making it very clear that he intends to be a rock star, and a very theatrical one at that. This is a wise move: He looks the part, he was always good in this mode in One Direction (a rock band more often than not), and he’s emotive and vulnerable enough to make the cheesiest power ballad moves feel completely sincere. People love rock power ballads, and since more “legit” rock acts seem generally uninterested in going there out of fear of appearing soft and pandering to women, it makes sense that a guy like Harry Styles who has no hang ups whatsoever about pleasing a mostly female audience would embrace the form.

Buy it from Amazon.