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How Harry Styles became the comparison.
“His self-titled debut opens with a track titled ‘Harry Styles,’ a career mission statement.”
How did Harry Styles become the comparison? First the reviews that heard other artists in him, then the reviews that hear him in others, each in the order they were written.
Each comparison is something a critic wrote, dated, and linked where the review is online. It is not a claim about who shaped whom.
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ROLLING STONE ON HARRY STYLES · 12 MAY 2017
“‘Sign of the Times’ tweaks Queen and Bowie”
Hunky Dory by David Bowie, 1971
Read the review (opens in a new tab)SPIN ON HARRY STYLES · 15 MAY 2017
“‘Sign of the Times’ is a Bowie pastiche named after a Prince album”
Sign o’ the Times by Prince, 1987
Read the review (opens in a new tab)ROLLING STONE ON HARRY’S HOUSE · 16 MAY 2022
“bring to mind a song of the same name on Joni Mitchell’s 1975 album”
The Hissing of Summer Lawns by Joni Mitchell, 1975
Read the review (opens in a new tab)SPIN ON HARRY’S HOUSE · 20 MAY 2022
“A nod to Japanese pop artist Haruomi Hosono”
Hosono House by Haruomi Hosono, 1973
Read the review (opens in a new tab)Then the threads started running the other way.
NME ON DAMIANO DAVID · 16 MAY 2025
“you’d be forgiven for comparing this to a Harry Styles move.”
FUNNY little FEARS by Damiano David, 2025
Read the review (opens in a new tab)ROLLING STONE ON MALCOLM TODD · 4 JUNE 2026
“worrying that he might not make it because he’s ‘not a Harry Styles’”
Malcolm Todd by Malcolm Todd, 2025
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Critics used to hear Bowie in him. Now they hear him in others.
Written by synff from the reviews above
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“keeps music lovers curious and committed to the art form”
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