Harry Styles Turns 30

Harry Styles just turned 30 years old, which is notable primarily because it’s notable — given his career arc. Boy band survivors, even the breakout stars within a group, don’t generally flourish on their own. So we weren’t expecting much, truthfully.

As a former member of One Direction, who dominated the pop landscape between 2011 and 2016, selling more than 70 million records worldwide, Styles’ most distinctive assets were his shy demeanor and floppy hair — a fact that led many people to erroneously believe that those traits were concealing a lack of talent. 

So in 2016, when 1D went “on hiatus” and its members began to pursue solo careers, which they inevitably do, Styles followed suit and surprised nearly everyone with what happened next. As it turned out, Harry Edward Styles — from Redditch, England, a commuter city tucked under the shadow of Birmingham’s urban sprawl, and who described his childhood as happy and supportive — wrote a bunch of songs, went on tour, and built himself into one of music’s most indispensable artists. 

After releasing his critically acclaimed self-titled solo album in 2017, Styles followed up with Fine Line and Harry’s House, relentlessly toured the world and removed all doubts about whether he could grow up alongside his adoring fanbase.

His music is an impressive sonic kaleidoscope that evokes nothing less than a spin through a ’70s FM radio dial in Southern California: hard rock, pop, balladry, even some psychedelia and folky elements. Each song is an individually wrapped piece of candy mixed with empowerment, and each album expands his audience exponentially. 

Although he’s a wildly successful songwriter, Styles grows even larger in a live setting, with an over-the-top carnival barker stage persona projecting positivity and inclusivity, humor and wit, and a willingness to take whatever steps necessary to provide a safe place for his fans to be themselves — no small feat in today’s world. Let his detractors ridicule him for wearing a dress on the cover of Vogue or a sequined rainbow jumpsuit on stage — just leave the kids alone.

With social media desensitizing us to cruelty and judgment, making the world nearly impossible for young people to successfully navigate, the best reason to celebrate Harry Styles on his birthday is that he’s showing us another way. A performer can be sweet and corny and dynamic and sexy and still sell out a record-setting 15-night stand at Madison Square Garden. He can protest the lack of sensible gun control in the U.S., sell T-shirts with the message “Treat People with Kindness” and not be bullied into silence when all hell breaks loose. While he’s made his life exponentially more complicated by his public stances, and despite how protective he is of his private life, Harry Styles decided that he simply won’t allow himself to be burdened by fame.  

On that note, there’s a YouTube video of a 2022 stadium show in Manchester, England, during which Styles stops performing to locate his first-ever school teacher, who he’d heard was retiring. As he peers into the stadium crowd, he walks the stage asking his fans to help him locate her “if you don’t mind helping me.” 

As he strides the length of the stage, he calls out “Are you here?” and good-naturedly bats away a fan claiming to be the teacher. After a couple of false starts, he finally locates and thanks her for everything she did to help him during “those formative years.” He’s clearly emotional and drops to his knees, looking to the sky and smiling triumphantly. Styles then throws his hands up in the air jubilantly as if to say, “Can you believe it?”