The day has finally come, dear readers, I am reviewing an album that does not fall under the John Mayer or classic rock umbrella, but I guess the great Bob Dylan said, “Times they are a-changin’.”

My first exposure to Harry Styles was through his massively popular band, One Direction. I was not very amused. Maybe it was the overexposure of the band or more likely it was me being smack in the middle of my “classic rock is the only good music phase.” 

However, I have been very impressed with Styles’ music since he left the band, his smash hit song “Watermelon Sugar” opened the door for my interest in his music. 

His latest release, “Harry’s House” is coming up on its first year since its release, and it is a really good pop album with real tracked instruments in an era of music where most music is created digitally.

The first track on the album is the uniquely named “Music For a Sushi Restaurant,” I am pretty sure it samples some of the theme song of the old Disney show “Ant Farm.” I cannot really hear what Styles is saying for the majority of the song, but the bass line matched with the upbeat horn section makes this song a blast to listen to. 

“Late Night Talking” is the second song, one of the most popular on the album. The way the lyrics are sung in junction with the instrumental almost feels dizzying and is a really cool effect. 

The undisputed most popular song from “Harry’s House” is track number four, “As It Was.” Rightfully so, this song is a really fun listen (other than the intro, which is kind of weird, the children saying “Come on Harry, we want to say goodnight to you” is a little odd)

“As It Was” has gotten a lot of comparisons to smash-hit “Take on Me” by Aha. The synthesizer parts between the two tracks are really similar, and the chord progressions are seemingly identical. This song has spent 52 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and I really doubt it’s going to leave the chart anytime soon. As I write this, “As It Was” is number 12 on the chart. 

Other than “As It Was,” “Cinema” is my favorite song on the album. The song slows the pace down on what is otherwise a high-paced upbeat pop album. 

“Cinema” is a pretty good song to just groove to. It almost feels like a lo-fi beat in the background and is a pretty calming song overall. 

“Harry’s House” harks back to some of the sounds of 1980s synthesizer-driven music, but blends in some more modern music motifs, such as the layered vocals that can be found in a lot of modern pop songs. 

Overall, “Harry’s House” is a pretty good album, full of some really good songs that are all pretty easy to listen to. One of my favorite parts about the album is its diversity. There is something on this album for everyone, while there is not as much guitar as I would personally like, there are some funky and fun guitar parts and there are some upbeat synth songs and some lo-fi tracks as well. 

“Harry’s House” is one of my favorite albums to come out over the past couple of years, and the rest of America seems to agree with me based on its chart dominance.