Although other members of the now broken boy band One Direction have already put out new tunes, every man (or more accurately woman) and his dog have been waiting for Harry Styles to release his solo work.
Now the wait is over. After a few cryptic Instagram posts Harry Styles released his first song as a soloist on April 7.
The song called “Sign of the Times” is unlike anything fans of the boy band have heard before. Styles has taken a completely new musical direction and gone with it for a full six minutes.
As well as diverging musically from his days in One Direction, Styles’ “Sign of the Times” is also different from the solo work of his former band mates. While Niall Horan’s “This Town” was an overplayed, slow ballad crooning about “everything comes back to you” (heard it before mate), Styles goes back in time with some 70s style sounds.
Fans, naturally, have gone nuts.
Although One Direction fans have been content following the solo work of Niall, Zayn and Liam, it appears they’d really been holding out for Harry.
Here are a few of our favourite reactions.
I forgot how emo #SOTT makes me pic.twitter.com/BGvL41TrKY
— tersha🌴 (@xiupremeyeol) April 10, 2017
With lyrics like “we need to open up more” and Styles clearly testing (and nailing) his vocals, “Sign of the Times” is a track that fans have clearly resonated with.
When you find this in Turin and you start scream in the middle of the street 😱😱 @Harry_Styles pic.twitter.com/c5mO6Yh67I
— kris (@kri_kristina13) April 9, 2017
One Direction fans have always remained passionate despite the breakup of the band. New music from Styles served as a reminder that no matter the ex-band members do, they’ll continue to have a loyal fan base.
sign of the times is the best no.1 I've heard in a while, bless Harry Styles for not making some pop trash track just to ensure a hit
— SHAY (@saiintshay) April 9, 2017
🎤 From answering weird questions to getting advice from @edsheeran. @Harry_Styles on going solo. 👏 😍 #SignOfTheTimes https://t.co/UUfeNZvog6 pic.twitter.com/cYs9fuWNPE
— BBC (@BBC) April 10, 2017
I guess this is just a sign of the times.