On Monday, hundreds of thousands stopped what they were doing to watch former One Direction member Harry Styles run through a tunnel in an angelic, white get-up and emerge onto the empty streets of the Amalfi Coast in his latest music video for his song “Golden.”
This latest release is the fifth music video accompanying his 2019 album Fine Line, joining “Falling,” “Watermelon Sugar,” “Adore You” and “Lights Up,” and his fans are living for it. I mean who doesn’t want to watch a carefree Harry Styles running around while dancing and singing?
The video garnered millions of views within an hour of Styles dropping the news on Twitter and became the top trend on the platform within 30 minutes of the video’s release. As of Wednesday evening, it was the #25 trending video on YouTube, with more than 24 million views.
The video contains about 4.5 outfit changes and five scenery changes. Each outfit was in line with his unique style and rejection of toxic masculinity fans are acquainted with. Though my favorite look was the blue suit jacket with white gloves, I suspect the yellow bucket hat and flowing floral pants combo will become a point of interest for the internet.
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No actors other than Styles are included in “Golden” — a stark contrast from the “Lights Up” and “Watermelon Sugar” videos, both of which featured a large cast. Though the individual nature may be a sign of the pandemic, it’s not his first solo video (see “Sign of the Times,” a video that dropped years before the novel coronavirus).
The “Golden” music video was very much in tune with Styles’ public personality — it was just very Harry. Along with his running through the streets, the video also features him dancing in his blue suit, driving down the coast, swimming and playing on rocks. The video ends with a delightfully casual clip of him leaning on a parked car and waving to the people inside. The scene was so random, but it fit well and showcased his famous painted nails and rings. In this video, his nails are yellow and white, matching the “Golden” theme.
In a 2019 interview with Zane Lowe about his second solo album Fine Line, Styles explained the album is about being honest and open. “Golden,” the first song on the album, evokes a feeling of serenity.
“It’s like driving down the coast,” Styles said. “That is what the song is for.”
We certainly got that feeling from this music video, and it definitely gave me a welcome boost of serotonin for its three-and-a-half minute runtime. It also made me want to pack my bags and move to Italy just so I could run along the coast as freely and happily as Styles did, but that’s another story.
If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend enjoying the new music video and even listening to the entirety of Fine Line in your spare time. Even if you’re not typically a huge fan of Styles, seeing this video will remind you of faint, unfathomable concepts such as “summer” and “happiness”’ that we could all definitely use right now.
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