{"id":102152,"date":"2017-05-12T22:56:01","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T02:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=102152"},"modified":"2017-05-12T22:56:01","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T02:56:01","slug":"music-review-harry-styles-looks-to-past-icons-on-solo-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/12\/music-review-harry-styles-looks-to-past-icons-on-solo-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Review: Harry Styles looks to past icons on solo debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_102153\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102153\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17626240_1483287098369974_8166720666807690148_n.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102153\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17626240_1483287098369974_8166720666807690148_n.jpg\" alt=\"When listening to Harry Styles' solo debut, it will be hard to not think of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Elton John and other rock icons who came decades before the former boy bander. (Photo: Harry Styles\/Facebook)\" width=\"960\" height=\"960\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17626240_1483287098369974_8166720666807690148_n.jpg 960w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17626240_1483287098369974_8166720666807690148_n-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17626240_1483287098369974_8166720666807690148_n-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/17626240_1483287098369974_8166720666807690148_n-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102153\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">When listening to Harry Styles&#8217; solo debut, it will be hard to not think of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Elton John and other rock icons who came decades before the former boy bander. (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harrystyles\/photos\/a.497356476963046.118191.497305810301446\/1483287098369974\/?type=3&amp;theater\">Harry Styles\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Harry Styles, \u201cHarry Styles\u201d (Columbia)<\/p>\n<p>When listening to Harry Styles&#8217; solo debut, it will be hard to not think of David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Elton John and other rock icons who came decades before the former boy bander.<\/p>\n<p>The good thing for Styles, 23, is some of his fans might be too young to recognize the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers. But despite looking to the past for his sound apart from One Direction, Styles proves he&#8217;s worth checking out.<\/p>\n<p>The 10-track album is a solid set that proves Styles has some direction: \u201cTwo Ghosts\u201d is probably his strongest song; \u201cOnly Angel\u201d and \u201cKiwi\u201d is full of Jagger swagger; and first single and Top 5 hit, \u201cSign of the Times,\u201d is dreamy and melodic.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the credit belongs to Grammy-winning super producer Jeff Bhasker, whose drum-filled sound has aided everyone from Kanye West and Jay Z to Bruno Mars and fun. Bhasker works his magic throughout \u201cHarry Styles\u201d alongside producers Tyler Johnson and Alex Salibian; they all share writing credit with Styles on most of the tracks, giving off a rock band vibe instead of a solo one.<\/p>\n<p>Styles&#8217; voice varies on each song \u2014 in a good way \u2014 as he emotes the lyrics like a seasoned star, especially on the simple piano tune \u201cFrom the Dining Table\u201d and album opener \u201cMeet Me In the Hallway.\u201d The performance aspect of the album is where Styles truly shines.<\/p>\n<p>But the creative process? Not so much.<\/p>\n<p>The album relies too much on the sound of others: \u201cWoman,\u201d for example, feels way too much like \u201cBennie and the Jets.\u201d And while imitation can be seen as flattery, that&#8217;s not always the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harry Styles, \u201cHarry Styles\u201d (Columbia) When listening to Harry Styles&#8217; solo debut, it will be hard to not think of &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":102153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[19009],"class_list":["post-102152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-harry-styles","mauthors-mesfin-fekadu","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}