Harry Styles's Debut Solo Track Is Either About Nothing or the End of the World

By Bobby Finger  |  April 7, 2017 | 6:45pm
Entertainment

After my first few listens of “Sign of the Times,” Harry Styles’s debut single as a solo artist, I thought it was about nothing—that despite a weighty title and passionate vocals, the nearly six-minute song was nothing more than a neutered power ballad. It sounded enough like the artists it was imitating (Adele, David Bowie, Wings), but lacked any emotional depth.

I mean, just read the first verse:

Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show
Hope you’re wearing your best clothes
You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain’t really good
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets? The bullets
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets? The bullets

At first glance, it’s incomprehensible. Styles described it as “honest,” but I’m not sure what he’s being honest about. “Stop crying, babe. Dress up. The bullets are everywhere, but why are we running? You look good btw, but also the bullets.” What? Is this about a breakup? Hmm, no. A tumultuous relationship? I don’t think so. Is it a collection of dramatic statements that mean nothing when strung together? Maybe.

So this was my initial position on the matter: “Sign of the Times” was the kind of song I’d happily belt along to in a car or with close friends at karaoke night (the end really is a stunner), but not one that particularly moved me. But then, after oh, listen five, I took a closer look at the chorus:

Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying, it’ll be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here

Wait a second. Wait just a second. Is this about the end of the world, or am I just so overwhelmed by the state of international affairs that I think everything is a metaphor for the apocalypse these days? Is this song about clutching the one you love while society collapses during a new world war? Is Styles singing about literal bullets and a slow, peaceful ascension into the afterlife? Are the titular “Times” these times? Our times?!?!

Maybe! But if it’s not a wistful acknowledgement that the end is nigh, “Sign of the Times” is a song about nothing.

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