I have a looooooooong and complicated history with Harry Styles. Like I got into One Direction in late 2012 and he was always in my rotation as a top 2/3 member. I have hated him, I have considered a moment at a concert where he splashed water on me to be one of my favorite concert moments of all times, I have written and read essays on everything wrong and right with him... for a decade now.

And I think his biggest issue is he is loooves to have his cake and eat it too. He loves the benefits of being perceived as X thing without the risk of openly being X thing. Doesn’t matter if he actually is X or just pretending he is, he thrives in the ambiguity which just ultimately makes him be very insincere. And also makes the “real” him that accidentally seeps through seem so much sharper in contrast.

For example, the ambiguity around his sexuality. Real, non-celebrity closeted people cannot toe the line with their sexuality and profit from it. But he exploits the ambiguity, the “will he won’t he” come out thing to hold a captive audience. Gay/bi or not, it feels insincere and shitty. But it also makes unfiltered slip ups like “I’m making REAL gay cinema that matters, unlike that horny shit” feel razor sharp because like... either he’s a straight man sexualizing gay media and harping on harmful stereotypes or he really is a closeted man so disconnected from his community that he can shove us and our art down to stand on our shoulders without feeling bad about it. Two very different forms of shittiness with no real way to figure out which one applies, so either criticism ends up being attacked by whoever believes the opposing narrative.

But this applies to... everything. He wants to be perceived as deep and open but refuses to say anything that would ever actually step on toes, so he says a lot of kind of empty, general statements. He’ll unleash 4 different explanations of one song to avoid revealing personal but then sell the album on being his most personal yet. Treat people with kindness but also won’t reign in his rabid fanbase when they attack other people, including his girlfriends.

He wants the reward, not the risk.

And so his entire persona becomes a very, very thought out way of finding the perfect balance of “What can I say/do to garner attention and a very niche brand without alienating anyone,” which ironically becomes alienating the more it continues and often kind of corners him into saying dumb shit like “I want to be in this movie because it feels like a movie you would see at the movies.” Because anything he could actually say about this liberal feminist, controversial-behind-the-scenes film he’s in might piss people off. Or, ironically, might expose how insincere he is.

But the only alternative in that situation is saying something so stupid and empty... people still get pissed off.

And I just don’t think he’s caught on to the fact that this risk vs reward balance thing he’s doing isn’t working anymore. Especially when it leads to him saying shit like “I just haven’t found a social issue that speaks to me yet” during peak BLM  while slapping on rainbow and BLM stickers onto his tiny guitar that only fans will see.

You just reach a point where it doesn’t actually matter what his truth is. What he cares about. If he actually wants to fuck men or not. It just becomes more and more clear he’d rather use a NARRATIVE around it to manipulate a fanbase than ever reveal anything.

And he isn’t unique as a celebrity in that way but it does become more and more cloying because he’s often juxtaposed as unique or more real for things that ultimately just feel like PR tactics.

And it just feels like the ambiguity is just a shield now. Like you can’t criticize me because you can’t be sure what angle I’m really coming from nad it’s like... really? Well I’ll fucking criticize you anyways.