Harry Styles Drops New Single ‘Lights Up’ (Listen)

By Nate Nickolai

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Nearly two years after his debut solo album, Harry Styles is releasing some new music.

The new single, “Lights Up,” dropped Thursday night after a series of mysterious posters began popping up around London and New York with the caption “DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?” Despite not mentioning Styles by name, the billboards did include the phrase “TPWK,” an abbreviation that corresponds with Styles’ tour merchandise wording (“treat people with kindness”) in addition to the Columbia Records logo. It seems likely that “Do You Know Who You Are?” is the name of the new album.

The song is a bit of a departure from Styles’ debut, which followed an unexpectedly early ’70s sound that at times recalled Elton John, Nilsson and other luminaries of the era; that album was produced largely by the team of Jeff Bhasker, Tyler Johnson and Alex Salibian. This one is a shimmering pop ballad, cowritten and produced by Johnson, that vaguely recalls songs from Justin Timberlake’s early solo albums. It comes with a video (below) that features a shirtless Styles snuggling with multiple scantily clad young people, riding a motorcycle and generally looking dreamy.

Styles’ last album, the eponymous “,” debuted in 2017 to strong reviews, due largely in part to its surprising new sound for the former One Direction singer — gone were the teen idol’s iconic pop croonings in favor of a 70s rock ‘n’ roll vibe.