Marvel Cinematic Universe god and occasional singer Harry Styles has deigned to grant the lowly earth with a new single: “As It Was,” the first track from his forthcoming third album,
Harry’s House. After making fans (literally) go in circles with a turntable teaser earlier this week, “As It Was” has officially hit the internet with a predictably ecstatic splash: The music video, which features Styles cavorting to synth-pop trills in a scarlet sequined jumpsuit, had 371,000 viewers in the waiting room when it premiered at 7 p.m. EST on March 31. Add in the fact that Styles removes his shirt over the course of the video, and well, we're predicting not only record-breaking video viewership—but the crème de la crème of thirst-memes.
But as fans quickly deduced on Twitter, the song appears to not, in fact, be about the female orgasm, as was the case with “Watermelon Sugar.” Instead, “As It Was” takes a more melancholy perspective, despite its upbeat rhythm, seemingly probing Styles's own image—and particularly his conflicting feelings around the stardom he's since amassed. This is a subject Styles seems poised to address often in his new album, which he announced would arrive on May 20.
Apart from music, Styles has been having quite the glittering year: Whether gyrating his hips on Harryween, hand-holding with girlfriend Olivia Wilde, filming My Policeman with The Crown’s Emma Corrin, or dropping his beauty line Pleasing—which saw Londoners lined up for hours outside the Shroom Bloom pop-up store—Styles seems to bring a technicolor touch to any project of his choosing.
“There was a time when I was younger, and I was in the band, when I would have been afraid for everything to have stopped,” the artist recently told Dazed. “I didn’t necessarily know who I was if I wasn’t in the band. Now, the idea of people going, ‘We don’t like your music any more, go away’ doesn’t scare me. I think there was a time when it did. It gives me the freedom to kind of go, ‘Great!’ I’m not working from a place of fear. I’m working from a place of wanting to work stuff out, and try different things.”
Read the full lyrics and watch the “As It Was” music video below.
Come on, Harry, we wanna say "Goodnight" to youHoldin' me back
Gravity's holdin' me back
I want you to hold out the palm of your hand
Why don't we leave it at that?
Nothin' to say
And everything gets in the way
Seems you cannot be replaced
And I'm the one who will stay, oh-oh-oh
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
As it was, as it was
You know it's not the same
Answer the phone
"Harry, you're no good alone
Why are you sitting at home on the floor?
What kinda pills are you on?"
Ringin' the bell
And nobody's coming to help
Your daddy lives by himself
He just wants to know that you're well, oh-oh-oh
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
As it was, as it was
You know it's not the same
Go home, get ahead, light speed internet
I don't wanna talk about the way that it was
Leave America, two kids, follower
I don't wanna talk about who's doing it first
Hey!
As it was
You know it's not the same as it was
As it was, as it was