As I’ve said before, I’m a Harry Styles fan. I was looking forward to his Rolling Stone cover profile because A) he hasn’t done a big profile in a while and B) it means we get new music! New music and new interviews. Harry is 25 years old and he loves his life. He has a bachelor pad in London and he also has a place in LA or Malibu, which is where he recorded the bulk of this new album. The Rolling Stone piece is full of great little details, like how Harry loves this one deli and the older ladies who work there dote on him. At one point, he cruises around the city in a 1972 silver Jaguar singing “Old Town Road.” He dresses like a cross between Mick Jagger in the ‘70s and Elton John in the ‘70s. He’s confident and vulnerable and a feminist. Why don’t you already LOVE him? You can read the full RS piece here. Some highlights:

His new album: “It’s all about having sex and feeling sad.”

The new masculinity: “I feel pretty lucky to have a group of friends who are guys who would talk about their emotions and be really open. My friend’s dad said to me, ‘You guys are so much better at it than we are. I never had friends I could really talk to. It’s good that you guys have each other because you talk about real sh-t. We just didn’t.’”

He did a lot of mushrooms while working on the album: “Ah, yes. Did a lot of mushrooms in here. We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s Ram in the sunshine. We’d just turn the speakers into the yard.” The chocolate edibles were kept in the studio fridge, right next to the blender. “You’d hear the blender going, and think, ‘So we’re all having frozen margaritas at 10 a.m. this morning.’” He points to a corner: “This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue. So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place.”

He doesn’t put a label on his sexuality & he aims to be as inclusive as possible: On his first solo tour, he frequently waved the pride, bi, and trans flags, along with the Black Lives Matter flag. “I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be. Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you’re not alone. I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows. I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.”

He’s not trying to be a spokesperson for these issues: “It’s not about me trying to champion the cause, because I’m not the person to do that. It’s just about not ignoring it, I guess. I was a little nervous to do that because the last thing I wanted was for it to feel like I was saying, ‘Look at me! I’m the good guy!’ I didn’t want anyone who was really involved in the movement to think, ‘What the f–k do you know?’ But then when I did it, I realized people got it. Everyone in that room is on the same page and everyone knows what I stand for. I’m not saying I understand how it feels. I’m just trying to say, ‘I see you.’”

He’s aware of his privilege too: “It’s not about, ‘Oh, I get what it’s like,’ because I don’t. For example, I go walking at night before bed most of the time. I was talking about that with a female friend and she said, ‘Do you feel safe doing that?’ And I do. But when I walk, I’m more aware that I feel OK to walk at night, and some of my friends wouldn’t. I’m not saying I know what it feels like to go through that. It’s just being aware.”

He loves his female fans: “They’re the most honest — especially if you’re talking about teenage girls, but older as well. They have that bullsh-t detector. You want honest people as your audience. We’re so past that dumb outdated narrative of ‘Oh, these people are girls, so they don’t know what they’re talking about.’ They’re the ones who know what they’re talking about. They’re the people who listen obsessively. They f–king own this sh-t. They’re running it.”

He’s a feminist: “I think ultimately feminism is thinking that men and women should be equal, right? People think that if you say ‘I’m a feminist,’ it means you think men should burn in hell and women should trample on their necks. No, you think women should be equal. That doesn’t feel like a crazy thing to me. I grew up with my mum and my sister — when you grow up around women, your female influence is just bigger. Of course men and women should be equal. I don’t want a lot of credit for being a feminist. It’s pretty simple. I think the ideals of feminism are pretty straightforward.”

[From Rolling Stone]

Zen and the Art of Harry Styles, right? He’s talking about hot-button subjects (drugs, sex, sexuality, feminism, black lives mattering) but he’s clear that he’s not the spokesperson for any of these causes, and his goal is simply to increase visibility and to allow all of his fans to feel seen and heard. I love him! He also says some stuff about One Direction and there’s so much about his love of music and his music-geekiness, but these were the most interesting parts to me. Is it weird that even with all of the sex, drugs and inclusion, this boy just seems so f–king wholesome?

“This is where I was standing when we were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue,” @Harry_Styles tells @robsheff while in the studio. “So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place” https://t.co/iQUkNh9GfQ pic.twitter.com/8pSQ2yzzfd

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 26, 2019

“I want to make people feel comfortable being whatever they want to be,” @Harry_Styles says. “I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows" https://t.co/fEHJpcNEcH pic.twitter.com/fYwyZ6bafT

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 26, 2019

Photos courtesy of Rolling Stone.