Fine Line, Harry Styles
All albums are reviewed on a scale from one to ten, with ten being the highest possible score.
Please Note: All views expressed here are the author’s own.
Fine Line is an exhilarating journey of heartbreak and self-love, with Harry Styles acting as the wistful indie, folk-rock narrator of his personal growth.
His work entices listeners to play the album track by track, with a journey from the first, brief whispers of love to the overbearing reality of sadness which ends on the feeling of bittersweet acceptance and self actualization.
Fine Line is the epitome of its title — a thin balance between the ever-changing emotions of sadness, love and joy. Styles does an outstanding job of unfolding an album of classic rock on tracks like “She” and “To Be So Lonely,” while using folk-rock undertones and dreamy indie roots in “Sunflower, Vl. 6” and “Canyon Moon.” The pinnacle of Fine Line, however, takes place within the simplistic, soulful ballads of “Falling” and “Fine Line.” Both tracks symbolize the reality of self-confusion and unrelenting sadness that builds from “Falling” — perfectly placed within the middle of the album. Styles uses raw emotions in the finale of the album on “Fine Line.” The sounds in this track melodiously blends Styles’ melancholy voice with the avid strokes of the guitar and powerful rhythm of the drums.
Not only was I stunned by the beauty of “Fine Line,” but I was taken through a range of bittersweet emotions. The ending of the track finalized exactly what Styles preached throughout the entirety of his album with the lyrics, ‘We’ll be alright.’
Fine Line is exactly what music should be — raw, beautiful, and honest. I can openly say that I cried, laughed and danced in my small, twin size dorm bed while listening to what is both a heartbreaking breakup album — with “Cherry” as its frontrunner — and a carefully constructed story of self-acceptance within the worst and best moments of one’s life. The album and tracks are made for anybody as each song is exemplified by the unique and diverse production of the album, offering guidance through the array of emotions Styles emulates.
Harry Styles might truly become this generation's musical icon, a revitalized poster-child of Bowie and McJagger, who will live not only within this decade but the decades to come. The artistic process of Fine Line gives the album an aura of love that allows Styles to tell his own story and reach the wide variety of his fans.