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tabloidtoc · 3 years

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Us, May 3

You can buy a brand new copy of this issue without the mailing label for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Pregnant Meghan Markle: My Baby, My Way

Page 2: Red Carpet -- rufflemania -- Hollywood style stars are tier-ing it up in this flattering design with feminine flair -- Tracee Ellis Ross, Kaitlyn Dever, Margot Robbie, Logan Browning, Nicola Coughlan

Page 3: Lizzo, Maude Apatow, Lucy Boynton, Jessica Alba, Lily Collins

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Anya Taylor-Joy vs. Isla Fisher vs. Regina King in Stuart Weitzman Nudist sandal

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Shonda Rhimes on the intense backlash she received over Rege-Jean Page's exit from Bridgerton, Kelly Ripa on her most embarrassing interview, Luke Bryan on his mother LeClaire's Instagram fame, Blake Shelton on The Voice's new coach Ariana Grande, Reese Witherspoon joking about wearing bottoms that aren't sweatpants

Page 8: Contents

Page 10: A Final Farewell to Prince Philip, his four children Prince Charles and Princess Anne and Prince Andrew and Prince Edward were among the loved ones who participated in the emotional ceremony, feuding brothers Prince Harry and Prince William (and his wife Duchess Kate) put their differences aside after the intimate service, due to Covid-19 protocols the grieving Queen Elizabeth stayed socially distant from the other 29 people who attended the funeral for her husband of 73 years

Page 11: ACM Awards 2021 -- Maren Morris teamed up with her husband Ryan Hurd and won Female Artist of the Year, Thomas Rhett won Male Artist of the Year, Carrie Underwood took the stage

Page 12: Hot Pics -- Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wore an orange coat during a visit to NYC, John Stamos plays a coach on the TV show Big Shot, Zach Braff goofed around on the set of Cheaper by the Dozen in L.A.

Page 13: Eva Longoria on her trampoline while aboard a yacht in Miami, Howie Mandel arrived to the set of America's Got Talent dressed as a bug in Pasadena

Page 14: Jon Hamm and his rescue dog Splash strolled around the neighborhood in L.A., Heidi Klum in all white in Pasadena, Sara Gilbert and Linda Perry take a stroll in L.A.

Page 15: Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes held hands after dinner at Il Segreto in L.A., Patrick Dempsey shot a scene for his show Devils in Rome

Page 16: Rachel Brosnahan in a blue dress and carrying a clear umbrella on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel in NYC, Lin-Manuel Miranda at the opening of a vaccination center for Broadway workers in Times Square, Trisha Yearwood feeds one of her rescue pups

Page 18: Gen Z Has Spoken -- these celebs are making the young kids proud -- Baggy Jeans -- Hailey Bieber, Tracee Ellis Ross, Bella Hadid

Page 19: Middle Parts -- Busy Philipps, Lizzo, Jennifer Lopez, Kourtney Kardashian, baguette bags -- Dua Lipa, Elsa Hosk, Irina Shayk, Kendall Jenner

Page 20: Seeing Double -- stars bear a striking resemblance to their famous counterparts -- Elizabeth Banks and Chelsea Handler, Emmanuelle Chriqui and Nina Dobrev, Betty Gilpin and Jodie Comer

Page 21: Rob Lowe and Ian Somerhalder, Jaime Pressly and Margot Robbie, Isla Fisher and Amy Adams, Rupert Grint and Ed Sheeran, Kyle Richards and Kacey Musgraves

Page 22: Clueless Crew -- stars are totally buggin' over Cher Horowitz's style in yellow plaid -- Robin Roberts on Good Morning America, Katie Holmes was rollin' with her homie beau Emilio Vitolo Jr. in NYC, Vanessa Hudgens, Dianna Agron

Page 23: Gabrielle Union

Page 24: Stars They're Not Like Us -- Jay Leno took one of his vintage automobiles out for a spin in L.A., Chrissy Teigen and John Legend took a selfie with a fan while grocery shopping in Beverly Hills, Kylie Jenner has custom vending machines

Page 25: Carrie Underwood in her massive walk-in closet, Denzel Washington signs autographs for fans in NYC, Megan Thee Stallion on a private plane, Drake and his bodyguard in Beverly Hills

Page 26: Stars They're Just Like Us -- Sarah Jessica Parker catches a yellow cab after working at her shoe store in NYC, Brad Paisley picked up five pizzas to go in Montecito

Page 27: Kelly Osbourne handed out goods at a drive-thru food distribution event at the Islamic Center of Southern California, HGTV's Egypt Sherrod transformed her closet into a meditation space in Atlanta, in between filming Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T take a selfie

Page 28: Hollywood Dads -- Scott Porter on parenting his two kids McCoy and Clover

Page 29: Jonathan Tucker on life with twins Hayes and India, parenthood is a lot tougher than Jovi Dufren imagined, Maksim Chmerkovskiy can't wait to show son Shai his work

Page 30: Love Lives -- Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are showing no signs of slowing down -- the pair enjoyed a night out in L.A. hotspot Delilah where they were holding hands and laughing and they're not hiding the fact that they're dating but they just don't want people in their business -- they're a good match and are each other's best friend

Page 31: Justin Bieber and Hailey Bieber may look like the picture-perfect couple, but Justin admits that their first year of marriage wasn't what he expected, saying it was really tough and there was just a lack of trust and he blamed the strain on his own personal struggles and said before he didn't have someone to love or someone to pour into but now, more than two years after exchanging vows with Hailey, he has that

* Kacey Musgraves' romance with Dr. Gerald Onuoha is giving her butterflies -- the pair are so happy they found each other and while Kacey, who split from her husband Ruston Kelly last summer, is trying not to get too ahead of herself, her connection to the Nashville-based doc is off the charts and it's got the potential to go a very long way

* Today's Savannah Guthrie is thankful to have husband Michael Feldman in her life, especially given the demands of her early morning work schedule

Page 32: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are getting serious -- all the details on their whirlwind romance

Page 33: Adapting to parenthood has been a breeze for Emma Stone and she's soaking in all the precious moments of being a mom for the first time -- she and husband Dave McCary welcomed their baby daughter in March and Emma is super protective and a very hands-on mom and Dave is also hands-on and helps with their daughter -- thanks to the little one, Emma's marriage with the comedian has also gotten stronger and having a baby has brought them closer in a way they never expected -- Emma is looking forward to getting back to work; she's taken this time off to embrace motherhood and her number one priority is to raise a healthy baby so that's what she's focused on right now

* Britney Spears is setting the record straight -- despite her ongoing conservatorship battle with her dad, Jamie Spears, she is doing totally fine, assuring fans that she's extremely happy and she has a beautiful home, beautiful children and she's taking a break right now because she's enjoying herself -- although the legal drama with her father is heating up, Britney is staying strong and she has this wonderful ability to see the positive even when the odds are against her

* Keeping Up With Us -- production for the Downton Abbey sequel is underway, Mossimo Giannulli is a free man, Chrissy Teigen returned to Twitter 23 days after announcing that she was leaving the platform, Vanessa Bryant remembered her late husband Kobe Bryant on what would have been their 20th wedding anniversary, Helen McCrory lost her battle with cancer at age 52 according to her husband Damian Lewis

Page 34: A Day in My Life -- Whitney Port

Page 35: Colton Underwood is ready to live his truth -- during an interview on Good Morning America, the former Bachelor came out as gay, saying he's run from himself for a long time and he came to terms with his sexuality earlier this year and he's the happiest and healthiest he's ever been -- now that he feels like he can finally breathe, Colton is excited for his next chapter, which fans will get to see on an upcoming reality show with Olympian Gus Kenworthy -- a huge weight has been lifted off of Colton's shoulders and he is looking forward to being his authentic self

Page 36: Moms Tell All -- Happy Mother's Day! From milestones and manners to rules and nanny-bans, celebs and insiders talk about raising kids in Hollywood

Page 37: Bindi Irwin says life at home with her daughter Grace Warrior has been positively blissful and her family with dad Chandler Powell is so full of love, adding that the newborn has already met some of the wildlife at the Australia Zoo where Bindi and Chandler live and work and of course she's seen some crocs and really lit up when she saw them -- while the Aussie conservationist is sad Grace won't get to meet her late dad Steve Irwin, Bindi's brother Robert Irwin and mom Terri Irwin have been by her side constantly and Robert is obsessed with Grace and has been helping out so much and her mom has been the biggest guiding light and she's already taught Bindi so much about being a mother, both in how she raised her and by showing her things day by day and Terri is quite the baby whisperer and she's so great a calming Grace down when she's crying -- first-time father Chandler is also a natural with Grace and he's been the most supportive and involved dad and together, he and Bindi make such a great team -- for now, Bindi, who stars with Chandler in Crikey! It's a Baby!, is hoping Grace will follow in her animal-activist footsteps, saying having three generations of strong women working as conservationists is a dream come true

