Will Harry Styles’ “Sign Of The Times” Be A Super Hit? Break Zayn’s Feat?
Harry Styles' time to prove himself is approaching. In just a handful of days the former One Direction star will release his long awaited debut solo single. Just a few days ago he revealed the release date of it, April 7th, with an ad that exclusively aired on UK TV, and earlier this week, unveiled the single's title ("Sign of the Times") and official artwork (see above). The pic shows Harry, with longer hair again, sitting down on a water-filled floor appreciating a fake sunset. All very intense and intriguing. What could the song be about? Love? Or an autobiographical?
However, beyond it based on this or that, what will be truly in interesting and fun to watch is how well the single performs on the charts. The pressure will be on. Harry will have to prove what everybody expected from him: to be biggest solo act from One Direction - even bigger than Zayn that means. And what numbers does he have to beat? Niall's "This Town" peaked at #9 in the UK (this will be easy to beat). Louis's "Just Hold On" peaked at #2 (if the song is at least ok, this will be doable to beat). But here comes the challenge. Zayn's "Pillow Talk" peaked at #1 in both the UK and the US. And that will be a challenge. Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" could be an issue, and if a rival label decides to drop a last minute major counter-attack single (from a big artist) on April 7th too, that could also be a, rather possible, threat. So, Harry's "Sign of the Times" better be a GREAT debut solo single. Niall's was cute, Louis's was meh, but Zayn's was fantastic. Rumor has "Sign of the Times", produced by Jeff Bhasker, is a 5 minutes song, it's got a little bit of Queen and other 70s British rock bands, but that it's also radio-ready. Fingers crossed!!! We personally liked more Harry than Zayn in 1D but with "Mind of Mine" we kind of switched preferences. Will "Sign of the Times" make us switch again? We're rooting for you Harry. Do not disappoint. We have faith you are not going to put out a song that won't be of the liking of the masses as your first solo single. We just know it.