When One Direction’s Harry Styles announced that he would be going solo, fans waited in anticipation to see just how the curly-haired teen heartthrob would fare as a solo artist. His first release, titled “Harry Styles” proves that he will do just fine – and maybe even better than that. 

The album’s ten tracks maintain a very mature sound, a sound that is starkly different from the bubblegum pop that put Styles on the map. The opening track, “Meet Me in the Hallway” pairs a soft acoustic guitar with Style’s signature deep, throaty voice, but maintains a certain lightness that makes the sound seem to float through the air, providing a solid contrast to the grandeur of the album’s second track and first single, “Sign of the Times”.

“Carolina,” on the other hand, is an alt-rock dance party, relying on more electric guitar and drums and lyrics about a girl from the titular Carolina (North or South, we don’t know, and it frankly doesn’t matter). 

Styles goes back to the soft acoustic side of his sound with “Sweet Creature.” While it has a simple acoustic melody and airy background vocals, Style’s vocals truly impress on this track, making it the sweet love song that it is meant to be. One of the album’s biggest surprises is “Only Angel” – don’t be fooled by the quiet opening, as it quickly launches into another electric guitar and drum driven, ’80s rock influenced track, with Styles channeling Mick Jagger the whole way through. 

While Styles channels a variety of other artists in his vocals on the album, from Jagger to Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner on “Kiwi,” it’s clear that Styles’ sound is all his own, riding the fine line between sweet and seductive, and he owns it throughout all ten tracks. On this record, Styles is reborn and rebranded as not only a relevant artist, but a truly talented one, one that deserves a chance from both One Direction fans and non-fans alike.

If “Harry Styles” is any indication of what Styles will do as a solo artist, then the music industry, music consumers and the general population, have a lot to look forward to.