* Jennifer Garner said teaching your kids is a lifelong job, and certainly values are something you have to show them -- Jennifer, who shares kids Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with ex Ben Affleck, is staying true to her word and has led by example when it comes to things like kindness and patience and she won't let anyone in the house to judge or speak ill of people, and she enforces the same wholesome, traditional values that she was raised with and the kids have been taught to be loving, hardworking and fair -- Jennifer has always taken a kids-come-first approach to parenting, and it shows as they bake together, enjoy movie nights, read books and have very active lives and it's a very healthy, happy household filled with laughter and love

Page 38: Gwen Stefani has her hands full with her sons Kingston, Zuma and Apollo with ex-husband Gavin Rossdale, but she wouldn't want it any other way -- Gwen's a tomboy, so having three boys wasn't daunting for her at all, plus she has fiance Blake Shelton by her side to pitch in with parenting duties and Gwen and the boys have a blast at Blake's ranch in Oklahoma where they enjoy riding their ATVs, and they play baseball and football -- it's not all fun and games, though because Gwen is big on boundaries and manners and she doesn't want to raise Hollywood brats and it's important to her that her sons be gentlemen

* Meghan Markle's pregnancy with Archie was no walk in the park, as she revealed during her bombshell TV interview with husband Prince Harry, the couple had concerns over whether or not the royal family would provide security for their son and claimed there were conversations about his skin color -- but this time around, as Meghan and Harry gear up for baby No. 2 at home in L.A., she's doing everything her way, without the royals and Meghan and Harry feel blessed that they're able to raise their daughter in the U.S. and can live by their own rules and make the decisions they feel are best for their children; having independence is the most important thing for Meghan and she's got free rein to be exactly the kind of mom she wants to be -- her parenting style is really like most mothers out there, and she's been craving pasta and doing yoga two times a day as her due date nears and she keeps a lot of art supplies out to foster creativity and healthy snacks around and she's a devoted mom and wants the best for her kids

Page 39: Kate Hudson has a lot on her plate, so the mom of three, who shares son Ryder with former husband Chris Robinson and son Bingham with ex Matt Bellamy and daughter Rani with boyfriend Danny Fujikawa, knows when to put her foot down as things can get a little overwhelming at times for Kate, but when she says no, it absolutely means no, and the kids respect her very much because of that

* Gigi Hadid, who shares daughter Khai with boyfriend Zayn Malik, wants to spend every waking moment with her precious little girl -- Gigi could easily afford to employ a team of nannies but chooses not to and she prefers to do everything herself and besides, she can't bear to be away from Khai for more than a few hours

* Candace Cameron Bure's three grown kids are flying the coop, but she's still super involved in their lives, despite slowly becoming an empty nester -- the mom of Natasha, Lev, and Maksim with former hockey player Valeri Bure says it's been a very transitional time and she's been trying to help them make decisions they feel good about and it's challenging, but they're figuring it out

Page 40: Oh, Baby! Meghan Markle's due date is just around the corner, and here are all the details

* Bump Brigade -- Halsey, Gal Gadot, Shawn Johnson East

Page 42: 10 Years of the Cambridges -- a look back at Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton's solid marriage for their anniversary

Page 44: Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez: What Really Happened -- cheating and lies? The truth behind J.Lo's split from fiance A-Rod

Page 45: Friendliest Exes -- these former couples managed to stay close after going their separate ways -- Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux, Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis, Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz

Page 48: Gifts for Mother's Day

Page 54: Entertainment -- Ben Barnes on Shadow and Bone

Page 58: Fashion Police -- the most daring Oscars looks -- Bjork, Whoopi Goldberg, Charlize Theron

Page 59: Rachel Weisz, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga

Page 60: 25 Things You Don't Know About Me -- Julia Michaels

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hlupdate · 4 years

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Variety’s Grammy-nominated Hitmaker of the Year goes deep on the music industry, the great pause and finding his own muses.

“We’ll dance again,” Harry Styles coos, the Los Angeles sunshine peeking through his pandemic-shaggy hair just so. The singer, songwriter and actor — beloved and critically acclaimed thanks to his life-affirming year-old album, “Fine Line” — is lamenting that his Variety Hitmaker of the Year cover conversation has to be conducted over Zoom rather than in person. Even via videoconference, the Brit is effortlessly charming, as anyone who’s come within earshot of him would attest, but it quickly becomes clear that beneath that genial smile is a well-honed media strategy.

To wit: In an interview that appears a few days later announcing his investment in a new arena in his native Manchester (more on that in a bit), he repeats the refrain — “There will be a time we dance again”— referencing a much-needed return to live music and the promise of some 4,000 jobs for residents.

None of which is to suggest that Styles, 26, phones it in for interviews. Quite the opposite: He does very few, conceivably to give more of himself and not cheapen what is out there and also to use the publicity opportunity to indulge his other interests, like fashion. (Last month Styles became the first male to grace the cover of Vogue solo.) Still, it stings a little that a waltz with the former One Direction member may not come to pass on this album cycle — curse you, coronavirus.

Styles’ isolation has coincided with his maturation as an artist, a thespian and a person. With “Fine Line,” he’s proved himself a skilled lyricist with a tremendous ear for harmony and melody. In preparing for his role in Olivia Wilde’s period thriller “Don’t Worry Darling,” which is shooting outside Palm Springs, he found an outlet for expression in interpreting words on a page. And for the first time, he’s using his megaphone to speak out about social justice — inspired by the outpouring of support for Black people around the world following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.

Styles has spent much of the past nine months at home in London, where life has slowed considerably. The time has allowed him to ponder such heady issues as his purpose on the earth. “It’s been a pause that I don’t know if I would have otherwise taken,” says Styles. “I think it’s been pretty good for me to have a kind of stop, to look and think about what it actually means to be an artist, what it means to do what we do and why we do it. I lean into moments like this — moments of uncertainty.”

In truth, while Styles has largely been keeping a low profile — his Love On Tour, due to kick off on April 15, was postponed in late March and is now scheduled to launch in February 2021 (whether it actually will remains to be seen) — his music has not. This is especially true in the U.S., where he’s notched two hit singles, “Adore You,” the second-most-played song at radio in 2020, and “Watermelon Sugar” (No. 22 on Variety’s year-end Hitmakers chart), with a third, “Golden,” already cresting the top 20 on the pop format. The massive cross-platform success of these songs means Styles has finally and decisively broken into the American market, maneuvering its web of gatekeepers to accumulate 6.2 million consumption units and rising.

Why do these particular songs resonate in 2020? Styles doesn’t have the faintest idea. While he acknowledges a “nursery rhyme” feel to “Watermelon Sugar” with its earwormy loop of a chorus, that’s about as much insight as he can offer. His longtime collaborator and friend Tom Hull, also known as the producer Kid Harpoon, offers this take: “There’s a lot of amazing things about that song, but what really stands out is the lyric. It’s not trying to hide or be clever. The simplicity of watermelon … there’s such a joy in it, [which] is a massive part of that song’s success.” Also, his kids love it. “I’ve never had a song connect with children in this way,” says Hull, whose credits include tunes by Shawn Mendes, Florence and the Machine and Calvin Harris. “I get sent videos all the time from friends of their kids singing. I have a 3-year-old and an 8-year-old, and they listen to it.”

Styles is quick to note that he doesn’t chase pop appeal when crafting songs. In fact, the times when he pondered or approved a purposeful tweak, like on his self-titled 2017 debut, still gnaw at him. “I love that album so much because it represents such a time in my life, but when I listen to it — sonically and lyrically, especially — I can hear places where I was playing it safe,” he says. “I was scared to get it wrong.”

Contemporary effects and on-trend beats hardly factor into Styles’ decision-making. He likes to focus on feelings — his own and his followers’ — and see himself on the other side of the velvet rope, an important distinction in his view. “People within [the industry] feel like they operate on a higher level of listening, and I like to make music from the point of being a fan of music,” Styles says. “Fans are the best A&R.”

This from someone who’s had free rein to pursue every musical whim, and hand in the album of his dreams in the form of “Fine Line.” Chart success makes it all the sweeter, but Styles insists that writing “for the right reasons” supersedes any commercial considerations. “There’s no part that feels, eh, icky — like it was made in the lab,” he says.

Styles has experience in this realm. As a graduate of the U.K. competition series “The X Factor,” where he and four other auditionees — Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — were singled out by show creator and star judge Simon Cowell to conjoin as One Direction, he’s seen how the prefab pop machine works up close. The One Direction oeuvre, which counts some 42 million albums sold worldwide, includes songs written with such established hitmakers as Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha and Teddy Geiger. Being a studious, insatiable observer, Styles took it all in.

“I learned so much,” he says of the experience. “When we were in the band, I used to try and write with as many different people as I could. I wanted to practice — and I wrote a lot of bad shit.”

His bandmates also benefited from the pop star boot camp. The proof is in the relatively seamless solo transitions of at least three of its members — Payne, Malik and Horan in addition to Styles — each of whom has landed hit singles on charts in the U.K., the U.S. and beyond.

This departs from the typical trajectories of boy bands including New Kids on the Block and ’N Sync, which have all pro ered a star frontman. The thinking for decades was that a record company would be lucky to have one breakout solo career among the bunch.

Styles has plainly thought about this.

