Photo Courtesy of @conncollsquirrels.
I will be honest with you, I ignored Harry Styles’ music until May 2020 when my friends and I organized a Harry Styles-themed 21st birthday for our friend who is, slightly, obsessed. Prior to this, when I thought of Harry Styles my mind immediately jumped to “What Makes You Beautiful” (2011) by One Direction, a popular British boy band which Styles was a member of until they broke up in 2015. My angsty eleven-year-old self did not enjoy this song, which may or may not have been because my crush at the time wasn’t serenading me on a beach. I digress. On walk 3,978,504 of quarantine, I turned on a Spotify playlist of Styles’ latest songs and may or may not have danced around my neighborhood like a crazy Beatles fan who was able to see Twist and Shout live.
So, when I heard that Styles was planning to release a music video at the end of October to accompany his song “Golden” (2019), the first track in his album Fine Line, it may or may not have been the highlight of my week. The music video, directed by the London-based production company Fulwell 73, has been applauded for its cinematography, showing Styles running around the Amalfi Coast (filmed prior to Italy’s second lockdown). Similar to the release of “Watermelon Sugar” earlier in the summer, the music video for “Golden,” also one of several singles in Fine Line, has become a spark of light and happiness during the pandemic. Styles is just one of many artists who have been forced to reschedule tour dates due to the coronavirus emergency. But in many ways, the release of “Golden” is a bitter glimpse of what could have been in an alternative universe where Styles was able to perform “Love on Tour” in Bologna and Turin (tours which have been tentatively rescheduled for February 13, 2021.)
When I first played the music video, I was slightly triggered by the colorful images of the Italian coast as I had been studying abroad in Bologna prior to the pandemic––no, I did not have tickets to Harry’s concert. Before I began “Falling” (true fans know) for the cinematic shots in the video, I was jealous that the mega-superstar was able to swim in the crystal blue water of Amalfi meanwhile, I was weighing the pros and CONNs of the consequences of hopping into the Thames River for a quick swim. The music video begins with Styles running through a dimly lit tunnel out into hillside roads. Styles, in a loose-fitting white tunic and tan shorts, begins to mouth the first verse of the song all the while not breaking a single sweat. Someone has been working out during quarantine. These scenic shots are sliced with Styles driving a convertible car along the same roads, hand brushing through his curly hair without any fear about rolling off the side of the hill––just saying, Italian roads are tighter than skinny jeans and it wouldn’t matter if my mom or Harry Styles was driving, I would be sh**ting my pants. Probably more if it were Harry.
Styles then appears in a light blue blazer and begins to dance by a coastal town where the multicolored buildings in the background perfectly complement the setting sun in the distance #Goldenhour. When he sings “I don’t wanna be alone” in the third stanza, Harry is, unfortunately, alone swimming in what I imagine to be a quaint alcove perfect for a socially distant swim. There are more close-up shots of Styles in both white tunic and blue blazer as he returns to the chorus, briefly interrupted by a motorcyclist who is one of the few people shown in the video.
Towards the end of the video, Harry gets more into character exemplifying various quarantine moods including angry college seniors running around their neighborhood streets because graduation was canceled, delirious sophomores who spent their summers splashing around in various bodies of water because internship season was a bust, and melancholic juniors who are grappling with how to make sense of completing their senior year during a pandemic. At this point, there is another costume change where Styles appears in wide-legged pants and an iconic yellow bucket hat which has been compared to Paddington Bear’s ensemble. The last seconds of the video return to Styles running through natural and city landscapes, even at one point leaning against a car with his chin in his hands, painted fingernails on fleek. The audience last sees Styles slowing down from his quarantine jog on an Italian street where we see a family sitting on their balcony in the distance.
Camels are not the only fans of the song and music video. Senior at Marist College Carmela D’Arienzo ‘21 told me via text, “When I first listened to the album [Fine Line] back in December 2019, Golden was instantly my favorite song and I would play it on loop constantly.” That being said, she was eager for the release of the corresponding music video. D’Arienzo enjoyed how there were no backup dancers or actors, which she believes could be “a direct response and respect for the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in Italy.” She also has a personal connection to the video as she is Italian American and her family is from a small town in Avellino called Fontanarosa that is only an hour away from where Styles shot the video. While the video is playful and upbeat, D’Arienzo argues there is something deeper to the lyrics which the music video emphasizes: “Why is he [Styles] running? Is he running to or from something? Who is the song about?” I will be honest that it is hard to answer these more philosophical questions without being distracted by the beauty of the Amalfi Coast.
Harry Styles’ ability to combine sunshine and darkness is truly coming in clutch during the pandemic. D’Arienzo says that entertainment lifts our spirits, incites joy, and distracts us from all of the problems we are currently facing. Styles’ “Golden” is the perfect example of escapism in a Covid world where fans would prefer to enter the fictional world he creates rather than the dystopian society we are living in right now. So, keep wearing your masks and listen to and watch “Golden” at least three times a day to keep the doctor away. •
