Music
Video Diaries
The Video Diaries: Harry Styles
Key moments in the career of singer-songwriter and ex-One Direction member Harry Styles, caught on camera
Harry Styles is back at Wembley this summer, three years on from the close of the outrageously successful Love On Tour, which ended its run as the fifth-highest grossing and eighth-most attended tour in history. New show Together, Together is set to define London summer as it takes over Wembley for twelve shows across June and early July. It’s a staggering feat for any artist, made more meaningful by the fact that we’ve all watched Styles grow from sixteen-year-old bakery boy to Grammy-winning superstar.
Introduced to the world on The X Factor, Harry Styles went on to become one-fifth of One Direction, one of the most successful bands of all time, before embarking on a solo career that would see him take his place as one of this era’s most influential artists. With Together, Together on the horizon, we’re looking back through the archives to track Styles’ biggest moments on film.
2010 – The X Factor audition
In 2010, a sixteen-year-old Harry Styles stood on a stage in front of Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger, after his mum suggested that he audition for The X Factor. As his family waited backstage wearing t-shirts that read ‘We think Harry has the X-Factor’, Styles ran Cowell through the list of which baked goods were currently popular with his customers at the bakery. After a shaky start with ‘Soul Sister’ by Train, Cowell suggested Styles might be thrown off by the backing track and asked him to sing something acapella. More convinced by Styles’ cover of ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ by Stevie Wonder, Cowell gave his ‘yes’, as did Scherzinger, but Walsh was still a holdout. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s entertaining to watch Cowell chastise Walsh for not seeing the potential standing before him.
Styles would go on to be eliminated in the bootcamp stage of the competition – however, he’d be thrown a lifeline in the form of four other eliminated contestants, with whom he was expected to form a boyband. One Direction didn’t win The X Factor, but that didn’t seem to hold them back too much.
2011 – ‘What Makes You Beautiful’
One Direction’s debut single topped the charts in several countries and placed admirably high in several more. ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ broke preorder records, with fans phoning radio stations and requesting the song before it had even been distributed. The beach-themed music video presented the boys as relatable, clean-cut teenagers, having wholesome fun by the sea. The band’s first song would go on to become one of the most iconic pop singles of the 2010s, launching the next five years of Styles’ career.
2015 – ‘History’ on The Late Late Show
At the very end of 2015, One Direction appeared on The Late Late Show with James Cordon to promote what would be their final single as a group. Now a fourpiece after the departure of Zayn Malik, the group announced a final album before their indefinite hiatus, with ‘History’ as the lead single. A tribute to their years together, the song’s accompanying music video featured compilation footage from across the band’s career. But the song’s campfire singalong energy is best exemplified in live performance, and this one captures the mood perfectly.
2017 – ‘Sign Of The Times’
In early 2017, Styles released his debut solo single – and it was one hell of a beginning. The soft rock ballad marked his departure from boyband pop, in a way that felt entirely natural to Styles, launching him to the top of the charts. ‘Sign Of The Times’ attracted a great deal of praise from critics, eventually ending up in spot 428 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.
The accompanying music video shows Styles walking alone in a quiet meadow, eventually ascending into the sky, drifting through the clouds and learning how to run on water. It won British Artist Video Of The Year at the 2019 Brit Awards and has over 1.5 billion views at time of writing.
2019 – ‘Adore You’ (Extended Edition)
Styles’ self-titled debut album was a hit, but it was sophomore record Fine Line that catapulted him to a new level of success as a solo artist. Debut single ‘Lights Up’ was followed by this fuck-tinged single, which became a fan-favourite and a chart success, going triple platinum in the UK.
The music video was filmed in Scotland, telling the story of Styles’ friendship with a small gold fish. In the extended version, we delve into the lore behind the fictional island of Eroda, where Styles is born with a smile so blindingly bright he frightens the frowning locals. Singer Rosalía provides the narration as both Styles and the fish find their place in the world.
2021 – ‘Watermelon Sugar’ at the Grammys
Styles’ first US no.1 hit was Fine Line’s fourth single, which also acted as the album’s promotional single. A sexy, sweet summer love song, ‘Watermelon Sugar’ made many ‘best of’ lists in 2020. In 2021, Styles performed the song at the Grammy Awards, in the feather boa that would become one of his signature visuals.
2022 – ‘As It Was’ at Coachella
The lead single from Harry’s House, Styles’ third studio album, was the best-selling global single of 2022, spending ten weeks at the top of the UK singles chart and winning widespread critical praise. That summer, Styles headlined Coachella, bravely donning an enormous fur coat in the middle of the desert and performing ‘As It Was’ for a crowd of over 100,000 people. The screams of the crowd all but drown out the song’s now iconic opening, which features the voice of Styles’ godchild.
2023 – Album Of The Year win at the Grammys
Harry’s House took home the coveted Album Of The Year award at the 2023 Grammys, with host Trevor Noah giving the honour of reading the envelope to one of Styles’ biggest fans. Styles gave a short, humble speech, praising his fellow nominees and reminding the audience that “it’s so important for us to remember that there is no such thing as ‘best’ in music.”
2023 – ‘Love On Tour, Forever’
From 2021 to 2023, Styles took Love On Tour around the world, celebrating Fine Line and Harry’s House with a seven-leg tour praised for the sense of community it brought to every city it visited. Styles honoured that community with this video, posted to his channel in July 2023, celebrating the crowds who had turned out to see him for the last two years. The video ends with an emotional message from Styles to the fans.
2026 – ‘Aperture’
After some time away, Styles returned in 2026 with ‘Aperture’, the slow-build electronic lead single from his fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally. It was accompanied by this visualiser, loosely inspired by Dirty Dancing and the music video for Fatboy Silm’s ‘Weapon Of Choice’. Filmed in Westin Bonaventure Hotel in LA, the video shows Harry pursued through hotel corridors by a mysterious man in sunglasses, until their fighting gives way to passionate choreography.
