A Musical Analysis of Fine Line by Harry Styles
Ever since this song came out in 2019 in the United Kingdom, I've been listening to it constantly. I am a huge fan of Harry Styles already, and I love all of his songs, but something about Fine Line just makes my brain happy and I can listen to it no matter what mood I'm in. It elicits relaxation at the beginning for me, and I'm just swaying along, happily listening to the calming beat. But then it gets intense at the very end, making me either want to jump around or cry. It's such a powerful release of emotions at the end, and it's crazy how much of a reaction I have every time I listen to it. I urge anyone reading this to listen to the song the WHOLE way through. I know it's long, but it's well worth it. I promise. (this isn't a shameless plug for Harry either, I just couldn't live without this song now that it's been released).
Here is the official audio of this song on YouTube:
My Musical Analysis:
This song starts out nice and slow with a steady beat, then gradually gets louder and louder as the song progresses. This song stimulates the part of my brain that craves resolution. Since this song starts off so quiet and soothing, and slowly, I mean very slowly (this song is a little over 6 minutes long) begins to get louder and introduces more instruments, it just gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it, and I don't get goosebumps from songs very often. My emotions are all over the place when I listen to this song. My heart aches in the beginning because of the lyrics and the back up vocalizations being so harmonic, and at about 4 minutes and 40 seconds in is when the song comes to it's climax and that's when I get goosebumps. This part of the song introduces a crescendo of cymbals, a steady drum beat, and louder vocals that brings me to that resolution I talked about in the beginning. It's like a symphony in my headphones when I listen to this song, and it brings me so much joy that I can't help but to play imaginary cymbals when I'm listening to it. I also love the fact that he plays around with instruments that aren't normally in many pop songs today, like cymbals, clavinet, and even a sarangi. Yes, a sarangi!! How cool is that?? It's enchanting and I could listen to this song over and over and over a million times...oh wait, I have! :)
My Research:
Out of all the articles I've read about his album and this particular song, they rave about it, much like I did in the paragraph above. They talk about the lyrics being beautifully haunting and the song being everything everyone was hoping for when it was finally released. This album got recognized by The Rolling Stone magazine that published an article about Harry and his new album titled Harry Styles is a Rock God and a Gentleman on 'Fine Line'. This article also makes a nod to the many unique instruments he decided to include in his songs, stating that it gave some songs a 70's feel.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/harry-styles-fine-line-album-review-925337/
The second article I read about Harry's newest album is published by Variety where they review his album in a bit more detail. In their article they asked the important question of whether or not his album was considered "'dad-rock' if it's mostly young women streaming it?". I thought this question was hilarious, and to which my answer would be no because unlike dad rock, his album has much more heartbreak and overall melancholy than some old rock songs listened to in a garage by dads as they work on their truck parked inside. No, this album is masterfully crafted, introducing "mellow gold of the 1970s", and "makes almost no sops to sounding like anything else you'll hear on the radio".
Each of these articles said some of the same things: that this album is incredible, makes use of a lot of cool instruments, and takes inspiration from old rock icons and puts a Styles twist on it.
Citations:
Willman, Chris. “Harry Styles' 'Fine Line': Album Review.” Variety, Variety, 12 Dec. 2019, variety.com/2019/music/reviews/harry-styles-album-review-fine-line-1203434280/.
Catucci, Nick. “Harry Styles.” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 16 Dec. 2019, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/harry-styles-fine-line-album-review-925337/.
1 comment:
After listening to this song, I absolutely love it. I always love long songs that start out slow and make their way louder. The steady beat at the beginning is drawing me in and the lyrics with the sort of swing out drawing is definitely very appealing. I don't listen to a lot of pop music, but I have to say, I'm absolutely digging this.
I know you mentioned the dynamics of the song at the beginning of the analysis, and I have to say again, it's really easy to get drawn into the song by the gradual dynamic. Another element that I've noticed is that in the beginning when Harry began to sing, he'd sing for a full meter and then stop for a full meter, which (if I'm right) should be 4/4 in the beginning. And that always get me, with how the song drew me in, 6 minutes felt too short! With good songs like this, I'm not sure that I'd be able to recommend any, other than the one artist that I've been defaulting to since I've first heard them, they're Glass Animals(only listen to the audio, some of their music videos are a little out there and weird ahah)
There was an article, which I couldn't tell was very peer reviewed, but also had people commenting about what some of the lyrics meant, also emphasis on some. Here is the article: https://www.songmeaningsandfacts.com/fine-line-by-harry-styles/
But either way, the song is really good, thank you for showing it to me/us!
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