“When you look at the history of people coming out of bands and starting solo careers, they feel this need to apologize for being in the band. ‘Don’t worry, everyone, that wasn’t me! Now I get to do what I really want to do.’ But we loved being in the band,” he says. “I think there’s a wont to pit people against each other. And I think it’s never been about that for us. It’s about a next step in evolution. The fact that we’ve all achieved different things outside of the band says a lot about how hard we worked in it.”

Indeed, during the five-ish years that One Direction existed, Styles’ schedule involved the sort of nonstop international jet-setting that few get to see in a lifetime, never mind their teenage years. Between 2011 and 2015, One Direction’s tours pulled in north of $631 million in gross ticket sales, according to concert trade Pollstar, and the band was selling out stadiums worldwide by the time it entered its extended hiatus. Styles, too, had built up to playing arenas as a solo artist, engaging audiences with his colorful stage wear and banter and left-of-center choices for opening acts (a pre-Grammy-haul Kacey Musgraves in 2018; indie darlings King Princess and Jenny Lewis for his rescheduled 2021 run).

Stages of all sizes feel like home to Styles. He grew up in a suburb of Manchester, ground zero for some of the biggest British acts of the 1980s and ’90s, including Joy Division, New Order, the Smiths and Oasis, the latter of which broke the same year Styles was born. His parents were also music lovers. Styles’ father fed him a balanced diet of the Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and Queen, while Mum was a fan of Shania Twain, Norah Jones and Savage Garden. “They’re all great melody writers,” says Styles of the acts’ musical throughline.

Stevie Nicks, who in the past has described “Fine Line” as Styles’ “Rumours,” referencing the Fleetwood Mac 1977 classic, sees him as a kindred spirit. “Harry writes and sings his songs about real experiences that seemingly happened yesterday,” she tells Variety. “He taps into real life. He doesn’t make up stories. He tells the truth, and that is what I do. ‘Fine Line’ has been my favorite record since it came out. It is his ‘Rumours.’ I told him that in a note on December 13, 2019 before he went on stage to play the ‘Fine Line’ album at the Forum. We cried. He sang those songs like he had sung them a thousand times. That’s a great songwriter and a great performer.”

“Harry’s playing and writing is instinctual,” adds Jonathan Wilson, a friend and peer who’s advised Styles on backing and session musicians. “He understands history and where to take the torch. You can see the thread of great British performers — from Bolan to Bowie — in his music.”

Also shaping his musical DNA was Manchester itself, the site of a 23,500-seat arena, dubbed Co-op Live, for which Styles is an investor and adviser. Oak View Group, a company specializing in live entertainment and global sports that was founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff in 2015 (Jeffrey Azoff, Irving’s son, represents Styles at Full Stop Management), is leading the effort to construct the venue. The project gained planning approval in September and is set to open in 2023, with its arrival representing a £350 million ($455 million) investment in the city. (Worth noting: Manchester is already home to an arena — the site of a 2017 bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert — and a football stadium, where One Love Manchester, an all-star benefit show to raise money for victims of the terrorist attack, took place.)

“I went to my first shows in Manchester,” Styles says of concerts paid for with money earned delivering newspapers for a supermarket called the Co-op. “My friends and I would go in on weekends. There’s so many amazing small venues, and music is such a massive part of the city. I think Manchester deserves it. It feels like a full-circle, coming-home thing to be doing this and to be able to give any kind of input. I’m incredibly proud. Hopefully they’ll let me play there at some point.”

Though Styles has owned properties in Los Angeles, his base for the foreseeable future is London. “I feel like my relationship with L.A. has changed a lot,” he explains. “I’ve kind of accepted that I don’t have to live here anymore; for a while I felt like I was supposed to. Like it meant things were going well. This happened, then you move to L.A.! But I don’t really want to.”

Is it any wonder? Between COVID and the turmoil in the U.S. spurred by the presidential election, Styles, like some 79 million American voters, is recovering from sticker shock over the bill of goods sold to them by the concept of democracy. “In general, as people, there’s a lack of empathy,” he observes. “We found this place that’s so divisive. We just don’t listen to each other anymore. And that’s quite scary.”

That belief prompted Styles to speak out publicly in the wake of George Floyd’s death. As protests in support of Black Lives Matter took to streets all over the world, for Styles, it triggered a period of introspection, as marked by an Instagram message (liked by 2.7 million users and counting) in which he declared: “I do things every day without fear, because I am privileged, and I am privileged every day because I am white. … Being not racist is not enough, we must be anti racist. Social change is enacted when a society mobilizes. I stand in solidarity with all of those protesting. I’m donating to help post bail for arrested organizers. Look inwards, educate yourself and others. LISTEN, READ, SHARE, DONATE and VOTE. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. BLACK LIVES MATTER.”

“Talking about race can be really uncomfortable for everyone,” Styles elaborates. “I had a realization that my own comfort in the conversation has nothing to do with the problem — like that’s not enough of a reason to not have a conversation. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve been outspoken enough in the past. Using that feeling has pushed me forward to being open and ready to learn. … How can I ensure from my side that in 20 years, the right things are still being done and the right people are getting the right opportunities? That it’s not a passing thing?”

His own record company — and corporate parent Sony Music Group, whose chairman, Rob Stringer, signed Styles in 2016 — has been grappling with these same questions as the industry has faced its own reckoning with race. At issue: inequality among the upper ranks (an oft-cited statistic: popular music is 80% Black, but the music business is 80% white); contracts rooted in a decades-old system that many say is set up to take advantage of artists, Black artists more unfairly than white; and the call for a return of master rights, an ownership model that is at the core of the business.

Styles acknowledges the fundamental imbalance in how a major label deal is structured — the record company takes on the financial risk while the artist is made to recoup money spent on the project before the act is considered profitable and earning royalties (typically at a 15% to 18% rate for the artist, while the label keeps and disburses the rest). “Historically, I can’t think of any industry that’s benefited more off of Black culture than music,” he says. “There are discussions that need to happen about this long history of not being paid fairly. It’s a time for listening, and hopefully, people will come out humbled, educated and willing to learn and change.”

By all accounts, Styles is a voracious reader, a movie lover and an aesthete. He stays in shape by adhering to a strict daily exercise routine. “I tried to keep up but didn’t last more than two weeks,” says Hull, Styles’ producer, with a laugh. “The discipline is terrifying.”

Of course, with the fashion world beckoning — Styles recently appeared in a film series for Gucci’s new collection that was co-directed by the fashion house’s creative director, Alessandro Michele, and Oscar winner Gus Van Sant — and a movie that’s set in the 1950s, maintaining that physique is part of the job. And he’s no stranger to visual continuity after appearing in Christopher Nolan’s epic “Dunkirk” and having to return to set for reshoots; his hair, which needed to be cut back to its circa 1940 form, is a constant topic of conversation among fans. This time, it’s the ink that poses a challenge. By Styles’ tally, he’s up to 60 tattoos, which require an hour in the makeup chair to cover up. “It’s the only time I really regret getting tattooed,” he says.

He shows no regret, however, when it comes to stylistic choices overall, and takes pride in his gender-agnostic portfolio, which includes wearing a Gucci dress on that Vogue cover— an image that incited conservative pundit Candace Owens to plead publicly to “bring back manly men.” In Styles’ view: “To not wear [something] because it’s females’ clothing, you shut out a whole world of great clothes. And I think what’s exciting about right now is you can wear what you like. It doesn’t have to be X or Y. Those lines are becoming more and more blurred.”

But acclaim, if you can believe it, is not top of mind for Styles. As far as the Grammys are concerned, Styles shrugs, “It’s never why I do anything.” His team and longtime label, however, had their hearts set on a showing at the Jan. 31 ceremony. Their investment in Styles has been substantial — not just monetarily but in carefully crafting his career in the wake of such icons as David Bowie, who released his final albums with the label. Hope at the company and in many fans’ hearts that Styles would receive an album of the year nomination did not come to pass. However, he was recognized in three categories, including best pop vocal album.

“It’s always nice to know that people like what you’re doing, but ultimately — and especially working in a subjective field — I don’t put too much weight on that stuff,” Styles says. “I think it’s important when making any kind of art to remove the ego from it.” Citing the painter Matisse, he adds: “It’s about the work that you do when you’re not expecting any applause.”

#harry styles #variety #021220

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hldailyupdate · 4 years

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This Charming Man: Why We’re Wild About Harry Styles

Variety’s Grammy-nominated Hitmaker of the Year goes deep on the music industry, the great pause and finding his own muses.

Styles has plainly thought about this.

Harry for Variety. (2 December 2020)

#harry styles #harry update #article #variety #hldaily #December 2020

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arcticmaggie · 6 years

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Donut Shop (Pt. 2)

Y/N sees Harry and prays that he sees her as well.

