Since catapulting to fame with One Direction, Harry Styles has become a global pop icon in his own right. And on Saturday night, Styles embarked on his 2022 Love on Tour trek, the first of 15, yes that’s 15, sold-out concerts that will bring Harry’s House to Madison Square Garden through September 21.
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We weren't there, but according to Billboard, at the start of his first show Styles made a single request, “I ask only one very very simple thing — I need you to have as much fun as you can possibly have,” he said with a grin, “I challenge you to have as much fun as I’m gonna have.”
Pulling out fan favorites like “Adore You,” “Watermelon Sugar,” 1D's "What Makes You Beautiful" and more, intertwined with the entirety of his latest album. The sold-out crowd of roughly 20,000 fans sang along, echoing every word of the star’s 360 degree performance.
Ahead of pleasing the screaming admirers packed into the iconic for show number one, Harry sat down with Rolling Stone to discuss his journey, experiences, growth and desires, y’know just like super caj.
While at this point in his career, selling out arenas is just another Saturday, the sheer magnitude of it isn’t lost on him. Recalling how he felt after a pervious show at Long Island’s UBS Arena back in May, Harry revealed, “we came offstage, and I went into my dressing room and just wanted to sit by myself for a minute.” Admitting that “after One Direction, I didn’t expect to ever experience anything new. I kind of felt like, ‘All right, I’ve seen how crazy it can get.’ And I think there was something about it where I was… not terrified, but I just needed a minute. Because I wasn’t sure what it was. Just that the energy felt insane.”
“It’s really unnatural to stand in front of that many people and have that experience,” he told the mag. “Washing it off, you’re just a naked person, in your most vulnerable, human form. Just like a naked baby, basically.”
On his journey to becoming one of the world’s biggest pop stars, Styles has found ways to cope with his lack of anonymity and need for privacy. Notably secret, Harry has been as successful as can be fending off constant questions about his personal life.
Within the past couple of years, he has started to go to therapy more routinely. Explaining, “I committed to doing it once a week,” relating the routine to having the same benefits as physical training. “I felt like I exercise every day and take care of my body, so why wouldn’t I do that with my mind?”
With his commitment to weekly therapy sessions, Harry confessed he started to process parts of himself he hadn’t figured out before. “So many of your emotions are so foreign before you start analyzing them properly. I like to really lean into an emotion and look at it in the face. Not like, ‘I don’t want to feel like this,’ but more like, ‘What is it that makes me feel this way?’”
Revealing one of those feeling in particular to be shame. Harry noted, he felt it was important for him shed, especially in regards to having his sex life scrutinized at a young age, while he admittedly was still just trying to make sense of it. As Harry explained, over the years, he’s learned to stop apologizing for what people might not understand, and learned to find the balance of how to be vulnerable in private, while still protecting himself from the public.
A definite don’t miss, check out Harry’s entire Rolling Stone interview here.
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