Fine Line, Pam

In several spots, Harry Styles' musical inspirations for Fine Line are very clear. It's in those songs that the magic happens on Fine Line. Like any former member of a boy band trying to make it as a solo artist, Styles is obviously trying to move away from both the boy band persona and sound. 

Fine Line opens with some good, fun pop music, throws some mostly generic pop songs in the middle, and ends with three songs that are intriguing and representative of perhaps the new sound for Harry Styles? These songs do a good job of keeping you wanting a little more of this new Harry. In this way, the album was curated perfectly. In the way in which his old fans are drawn in by the ultra-poppy "Golden" and "Watermelon Sugar," and by the time the album is over, Harry Styles is selling them a new sound. The sound being there all along, of course (and previously coming mainly from other artists), but now it's coming from Harry Styles.   

Whenever I listen to albums on Apple Music, once the album is finished, the Apple algorithm results in similar songs being played next. The only time I got to the algorithm listening to Fine Line, the Jonas Brothers were the next artists to play. What I'm getting at here is—I wonder how many listens of Fine Line as an album it would take for the algorithm to play someone like Bon Iver next. Would it ever? There are a number of songs on Fine Line that resemble the sound of other artists very closely, but I think the final song, "Fine Line," is the best example. In my opinion, it sounds like it could have been lifted directly from an early Bon Iver album. 

I think what Harry Styles has done here is not only create a metaphor for his transition from boy band pop star to a version of Harry Styles who was not manufactured on a reality TV singing competition. I think he's also successfully expanded the musical palette of the average Harry Styles listener.