Part 1

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings: Just like, a BUNCH of tension leading up to a cliffhanger?? Idk I’m cruel and won’t let Y/N get her fairy tale (not yet, at least)

A/N: Okay listen this was tough to write because there’s a lot of time lapses and idk how to write the transitions for em so like BARE WITH ME. Also I rlly don’t know how to calm down with the italics and the run on sentences but I feel like it adds to the tension and the ongoing stroke Y/N is having. THERE WILL BE ANOTHER ONE, POSSIBLY THE LAST PART BUT IDK DEPENDS ON IF I WANT THE ENDING TO BE AMBIGUOUS OR KEEP IT GOING INTO AN ACTUAL FULL FANFIC AHHH

She's shaking. Her hand is legitimately shaking.

It's been 10 hours since Y/N had almost died from shock of meeting Harry and squabbling with him and she is still having a bit of trouble trying to calm down. Of course, this is now because of a different reason.

She's going to see Harry live in concert in 2 hours! She's going to pretend like as if she hadn't just interacted with him for more than 10 seconds that same morning! She's not going to pull it off!

But really, she knows she can't actually say anything because A) how would she explain to Abby that the man up on stage before them had already touched her in ways that Abby would never have dreamed of being touched (sounds intense, but seriously, how often is it that the man of your dreams touches your shoulder?) and B) Harry had clearly been trying to steer away from gaining attention, so it would kinda be a dick move to go ahead and tell everyone about it.

But Y/N knows herself, so she knows it's going to take everything in her not to blabber about having Harry Styles pay for her ham and cheesy.

Maybe Abby won't react that bad? I mean, she's known Y/N since Midnight Memories came out and they gushed over their mutual love for One Direction online (and they met two years later). And Abby has already interacted with Harry on Twitter, with a reply and a follow. So maybe talking to him in real life won't be much of a scandal to her and she'll understand.

So yeah, Y/N decides with a deep breath and a swipe of her contour brush against her face that she'll tell her best friend about it as soon as she arrives at her house. Which would be in an hour and a half, so Y/N had plenty of time to hyperventilate until the time came.

She takes about an hour to finish her makeup after the mini pep talk, even though she was already halfway done. But that was because she spent half that time glaring at her hand to stop shaking. Really, you would think she'd be okay by now. She's a 20 year old girl with a job and her own apartment; this is supposed to mean she's really good at handling stressful situations.

But once she sprays her finishing spray on her face and combs her fingers through her hair, she begins to panic. Surely, she would be able to calm down once more in the 30 minutes she had left, but after 10 of them, she receives a text and she absolutely loses it.

Girlie I got out of work early so I’ll be there in 5 !!! ((:

Jesus Christ she's going to vomit.

She feels like she's about to tell her mom about the time she gave their next door neighbor head during their Easter barbecue in the bathroom.

But it's just Abby, it's just her best friend, and she hears a car pull up and shut off and she gasps for breath.

She doesn't feel her feet dragging her towards the front door, she doesn't feel her hand yank her door open as Abby walks up the path with a small jolt in her step with the sudden sound, and she definitely doesn't feel her mouth open as soon as she lays eyes on her.

“Harry Styles thinks I'm a proper knob.”

Abby immediately furrows her eyebrows together but a smile peeks out from her lips as she lazily pushes Y/N to the side so she can walk in and head straight towards the bedroom.

“How are you this delusional, 2 hours before the show? I would have thought you would start talking funny once we reached the building.” She sets her backpack down on the makeup vanity along with her bag of Jimmy Johns (she always gets hungry when she's doing her makeup for some reason) before turning back around to a silent Y/N who had wordlessly followed behind her.

Which is weird, Abby thinks, because Y/N really never learns how to shut up unless it's something very important holding her back. So she stares at her while Y/N stares back with a very anxious face and she realizes that whether it's true or not, Y/N meant what she said. And that worries Abby, so she huffs out a breath as she plops down on the vanity bench and pulls out her makeup while munching on a fry.

“Okay, you have the time I use doing my makeup and the car ride to the venue to tell me everything, so please think everything through before telling me.”

And Y/N takes it to heart. She recollects her words for a solid 15 minutes as she's spread out on her bed like an eagle and once she's finished she looks up. She sees Abby already done with her food and applying her highlighter, so she takes 5 more minutes to reorganize everything in her head again for a shortened version.

And so she begins. She spends about 10 minutes debriefing her horrible morning beforehand until Abby packs up her stuff and motions for her to follow her to the car to start their drive over to the Forum, where she spends the remaining half hour (which is more time than the actual minutes spent at the donut shop, ironically) gushing over Harry and his eyes and his lips and his hair and his cocky attitude and his touch and his money and everything that she couldn't process properly during that morning.

Abby stays quiet the entire time, only nodding along when Y/N pauses to see if she's understanding. And she even stays quiet as she parks the car in the designated parking lot and lets Y/N finish her rambling about the “absolutely dirty smirk he had on his face when he asked if it was a threat.”

So when Y/N finally stops and takes a well needed deep breath, she tries her hardest to piece together her conclusion of this situation.

“So, you're telling me, that there is a possibility that you will make eye contact with Harry tonight, and he will recognize you, and he will interact with you?”

And Y/N inhales so sharply because holy fuck, there actually is a chance of that. Their seats are so close to the B-stage and he'll walk up there and he will let his fans touch his hand and he will look at them and he might actually see her.

This thought brings the next hour into a blur.

She doesn’t remember standing in the merch line for 20 minutes for the yellow kiwi sweatshirt or walking through the metal detectors or scanning her ticket or buying a hotdog and eating it with extra mustard and relish or walking into the venue and sitting down in her seat with Abby right behind her. She doesn’t even pay attention to Kacey Musgraves and her set, which she didn’t do intentionally (she’s listened to entire repertoire specifically so she could jam out to her music before Harry comes out) but sitting here, 5 feet away from the B-stage has kept her out of touch from the entire world.

Doesn’t even hear the screams of everyone around her when Kacey leaves the stage and the lights turn back on for the 20 minute break in between sets.

It takes Abby giving her a really harsh nudge which Y/N cowers from and winces but she had it coming since she didn’t respond the first two times Abby tried to get her attention.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N, you’ve already met him yet you’re acting worse than me! I’ve never even come close to being in such proximity as him yet you’re the one ready to have a stroke!” Y/N pouts at the scolding but it brings her back into her own body. She knows Abby’s right, she’s already had more of relationship with Harry than most people in this building and she’s worrying about something that surely won’t happen. He’ll be caught up in his singing and talking to the rest of the crowd and he doesn’t even know she’ll be in that vicinity so it’s not like he’ll go out of his own way to look for her. He’s not going to notice her and it’s okay. She’s been fine with this mindset for years now, she can put up with it for many more.

And with this, she lets all her anxiety go. Even when the lights turn down and the Rubik’s cube pops up on screen and the monitor slides down to hide Harry’s entrance, she only screams with excitement and joy. Should we just search romantic comedies on Netflix and then see what we’ll find? is heard before the beginning of Only Angel and Y/N goes wild along with the entire venue as the monitor slides right back up and reveals him and he starts singing and it’s the best moment of her life and she completely forgets about everything before and focuses on now.

Well, until Harry wraps up on Meet Me in the Hallway and heads for the B-stage. All of a sudden, he’s climbing up the stairs with the rest of the band behind him and he uses the short seconds he has to accept the flowers fans are offering and thank them, making full eye contact with each and every one. It would be so easy for Y/N to shout his name, to shout out, “Harry it’s me! Ham and cheese girl!” It’d be so weird and he’s probably already forgotten about what happened and who she is because he’s a busy man and he has more important stuff to remember but she’d at least have a chance of catching his eye again.

But she sees his soft smile as he accepts the bouquet of roses the girl in front gives him and he turns around and sets it down, ushering in the rest of the gang as they all prepare to perform Sweet Creature. And he’s so beautiful, she can’t believe she’s able to be here and see him do what he loves doing and she feels the absolute joy he’s radiating. His eyebrows are furrowed as he tries to concentrate on this next song and he looks so determined to give a great show and she loves it, she loves him. So she shuts her mouth and she watches him with kind eyes as the rest of the fans around him quiet down as well.

And so he sings. First Sweet Creature, then If I Could Fly (Y/N begins to tear up), and then the lovely surprise of Girl Crush (that’s when she starts bawling). He’s always facing her direction throughout all three songs, and he looks up at some points into the crowd, surely only seeing a bunch of phones recording him. Abby was guilty of it as well but Y/N keeps hers in her pocket, relishing in the spotlight hitting only half of his and casting shadows on the other. His eyes always graze too quickly over where she’s seated and it irks her and makes her heart ache because yes she’s calmed down from her fantasy but he gets so close to setting eyes on her yet he doesn’t and it sucks.

She’s suddenly become so hurt by the idea of being unnoticed by him even after all these years of teaching herself not to be. She guesses that’s what happens when you get a small taste of something you can’t ever have.

Girl Crush ends, Harry finally leaves the B-stage to go back to the main stage and finish the rest of the show, and Y/N feels a tug on her heartstrings. She feels that her cheeks are wet and she begins to dab her tears away with the back of her hand, turning to Abby who was still recording Harry but with the turn of Y/N, she whips her phone around to record her instead. Y/N lets out a disgusting yet comical sniff through her nose and whimpers out, “I saw Harry’s sad excuse for a moustache with my own eyes and now I’m crying.”

