What You Might Not Expect From Harry Styles
The Event
Yesterday there was an Q&A/music event with Harry Styles at an intimate venue in LA. I knew this would be a cool event to go to but I have been overly impressed by his genuine love for the art of songwriting and dedication to create something authentic to himself.
It started with a Q&A that lasted for over an hour. Talking about his process on his new solo album. Jeff Bhasker, his producer on the new album was also there talking about how it was made.
Authenticity
Pop music today can be worked over and over to achieve a perfectly marketable hit song. It can be difficult for someone in Harry Styles' case to shed the boy band reputation. Under the restraints of a major label many larger artists find themselves stunted creatively. Styles wanted the exact opposite, to write an album without anyone's approval and without a label. Styles wanted to write something that he would want to listen to.
Rejection
Jeff Bhasker, producer for several hit artists, albums, and songs. He cowrote Uptown Funk with Mark Ronson.
Bhasker worked again with Alicia Keys on her 2012 album, Girl on Fire, on the singles "Girl on Fire", and "Tears Always Win". He has also worked on the hit singles "Just Give Me a Reason" by Pink, Lana Del Rey's "Summertime Sadness", and Emeli Sandé's "My Kind of Love". Bhasker served as lead producer and co-writer for the band Fun's 2012 album, Some Nights, for which he received the 2013 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for the song "We Are Young". He was additionally nominated for Album of the Year, Record of the Year for "We Are Young", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. 1
I wanted to give a sense of credentials before I jumped into a story Styles told. Harry wanted Bhasker to be his producer on the new album. He set up a meeting, with a generous cash offer to entice Bhasker. Bhasker had been working on many hit albums and songs in the past, of course he would want to work with Harry Styles.
Right?
WRONG.
Jeff Bhasker wanted to work on projects that were different than with high profile talent. Bhasker cancelled his meeting with Styles. In fact, he cancelled two meetings with him. Styles persuaded him by sitting down and showing Bhasker what he envisioned for the album. No demos, just pre-exising tracks of bands like The White Stripes. Jeff, listening to the tracks and told Styles that it sounded too good and he doesn't need him. Styles never told Bhasker that the song was by The White Stripes (even though he was suspicious). Typically a major artist will write the songs and have the producer just make it sound better, essentially acting as a puppet for an artist. This wasn't the case.
Bhasker eventually agreed and pushed Styles off to someone working under his wing. Styles wasn't discouraged and eventually got Bhasker to come work on it directly with him. Bhasker was interested increasingly because he would be a larger part of the creative process. Bhasker mentioned early on to his people that they needed to get a band for Styles. What Styles really wanted was his own rock band.
Real People
Mitch Rowland is Styles guitarist and drummer for this project. When Styles first heard Rowland play guitar, he was mind-blown. Mitch asked Styles if he could play drums on the album as well, quoting "I'm a drummer" after styles was still in awe of his guitar playing. When Rowland was originally asked to come in and help record for Styles' new album, he had to reject it and say he could come in the next day. He had a commitment to work his shift at the pizza restaurant that he had been working. I think the moral to this story is that real people vs. studio pressure is what makes music authentic.
Creative Isolation
Styles could have been the typical thing of recording in LA, London, or New York. He didn't want that, Styles realized that he needed a creative isolation in order to achieve that kind of feel he wants for his first solo album. Styles decided that the album had to be made in Jamaica. Bhasker had seen Styles meditating while playing instruments.
The house they went to in Jamaica was organized as living quarters on the top floor with a deck, and studio downstairs. There was a cycle he talked about how in the morning everyone would go to the studio till lunchtime, they would eat in the studio and keep recording, go upstairs for dinner, write in the living quarters, go to bed. They ended up walking in on each-other writing frequently, and what ended up on the record is how it felt honestly for the first time.
Distancing
This is different than creative isolation because of a few defining factors. Styles was hired to go act on the film Dunkirk. He had to interrupt his solo album writing to go do a different art form. He said this was probably the most important part of his creativity is to really distance himself from his writing and go back to it. He came back to the band and Bhasker, and in the next ten days they wrote several songs. Four of the songs they wrote in those days ended up on the album. In a way, him stepping away from his album made him move closer to his creative vision and hear it with more clarity.
At the end of the show, styles began to play his song titled 2 Ghosts. Knowing One Direction's sound, 2 Ghosts was an extremely refreshing look at originality, creativity, and authenticity. Coming from a major artist like Harry Styles is extremely unusual in the music world, but nobody should be complaining.