Hey Harry Styles, What Time Is the Rapture?

Harry Styles Week continues here at Jezebel, and today, I’m taking a moment to think about 2017, when the former One Direction singer debuted his first solo single, “Sign of the Times.” (When it first came out, Jezebel alum Bobby Finger declared it was either about “nothing, or the end of the world.” Lately, I’m thinking it is the latter.) To me, the moment felt magical—Styles’s David Bowie performance, a triumphant pop-classic rock song nearing an ambitious six-minutes long, an inventive way to individuate away from the boy band that made his career without isolating that audience. In fact, “Sign of the Times” only seemed to further his profile, allowing Styles to thrive in critical spaces never before made accessible to him. Don’t believe me? Consider this: Rolling Stone never ran a One Direction cover story. Styles, as a soloist, has had two.