Abby lets out a snort as she stops recording and turns back to Harry as he swings out his guitar and begins to play Anna, letting Y/N compose herself so she can continue jamming out. And of course, she does, for the next three songs, before he leaves the stage for a quick minute or two just to come back out and play the last three songs of the night (she can never understand why every artist has this in their setlist, and she laughs as Harry explains to the crowd that he doesn’t either).

From the Dining Table is beautiful and sad and The Chain is hardcore and exhilarating and then Harry plays Kiwi and Y/N is crying again because it’s the last song of the show and the last show of the tour and it’s heartbreaking.

And he has the audacity to play it again.

And the audacity to run down to B-stage once more.

He’s completely losing it and the crowd along with him but he’s so exhausted from the run and it’s so obvious that Y/N can’t help but laugh as he pants for breath. He turns towards her area as he brings the mic up to his mouth to continue the next few lines. He sees her.

He locks eyes with her and her amused eyes, raised eyebrows, and cackling laugh and he breaks into the biggest grin. He struggles to begin singing as he laughs along with her, joining in on his hilarious physical state and he adds in the line, “And I’m exhausted, I’m exhausted,” before finally turning away and running back to the mainstage.

Y/N had to take a huge swig of her water bottle and close her eyes for a good moment to make sure she didn’t legitimately pass out.

He finally noticed her. For a mere 4 seconds, he looked at her and he smiled at her and they laughed together. She was okay now. It wasn’t a conversation like she hoped it would be but he still acknowledged her presence and even though he didn’t explicitly say “I know you,” the way his face lit up when they made eye contact was enough for her to believe that he recognized her and she meant something to him.

He finishes off the song and fakes the crowd out as he eggs them on for another take and she hates herself. She hates that for a few minutes that morning she actually got angry with the way he teased her and decided that he was an asshole.

Sure, she can see him stick his tongue out and walk around with a shit eating grin as he hears the crowd go wild for a third rendition of Kiwi, but it doesn’t make him an asshole like she presumed. Just a cocky son of a bitch.

One who begins to sing Kiwi once again with the most tired posture a 24 year old man can have. Yet he continues to rock his body to the music and at one point drops down to his goddamn knees and rocks out on the floor. Yeah, Y/N concludes to herself, he’s hot and he’s fully aware of it.

The concert ends and Abby is crying (well, everyone in the arena is full of tears), both watching CHASM bow for the final time before exiting the stage. And with that, the lights turn back on and it’s time to leave.

Y/N’s ears are ringing and the loud chatter of the audience comes out muffled to her hearing, and it makes her happy. Concerts have always been the best for her, whether it was the Jonas Brothers back in 2008 or Coldplay back in 2016; they’ve always found a place in her heart. And now she can add this to her list, along with the most memorable ham and cheesy run she’s ever had.

They arrive back home after about an hour of driving, though it only took them half of one earlier that day to get to the venue. But I mean, it’s LA traffic, even if it’s just a 20 mile distance. Besides, it gives their ears time to pop and gives them time to destress and let out all their emotions. And it gives Abby time to look through all the videos she took to post the best ones online.

One of them is the video of Y/N and her ugly crying and although Y/N absolutely cringes and begs her not to post it on Twitter, she does so anyway, with the caption “Why is Y/N the biggest mood of the night @username #HarryStylesForum” and Y/N’s annoyed but she’s just finished washing her face and changing into her PJ’s so she falls asleep before she could protest anymore.

She stays asleep with no disturbances for a good 7 hours. She was even having a lovely dream about Thanksgiving back at her parents’ home in San Diego and the roasted duck she was having was delicious. But she’s cut off from the mash potatoes and gravy when Abby’s phone goes off for the millionth time and continues to go off about 20 times in a row after she wakes up. She lets out a soft groan with her face smushed into her pillow and she swings her arm around to feel for Abby to wake her up so she has to deal with it as well. She stops once she hears her friend groan and shuffle through the bed sheets and Y/N tries to get comfortable again, already drifting back to sleep. And she’s almost there.

But then a very loud gasp is heard and a hand is slapping her shoulder hard and continuously and Y/N is far from going back to sleep.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god. He replied to my tweet. Oh my god, Y/N, he replied to my tweet.” Okay, yeah, she’s fully awake now.

Y/N sits up in her bed with wide eyes as she peers over Abby’s shoulder to then squint at the bright screen of her phone, watching notifications flood in as accounts follow her, DM her, retweet her, and reply to her. Abby has her original tweet with the video of Y/N open for her to see before she slowly scrolls down a few centimeters to see Harry Styles’ reply, “I’m proud of this moustache, thank you very much.” And now Y/N is having flashbacks.

This is the second time around that he’s called her out in the last 24 hours and she’s felt her stomach drop for the second time as well. Except this time he’s plastered it all over Twitter for everyone to see. Oh, she can just imagine how many death threats she’s going to receive from the worst of fans that are going to take this banter seriously.

With the thought of it, she glances over to her phone that’s perched on her makeup vanity, that was switched to silent as soon as she set her phone down on it earlier that night. She could see the notification light flicker with a green tint (she has a Samsung, not an iPhone, which she is not ashamed of, by the way) above the phone screen, which means that she does, in fact, have Twitter notifications.

She drops her head back in exasperation and lets out another small groan as she wordlessly gets up to retrieve it, planning to block every single account that gives just a hint of negative attitude towards her choice of words. And she begins to do so, opening up the app and scrolling through the 14 DMs she’s already received in the last 5 minutes. Half of them were what she expected and she quickly blocked and reported them for wasting her time. But the other half were amused and were congratulating her on provoking him enough to defend himself, so she took her time to reply back with kind words and a thanks.

This takes her a while, so she climbs back in bed (she knows Abby won’t be able to sleep much after this so she might as well join her) and lays back down with her phone held up above her head (she lives life on the edge). She’s having a cute conversation with a nice girl named Lily when her phone buzzes once, announcing that she just received another DM. So she finishes up her reply and hopes that the next DM will be nice as well as she taps the back button and gazes to the top of the DM list.

Harry Styles. @Harry_Styles:

Ham and cheese girl :D

Holy mother fuck.

#harry styles #harry x reader #harry styles x reader #harry styles fic #harry styles imagine #harry styles one shot #harry fanfic #fic rec #idk what else to tag #its so hot in california #im going to die from a heat stroke

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accidentalharrie · 6 years

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hey so i asked the daily styles to post this but i dont think they will, there seems to be this really nice tour review of msg on US weekly but i cant view it in my country :( please could you post it? usmagazine.)com/entertainment/news/harry-styles-lights-up-madison-square-garden-with-joy-review/

Here you go! I am briefly lifting my US Weekly boycott to post just for you. :)

Harry Styles Lights Up Madison Square Garden With Pure Joy: Concert Review

Harry Styles just might be the most joyous person on the planet. For his second sold-out concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Friday, June 22, he effortlessly commanded the stage with more presence and charm than some artists who are double his age and have twice the experience. Clad in a blue suit, Styles rarely stopped smiling during his 90-plus-minute set as he ran through all 10 tracks from his superb self-titled solo debut (which Us Weeklynamed the best album of 2017) in addition to one megahit and two deep cuts by his former boy band, One Direction. The setlist also included a rock version of Ariana Grande’s “Just a Little Bit of Your Heart,” which Styles cowrote, as well as a rousing cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain,” two unreleased numbers and a surprise duet with his opening act, Kacey Musgraves.

Of course, the 23-year-old is no stranger to performing for tens of thousands of fans, many of them screaming teenage girls — and boy, were there plenty in attendance on Friday. During his five years with 1D, Styles’ effervescent spirit was contagious and helped his bandmates Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan come alive on stage. Hell, he even made the self-described introvert Zayn Malik (who abruptly exited the group in 2015) crack a smile here and there. These days, Styles continues to light up the room. The only thing that has changed is that his shows are more stripped back now. On his current tour, which runs until July 14, he has been performing in arenas that house less than 20,000 people, rather than the stadiums that 1D booked for upwards of 80,000 fans. The production this time around is fairly simple, and there are no costume changes, video interludes or intermissions. But the intimacy suits him.

Styles interacted with audience members numerous times during his MSG gig. As he has done at just about every concert this year, he borrowed a rainbow flag from a fan during an updated take on the 1D classic “What Makes You Beautiful” and sashayed across the stage while holding it in the air. (The Big Apple just so happens to be celebrating Pride this weekend.) Later on, he called out one woman who brought along a sign that read, “I’m with child.” It turned out that she wasn’t actually pregnant — at least not yet. “You’re trying? Well, we’re all trying. I don’t know if that permits a sign,” Styles shot back with a laugh. When another concertgoer asked about his favorite Britney Spears song, he hesitated for a second. “I find the Britney Spears back catalog to be much like the city of New York,” he replied. “There’s just too many good things to choose one.” Eventually, he settled on “Toxic.”

