Maps of Music

Fine Line (2019)

Where the lyrics of Fine Line take you, and where it was really made.

The dulcimer that shaped the album's sound was bought from the woman who built the instrument used on Joni Mitchell's Blue.

Key places

Golden recorded at Shangri-La (2019)

Recording site Shangri-La — The Shangri-La studio hosted the second day of production for Golden. Styles wrote the track in the studio kitchen, and it was meant to be the album's first track. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Fine Line: second studio album by Harry Styles
• Released 13 December 2019 by Erskine and Columbia Records
• Pop rock with elements of progressive pop, psychedelic pop, folk, soul, funk and indie pop
• Themes: breakups, happiness, sex and sadness
• Primarily written and produced by frequent collaborator Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon
• Seven singles: Lights Up, Adore You, Falling, Watermelon Sugar, Golden, Treat People with Kindness, and the title track

Background

• A Rolling Stone interview released 26 August 2019 reported the singer was putting the final touches on the album
• Styles described the album as all about having sex and feeling sad
• He wanted it to be more fun and adventurous than his self-titled debut
• Much of the album was inspired by his relationship with model Camille Rowe
• After the split, Kid Harpoon encouraged Styles to deal with his emotions by writing about them
• David Bowie, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell were among his inspirations during recording
• Mitchell's album Blue (1971) and its use of the dulcimer strongly influenced the musical style
• Styles tracked down Joellen Lapidus, the woman who built the dulcimer used on Blue, and later bought the Crying Seahorse dulcimer from her, which was used during recording

Recording

• Golden was recorded on the second day of production at the Shangri-La studio
• Watermelon Sugar was written in 2017 while Styles was in Nashville, Tennessee, on a day off during the tour for his debut album
• Lights Up was one of the last songs written during production

Cover

• The cover shows Styles wearing a hot fuchsia silk blouse, a scoop-neck vest and white trousers
• The scene was shot with a fisheye lens and composed by Tim Walker, whose hand is visible in the frame
• i-D described the outfit as androgynous

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Harry Edward Styles, born 1 February 1994 in Redditch, England, grew up in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.
• Auditioned for The X Factor in 2010 as a solo contestant; eliminated, then placed in a boy band formed with four other contestants.
• That group, One Direction, was mentored by Simon Cowell and suggested the name 'One Direction' by Styles.

Members

• Original members: Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik.

Career

• One Direction signed with Syco Records in 2011 and became one of the best-selling boy bands of all time before an indefinite hiatus in 2016.
• Solo debut album 'Harry Styles' (2017) was led by the UK number-one single 'Sign of the Times'.
• Second album 'Fine Line' (2019) topped the US charts; 'Watermelon Sugar' reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100.
• Third album 'Harry's House' (2022) won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
• Fourth album 'Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.' (2026) featured the global number-one singles 'Aperture' and 'American Girls'.
• Acting roles include Dunkirk (2017), Eternals (2021), Don't Worry Darling (2022) and My Policeman (2022).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The Guardian: Gregory Robinson found the album confident, convincing and catchy
• The Independent: Alexandra Pollard wrote that it may not reach the pinnacle of sex or sadness, but is a fine album nonetheless
• NME: Hannah Mylrea called it a total joy, an elegant mix of the ex-boy-bander's influences, slick modern pop and his roguish charm
• NOW Magazine: Rea McNamara praised the lean toward ebullient, soulful pop and named Sunflower, Vol. 6 the best track
• Rolling Stone: Nick Catucci deemed the album excellent and said Styles might have found a nontoxic masculinity
• The Evening Standard: David Smyth made a strong argument for Styles being the most interesting boy band escapee yet
• The New York Times: Jon Pareles described the production as a tour-de-force and said Styles exults in sound, not image
• Variety: Chris Willman found the sensuality and melancholy a little muted and said Styles was still stuck in the classic rock era
• Consequence of Sound: Bryan Rolli called it an airy, melancholy album that complimented the honest songwriting but lamented the low energy of the vocals
• The Daily Telegraph: Neil McCormick described it as charming but inconsequential
• The Wall Street Journal: Mark Richardson called it earnest and polished but more imitative than original
• Pitchfork: Jeremy D. Larson gave a mixed review, praising the actual sound but finding the songwriting shallow

Reappraisal

• Metacritic: average score of 76 out of 100, based on 20 reviews, indicating generally positive reviews

Records

• US Billboard 200: debut at number one with 478,000 album-equivalent units
• Second week: stayed at number one, the first pop album to spend two weeks at number one since August 2019
• UK Album Charts: debut at number three, later peaked at number two
• Biggest sales week of 2019 in the US: third largest
• Largest sales week for a British male artist since Nielsen SoundScan began
• US: triple platinum certification on 15 February 2022 for three million units
• UK: BPI platinum certification on 16 October 2020 for over 300,000 units
• Rolling Stone ranked it number 491 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2020
• Nominated for Album of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards and Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The title Watermelon Sugar came from a Richard Brautigan novel that happened to be lying on a table in the recording studio.
• Writing Golden, Styles sat in the kitchen of the studio, and the song was meant to open the album.
• Falling was written by Kid Harpoon at a piano while Styles was in the shower.
• The voice of Camille Rowe appears at the end of Cherry, recorded while she took a phone call in French during the session.
• Styles said the female orgasm was the subject of Watermelon Sugar, even though the song is often read as a euphemism.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact