Just when we think we can’t love Harry Styles more he goes and charms us even more. His latest? Revealing to _The Guardian_that he is a fan of Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women (who isn’t?), hates juice cleanses, is a fan of both therapy and meditation, and – most importantly – refuses, once again, to define his sexuality.
“Am I sprinkling in nuggets of sexual ambiguity to try and be more interesting? No,” he tells interviewer Tom Lamont after being asked if his dress, stage presence and album cover design is ‘sprinkling LGBTQ crumbs that lead nowhere.’
“[I]n terms of how I wanna dress, and what the album sleeve’s gonna be, I tend to make decisions in terms of collaborators I want to work with,” Styles explained. “I want things to look a certain way. Not because it makes me look gay, or it makes me look straight, or it makes me look bisexual, but because I think it looks cool. And more than that, I dunno, I just think sexuality’s something that’s fun. Honestly? I can’t say I’ve given it any more thought than that [sic].”
“It’s not like I’m sitting on an answer, and protecting it, and holding it back. It’s not a case of: I’m not telling you cos I don’t want to tell you. It’s not: ooh this is mine and it’s not yours […] It’s: who cares? Does that make sense? It’s just: who cares?”
The interview comes after one hell of a week for Styles – releasing his second album ‘Fine Line’ on Friday 13th to huge critical acclaim, hosting the Late Late Show in the US and filling out LA’s The Forum for a major album release concert. It also comes after years of speculation about Styles’ sexuality, from questions in interviews to rumours linking Styles to male friends. Like Styles himself, his fans are sick of the consistent questioning.
“y’all remember those shirts from 2010 that were like “SOME PEOPLE ARE GAY! GET OVER IT!” well I want one except I want it to say “HARRY STYLES IS GAY! GET OVER IT!” and we’ll see if it gets people to stop writing thinkpieces about his sexuality [sic],” one tweeted.
“Harry Styles basically said with his whole chest "my sexuality is not the most interesting thing about me" and preach,” another joked.
Styles refusal to publicly define his sexuality is indicative of wider feeling. A YouGov study last year found that a quarter of UK adults identify as having a fluid sexuality and that up to 55% of 18- to 24-year olds identified as not wholly straight. It also revealed that 60% of Brits believe that sexuality should be viewed on a scale, rather than people being simply labelled gay or straight.
Likewise, 2019 has witnessed a new shift for LGBTQ+ pop stars in the music industry. Lil Nas X was the second openly gay man to have a certified diamond song in America with Old Town Road, Sam Smith came out as non-binaryto a wave of support and Halsey, who is openly bisexual, has continued to be vocal about LGBTQ+ issues whilst enjoying one of the biggest hits of the year, Graveyard.
Styles himself has also been vocal about LGBTQ+ acceptance, most notably on tour in 2017 and 2018 where he often draped himself in the gay pride and transgender pride flags and gave an emotive speech: “If you are black, if you are white, if you are gay, if you are straight, if you are transgender – whoever you are, whoever you want to be, I support you.”
In sharp contrast, fellow One Direction bandmate Liam Payne has refused to apologise for criticism that he fetishizes bisexual women in new songBoth Ways. With lyrics such as ‘Lovin' the way that she's turning you on / Switching the lanes like a Bugatti Sport’ and ‘She said we're young and we're stupid / She said, "Come on, boy, let's do this" / Make every day my birthday,’ (yes really, it’s that cringe worthy) it’s clear stars like Harry Styles who are vocally supportive of LGBTQ+ issues are more vital than ever. His right to keep his sexuality private though? It’s none of our business.
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