A true modern-day rock star, the singer-songwriter exuded confidence from the time he strutted on stage for the opening number, “Only Angel,” until he closed out the show with the rollicking “Kiwi,” which had the floor of the arena shaking as fans belted the lyrics and jumped up and down for three minutes straight. Throughout the evening, he often switched up the melodies of his own songs. And at times, he sounded even better live than on his album, in part due to the raw emotion he exhibited on folky tracks such as “Two Ghosts” and “From the Dining Table.” Two of the crowd’s clear favorites were 1D’s “Stockholm Syndrome” and the unreleased “Medicine.” Thanks to YouTube and social media, fans already knew every word to the latter, which Styles debuted during a European concert in March alongside “Anna,” another upbeat tune that had been cut from his record’s final tracklist.

The most tender moment came at the midpoint when Styles shuffled off the main stage and was escorted through the crowd (with his security team in tow) to a much smaller, blink-and-you-miss-it platform on the opposite end of the venue. He collected at least 10 bouquets of flowers from admirers along the way before tossing them over to members of his team. Once he hit the B-stage, surrounded by fans at every angle, he pulled out an acoustic guitar and serenaded everyone with his beautiful ballad “Sweet Creature” followed by the 1D fan favorite “If I Could Fly.” Another highlight came moments later when he performed his soaring lead solo single, “Sign of the Times,” back on the main stage as the audience lit up the Garden using the flashlights on their smartphones.

“Outside in the world, there is a lot of bad stuff that happens, and I could not be more honored to get to play in front of you wonderful, wonderful people for an hour and a half every single night,” he said. “[There is] just pure joy in this room, and I thank you for that because you absolutely changed my life and I couldn’t do it without you. I do it only for you. I love each and every single one of you.”

The showstopper came just before the encore when Styles welcomed Musgraves, 29, back to the stage for a duet. “We’re gonna sing one of my personal favorites, and if you know the words, please do join us,” he requested before kicking off a stunning acoustic rendition of Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One,” which they had never performed together before. The two artists, both of whom are ardent fans of the country superstar, showcased their vocal prowesses while trading verses before uniting on the dreamy chorus, making it one of the biggest treats of the night.

In the final minutes of the show, Styles made it a point to introduce his bassist Adam Prendergast, keyboardist Clare Uchima, drummer Sarah Jones and guitarist Mitch Rowland before thanking the boisterous crowd for supporting him and his new band. “I will gladly play this room anytime if you’ll have me back,” he declared. Until next time, Mr. Styles.

3.5 stars (out of 4)

#asks #msg 2 #my show #Anonymous

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alwayssummerblog · 6 years

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Kacey Musgraves & Ruston Kelly - Romance Review

Kacey Musgraves has had one hell of a year! Not only has the country sensation toured with Harry Styles, but her fourth studio album Golden Hour has received high praise from both fans and critics alike, along with multiple nominations across several award shows. To top it all off, Musgraves is celebrating her first anniversary being married to fellow artist, Ruston Kelly on October 14!

Having the benefit of getting to watch some of their love story play out in public, it’s safe to say that as Kacey and Ruston were falling for each other, we were falling for them as well. And, even luckier for us, the couple has been generous enough to let us into some of their more personal moments, from the story of how they met to their stunning fall Tennessee woodland wedding. With their one-year wedding anniversary right on the horizon, we’re celebrating a year of Kacey & Ruston Kelly with a brief timeline of their romance. Here’s to the everlasting union of two of music’s brightest songbirds!

A Chance Meeting

As it seems to always go, the country starlet wasn’t “looking to date” when she met her future husband. “I decided to go to the Bluebird one night for a writers’ round, which I never do because it’s so touristy,” she recounts in a July 2018 interview with Hits Daily Double. Note for the non-Nashvillians, the Bluebird Café is a legendary club famous for its’ remarkable writers rounds. “I didn’t go with anyone, and I was sitting by myself at a table. Ruston played his first song, and I was just stunned by everything in it—the words, the melody, what he was saying. I was just sitting at this table, crying.”

In another uncharacteristic move for her, Musgraves was compelled to introduce herself to him, “Hey, I don’t really ever do this, but here’s my number; I really wanna write with you.” Flash forward from their March 2016 meeting to the date they had finally nailed down for a write, May 11. A fateful day indeed, the songwriter explains their first “date” with only the beauty and imagery she could. “The second Ruston walked into my house, I felt like Dorothy when the colorized part happens in The Wizard of Oz. We didn’t even write a song. We just talked, and talked, and talked. He didn’t leave until like 3am. It was the easiest, most natural thing in the world—and I didn’t want it to stop.”

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I NEVER KNEW LOVE COULD BE THIS FUN (Photos by @kellychristinesutton, of course!)

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on Dec 25, 2016 at 7:19am PST

“I NEVER KNEW LOVE COULD BE THIS FUN”

Once the two found each other, they never looked back. Only months after meeting, they knew they had found a home in one another, illustrated by the caption on a photo Kacey posted of the two in July, relatively early in their relationship, “with all the craziness that is plaguing the world it feels nice to have a little bit of quiet land to come home to and rest my heart.”

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with all the craziness that is plaguing the world it feels nice to have a little bit of quiet land to come home to and rest my heart.

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on Jul 7, 2016 at 9:34pm PDT

The newfound stability fostered incredible works of art. Known for writing stories from others perspectives, Kacey was asked if her husband had any impact on the deviation from her typical style on latest album Golden Hour. She responded, “I'm living in a much more positive light now. It’s maybe opened my heart a little. And I realized maybe I’ve been a little over-[self] protected. Maybe I can let loose a little more, trust more in the songs, what I have at home and out here.” Needless to say, it wasn’t long before Kelly popped the big question, in an incredibly thoughtful and sweet display in her childhood bedroom, surrounded by loved ones, during Christmas break. The caption of an Instagram photo Musgraves posted of her brand new engagement ring says it all, “I didn't say yes...I said HELL YESSSS!! Last night, the best man I've ever met got down on one knee in my little pink childhood home, in the same room I played with my ponies and barbies and asked me the easiest question I've ever been asked. ❤I finally know what everyone means when they say "you just know”.

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I didn't say yes...I said HELL YESSSS!! Last night, the best man I've ever met got down on one knee in my little pink childhood home..in the same room I played with my ponies and barbies and asked me the easiest question I've ever been asked. ❤ I finally know what everyone means when they say "you just know".

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on Dec 25, 2016 at 7:16am PST

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We had just been at my parent's house randomly having a night of watching bittersweet old home tapes of all these beautiful family memories that were made in this little, old country house I grew up in that I now have. We came back to that house afterwards and he had somehow pulled off having my sister + brother in-law sneak off and completely decorate my childhood bedroom in the most nostalgic and perfect Christmas decorations. I was bewildered and confused when I saw it all and turned around and the song "Two For The Road" by Henry Mancini started playing (this song is so emotional and sweet..it's one of my favorites..you have to go listen) and he was on his knee with a baby pink velvet ring box and the sparkliest thing I've ever seen! 💖Then my sister busted in and captured it all with her camera. It was so beyond special. Of all the places in the world I've gotten to see, nowhere could mean more than this happening in tiny Golden, Texas in the house that completely made me who I am.

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on Dec 25, 2016 at 7:38am PST

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Perfection 💍😭💕 Thank you, my love.

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on Dec 25, 2016 at 12:26pm PST

Woodland Wedding

Their wedding was reflective of the couple itself, intimate, family-oriented, and anchored by nature. In her own words, the bride recalled, “Saturday, in a sacred place where two rivers meet and join together, I married my best friend, barefoot and surrounded by the deepest kind of magic and love that exists. I've never felt so tranquil and happy. We made our promises to each other under the trees and then drank and danced into the night. We couldn't have done any of it without the help of our wonderful families and amazing friends.” The groom added that it embodied, “The best kind of magic. Best day of my life.”

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Saturday, in a sacred place where two rivers meet and join together, I married my best friend..barefoot and surrounded by the deepest kind of magic and love that exists. I've never felt so tranquil and happy. We made our promises to each other under the trees and then drank and danced into the night. We couldn't have done any of it without the help of our wonderful families and amazing friends. PHOTO BY @nbarrettphoto ............................. [extra massive thanks to Melissa and @evan_tate of @photowagontx + @bowsandarrowsflowers and crew for coordinating/planning/florals/styling and making everything a reality + @jbamn for the funny, personal and beautiful officiating, @peytonfrank, @allikdesign @unclecarl13 @leeuwnashville @thekindcake @indahevents @silveroakcellars Hair/Makeup by @carlenekmakeup + Ali at @thedryhousenashville We love y'all!] ❤️More to come.

A post shared by K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@spaceykacey) on Oct 17, 2017 at 7:30am PDT

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The best kind of magic. Best day of my life. 📷: @nbarrettphoto

A post shared by RUSTON KELLY (@rustonkelly) on Oct 17, 2017 at 7:30am PDT

The photographs show the whimsical wedding we dreamed that Kacey Musgraves would have. Complete with bio-degradable confetti, a photo trailer, and a grassy aisle, the small gathering had less than 100 guests and only one bridesmaid and groomsman, their sister and brother respectively. Our favorite feature? The photos of family members that adorned the wall above the guest book table. See some of the beauty for yourself in these photos posted on Marth Stuart Weddings HERE.

The Release of Golden Hour

In the same thought from the Hits Daily Double interview quoted earlier, the artist elaborates on how meeting the love of her life changed her entirely, and therefore her music. “I’ve never had love songs or relationship songs. I write about other things, other people’s stories or perspectives. When you’re with someone you truly love to the core and they feel that way about you, there’s no sense of panic—or that it’s going to come apart.” All one would have to do is listen to the album in its entity to hear all the impact Ruston has had on its’ creator. Later, she reiterates, “I love love. So much I’ve never expressed it inwardly in the songs. Now that I’m with someone who loves me no matter what my flaws are, it’s a whole other thing. And you see it even more clearly.”

That support from Ruston radiates, ahead of Golden Hour’s release he told his Instagram followers, “There is nothing more attractive than someone continually striving to master their craft. Allowing your creative output to evolve synonymously with who and where you are in your life is essential to the artist who gives a shit about the quality of their platform. But when surrounded by a popular musical climate that encourages complacency and awards the mediocre, it is truly a brave feat. Ever the does-what-she-fucking-wants creative woman, she knows what’s up. As a comrade, I strongly champion this new wonderful work.” Talk about a supportive spouse!

Collaborating on “To June, This Morning”

The newlyweds had the opportunity to participate in an homage to icon Johnny Cash through a project titled, Forever Words. Kelly once posted on his Instagram sharing with his followers, “Last night [Kacey] and I sang "To June, This Morning," a poem written by Johnny Cash in 1970. I had started to put music to this 12 years ago and forgot about it. Kacey and I revisited it recently and finished it in like 6 seconds. Finding the love of your life can make words like that come alive. It will be released on the upcoming "Forever Words" project featuring several artists singing Johnny Cash poems. We feel um VERY LUCKY.”

In an incredible interview with Rolling Stone Country, the only son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash expressed his appreciation that Kelly brought the song to his attention, according to the interview “having seen it himself in a memorabilia book while he was a teenager.” He goes further to comment, “Here’s a young couple running parallel lives with where my mother and father were. In that vibrant, excited point where there is all that hope.” And that there is plenty of, just watch the video they released to accompany the music, the two are full of love for each other.

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The Release of Dying Star

6 months following his new wife’s fourth studio album release, Ruston Kelly celebrated the September 7 release of his debut album, Dying Star. And like his wife, finding the love of his life had a monumental impact on him as an artist and his craft, and discussed this earlier this year in an interview with Sounds Like Nashville, “She really helped me pick up some of those pieces and remind me that what I’m doing is important and to understand what I need to do to pick myself back up.” He calls her “that classic receptive feminine force in a man’s life.” Adding that they bonded over “talking about art and music and also doing things the way you were meant to do them and not being apologetic whatsoever about it.”

Now that doesn’t surprise us.

While we’re only able to highlight a few of the major public moments from this power couple, we know there are countless we’ve missed and even more to come. We patiently await the numerous artistic benefits the union of two super-songwriters brings. With both artists busy promoting their latest releases, they are forced to spend most of that time apart, something they understood from the start. Kacey is currently out on her Oh What a World Tour, spanning Norway to the UK before traversing the US.

As for Kelly? He’s playing a number of fun festivals and shows over the coming months, some tickets to which are available HERE.

We’d like to congratulate one of our favorite country music couples one last time on a blissful first year of marriage, and toast many more to come. Please, do continue keep us in the loop!

#country #MegaCountry #kacey musgraves #ruston kelly

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sinceileftyoublog · 7 years

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Live Picks: 2/16-2/22

Brockhampton

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Here are our live picks for the week ahead, starting with the weekend and ending just before the next one!

2/16: Little Big Town & Kacey Musgraves, Allstate Arena

It’s hard for non- or casual country fans to remember that Alabama’s Little Big Town were around before they were singing about girl crushes on the Grammy Awards. Sure, their breakout and by my ears best album Pain Killer skyrocketed them into the mainstream, but they released five albums before then and have been around since the late 90′s. Though live they certainly play hits from Pain Killer and last year’s even more popular The Breakers, they often throw bones to fans that have been with them since even before 2012′s Tornado, especially when playing songs like Southern anthem “Boondocks”.

A woman deserving of a headlining slot, Texas country star Kacey Musgraves is the second of three acts on this tour (she’ll be opening for Harry Styles in June). She’s released two really good studio albums (2015′s Pageant Material landed in our top 40 albums of that year) and one surprisingly good Christmas album, and she’s planning to release a new record, Golden Hour, early this year. Expect to hear plenty of new songs during her set.

Breakout Texas country band Midland opens.

2/17 & 2/18: Oh Sees, Empty Bottle

Music Frozen Dancing, the Empty Bottle’s annual free winter outdoor concert, always seems to nab a great lineup, and this year’s no different, mostly due to the headliners: Oh Sees/OCS (formerly known as Thee Oh Sees and about a million different other names), whose devoted fan base makes sure they sell out every Chicago show. Memory of a Cut Off Head, their latest album as OCS, is a little different from their raucous punk and sounds like the band’s early stages. It’s a 60′s-indebted, mostly acoustic psychedelic collection of songs from founding member John Dwyer and former member Brigid Dawson. (It notably features horn arrangements and saxophone from Mikal Cronin.) Just before Memory but also released in 2017 came their first album as Oh Sees, their supposed new moniker for the near future, Orc, which is more consistent with the pummeling sound they’ve been known for over the past 10 or so years. (It notably features co-production from Cronin buddy Ty Segall). Live, though, they could play literally anything from their 20+ album discography, even new songs, considering the rate at which they put out music. Of their recent records, I’m a fan of 2016′s A Weird Exits as well as 2009′s Help, 2011′s Carrion Crawler/The Dream, 2013′s Floating Coffin, and 2015′s Mutilator Defeated At Last. And for a nice document of what they sound like live, check out their stellar Live in San Francisco album from a couple years back. Like King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, they’re simply nonstop in their distorted riffing, chaotic drumming, and yelping.

Co-headlining Music Frozen Dancing are Detroit electropunks ADULT. Rounding out the lineup are Brooklyn rockers B Boys, DJ Taye of local footwork behemoth Teklife, and local hardcore band C.H.E.W.

The band is also playing a Music Frozen Dancing after party, a ticketed (and already sold out, of course) club show at the Bottle itself. Opening the show are local noise rockers Rash and garage punks Skip Church.

2/18 & 2/19: BROCKHAMPTON, House of Blues

They call themselves the world’s first Internet boy band, but that’s misleading in more ways than one. BROCKHAMPTON aren’t the first boy band to benefit from the viral tendencies of the web, for one. More importantly, they’re not what you think of when you think boy band. A giant hip-hop, pop, and R & B collective, the band is more freewheeling and prolific than heavily and carefully curated, releasing three albums in 2017, culminating in SATURATION III, the most realized of the three that found a way to be experimental, catchy, and cohesive. Their fourth studio album, Team Effort, is set to be released this year, but you can expect them to perform SATURATION songs almost entirely.

2/20: Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, Riviera

At this point, pretty much anybody who vaguely pays attention to guitar music knows about Robert Plant’s full-fledged transition from classic rocker to old folk fogey--Raising Sand, his collaboration with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss, won them Album of the Year at the 2009 Grammy Awards. But lesser known and just as solid are Plant’s two albums with his new-ish band The Sensational Space Shifters, 2014′s Lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar and last year’s Carry Fire, which allowed Plant to bend beyond the traditions of rock, bluegrass, or folk, incorporating elements of Arabic and North African influence into his arsenal. Luckily, however, for Zeppelin fans, Plant tends to mix beloved rock radio classics in with his newer material, overall making for a set that exudes old school songwriting, familiarity, and warmth whether you’ve heard the new songs or not.

Sensational Space Shifters band member and English folk singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seth Lakeman opens with a solo set.

2/21: Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, SPACE

Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn are both prominent musicians in their own name, two of the most proficient banjo players ever, Washburn’s clawhammer composition skills unrivaled, just like Fleck’s technical prowess. Together, the two are more than just husband and wife--they’re natural musical collaborators, having released two albums and an EP of both traditional and original material. They’ll be playing two shows Wednesday at SPACE, but if you miss that, you can catch them at two more shows next Saturday at Old Town School of Folk Music.

2/21: Adam Torres, Empty Bottle

Singer-songwriter and former Southeast Engine member Adam Torres finally released Pearls To Swine two years ago, 10 years after self-releasing cult classic Nostra Nova. He’s a folk singer with an otherworldly voice, his ability to reach high notes and wail with yearning rivaling Jeff Buckley, and his band--consisting of violinist Aisha Burns, bassist/pianist/Molly Burch collaborator Dailey Tolliver, and Swans percussionist Thor Harris. Thankfully, it didn’t take Torres long to reach the follow-up to Pearls; granted, it was a 4-song EP recorded at the same time, entitled I Came To Sing The Song. But it felt different, its songs notably more insular than the expansive, epic Pearls. I can only imagine a Torres live set achieves both ends admirably.

Indie pop band Wild Pink co-headline. Rock band Minor Characters opens.

2/22: Architects, House of Blues

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a tour named after a non-album single, but Brighton metalcore band Architects are doing it anyway. Their “Doomsday” tour, named after, yes, a non-album single that followed their 2016 album All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us, the heaviest, darkest, and perhaps best album the band has ever released. They know it, too; in recent live sets, the band has heavily favored that record, even in favor of recent beloved releases like Lost Forever // Lost Together and Daybreaker.

Hardcore punks Stick To Your Guns and Counterparts open.

2/22: Shame, Schubas

Songs of Praise is the debut album from London post-punks Shame that came out just a month ago and is already seeming like it’s going to be one of the best debuts of the year. The band tackles serious subjects with dark humor over pummeling guitars and drums and, when they feel like it, melodies that could rival peak Britpop.

Pittsburgh post-punk revivalists The Gotobeds open.

2/22: Four Year Strong, Concord Music Hall

Worcester pop punk band Four Year Strong just released Some of You Will Like This, Some of You Won't, a collection of unplugged rarities. For hardcore fans, it was perhaps welcome. But for casual fans and in comparison to their Go Down in History EP and especially raw 2015 self-titled record, the latter of which was produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, it came across as too soft and tender for a band who proved to be so good at eliciting sore neck headbanging. Lucky for us, live, the band who has been playing 2007 album Rise or Die Trying in full every night should bring the same level of energy they had 10 years younger to a co-headlining set at Concord Music Hall.

Gainesville ska punks Less Than Jake co-headline. Pop punk bands Direct Hit! and Bearings open.

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hlupdate · 5 years

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Boy band heartthrob-turned-rocker Harry Styles hasn't released new music or toured in more than a year now -- but that doesn't mean he hasn't been busy.

In fact, the "Sign of the Times" crooner has stayed plenty active. Since releasing his self-titled debut in May 2017, Styles starred in his first feature film with Dunkirk, embarked on a world tour, co-chaired the Met Gala and even modeled for Gucci.

And with the news that he will grace the cover of Rolling Stone next month, it can only be expected that new music is on the way from the One Direction singer. So before the world is swept up in a new era of Styles, catch yourself up on what he's been up to below.

Since going solo, Styles has...

Released a documentary

Just a week after his debut album Harry Styles dropped, Harry Styles: Behind the Album was released via Apple Music. The documentary-style film chronicles the making of the record with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews.

Guest-starred on The Late Late Show With James Corden three times

Styles' first Late Late Show appearance after his album release was in May 2017, accompanied by a charming episode of Carpool Karaoke.

Styles returned on Dec. 13 of that year to guest-host the show while Corden's wife gave birth, manning the stage like a pro with a witty monologue.

Most recently, Styles joined Corden for a dodgeball game in London this June, teaming up with Corden, John Bradley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Reggie Watts for a must-see competition (and plenty of cute moments from Styles).

Appeared in Dunkirk

In what was an unexpected career move, Styles appeared as a soldier in Christopher Nolan's war epic Dunkirk in July 2017. Though his role was minor, Styles' performance packed enough of a punch to impress.

Performed on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge

In September 2017, Styles stopped by BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge to perform two covers: "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac and DJ Khaled's "Wild Thoughts." Putting his own spin on each, Styles once again proved his raw talent.

Embarked on a world tour

Beginning in San Francisco on Sept. 19, 2017, and ending in Los Angeles on July 14, 2018, Harry Styles: Live On Tour took the star throughout North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America for 89 total shows. The tour was sold-out and had Kacey Musgraves, Warpaint and Leon Bridges as opening acts.

Proved himself a true philanthropist

Though Styles has always been vocal about his beliefs, he's really stepped it up as a solo act. In October 2017, he performed at CBS Radio's We Can Survive concert for breast cancer awareness at the Hollywood Bowl and sold tees and hoodies throughout his tour sporting the phrase "Treat People With Kindness" in order to advocate for LGBTQ rights. In total, Styles' tour raised more than $1.2 million for various charities, helped attendees register to vote and engaged in a water conservation effort. In addition, Harry Styles: Live On Tour was named on sexual harassment prevention charity Time's Up's 2018 donor list.

Had his own special on the BBC

The hour-long special Harry Styles at the BBC aired on Nov. 2, 2017, including a live performance from Styles and interview with BBC Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw.

Won two iHeartRadio Music Awards

On March 3, 2018, Styles won two iHeartRadio Music Awards: best music video for "Sign of the Times" and best cover song for his performance of "Still the One" by Shania Twain with Kacey Musgraves.

Co-wrote a song

Styles has a writing credit on Bleachers' "Alfie's Song (Not So Typical Love Song)," which appeared on the soundtrack for the 2018 film Love, Simon. However, this was not Styles' first time writing a song for someone else: He has also co-written songs for Ariana Grande and Michael Bublé.

Modeled for Gucci

The singer has become a mainstay for Gucci, appearing in three of their campaigns thus far -- two for Gucci Tailoring and most recently for Gucci's newest perfume, Mémoire d'une Odeur. The promotional videos for each are almost too much to handle.

Executive-produced a TV show

One of the least-known facts about Styles: He was actually an executive producer on the CBS sitcom Happy Together, which was loosely based on his own life. Sadly, the show was canceled in May after just one season.

Interviewed Timothée Chalamet

Ah, the interview that almost broke the internet. On Nov. 1, 2018, a match made in heaven became a reality when Harry Styles chatted with fellow dreamboat Timothée Chalamet for i-D. Touching on everything from masculinity to that peach scene in Call Me by Your Name, it's a thrilling read to say the least.

Won Gay Times' Honour for LGBTQ Advocate

As a result of his "Treat People With Kindness" campaign and The Rainbow Project that his fans carried out at his MSG show, Gay Times gave Styles their Honour for LGBTQ Advocate Award on Nov. 8, 2018. "Styles uses his platform to make sure his LGBTQ fans feel accepted and noticed, which was most superbly displayed earlier this year with The Rainbow Project," Gay Times' announcement article said.

Gone to a lot of concerts

Seriously, it's almost too many. On Nov. 30, 2018, Styles made an appearance at Bring Me the Horizon's London show, even posing for this cute selfie with lead singer Oli Sykes.

On Dec. 13, 2018, Styles was spotted supporting friend Stevie Nicks at Fleetwood Mac's concert in Los Angeles. Enjoy this blurry video of him singing along to "Go Your Own Way."

Only three days later, Styles went to Paul McCartney's show in London, even pausing to take a few pics with fans.

The next time Styles was seen out at a concert was to catch Van Morrison at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Feb. 5. The two hung out backstage and snapped this adorable pic, which also sparks the realization that Styles has worn that gray cap to every concert thus far...

Next up on Styles' concert schedule was an LA show from King Princess, whom Styles reportedly asked to open for him at Madison Square Garden. Though she declined, it's great to see that Styles is still supportive.

Styles also saw K-pop group BlackPink on April 17 in Los Angeles, adding fuel to the fire that he was dating BlackPink member Jennie.

Styles caught a Fleetwood Mac show on June 18, but this time in London, where Nicks actually dedicated her performance of "Landslide" to him.

One Direction stans everywhere freaked out when both Styles and Niall Horan went to the Eagles concert in London on June 23. Though the photos are almost too blurry to tell, just the thought of the two enjoying a night out together had Directioners speculating at a 1D reunion.

The most recent Styles concert outing was Ariana Grande's London show on Aug. 17, where he hung out with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, getting the Internet very excited.

Partied it up in Japan

Styles has spent a good amount of time in Tokyo this year, even meeting up with some of the Queer Eye guys for karaoke. Here's him and Bobby Berk singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" for your viewing pleasure.

Become besties with Stevie Nicks and inducted her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Styles and Nicks have sparked up quite a friendship since his album dropped, performing several times together including at the 2019 Gucci Cruise. The two are so close that Styles inducted Nicks into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this March, making a sweet speech and joining her to sing "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

Co-chaired the Met Gala

In a look that truly broke the Internet, Styles stunned at the 2019 Met Gala on May 6 as a co-chair. Dressed in a gender-blurring Gucci getup, Styles proved himself a fashion icon.

In an interview at the event with Liza Koshy, Styles said that the theme of camp is about "enjoyment, non-judgment and having fun with clothes."

Almost had two huge movie roles

This summer, Styles was in the running to play Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming biopic and even "in talks" with Disney to be Prince Eric in the upcoming Little Mermaid live-action remake. Despite initial conflicting reports about Prince Eric, Styles will not be playing either role.

Worked on new music (and music videos)

Styles has been spotted on set for a music video (or maybe two?) in both Scotland and Mexico this August -- which can only mean that new music must be coming soon. Check out these behind-the-scenes snaps.

Graces the cover of Rolling Stone's next issue

And finally, in another telltale hint that new music is to come, Styles was revealed as the cover star for Rolling Stone's September issue on Aug. 19. The sizzling-hot shirtless cover came with reports from Us Weekly that his next album would be coming late this summer or early fall. One can only hope!

#bunch of video links at the source!#harry styles #articles #220819

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