There were many cultural casualties of the coronavirus that were super hard to swallow, but perhaps the saddest, for us, was the cancellation of Harry Styles return to the stage. The “Love On Tour” show, in support of his knockout second album Fine Line was slated to kick off in Birmingham last month, travelling throughout Europe and the Americas during the summer before culminating in a one-off “Harryween” show in New York in October. Alas, all of those dates are now pushed back. The tour will tentatively kick off in the States at the end of June, depending on how quickly coronavirus passes.
But just when we were starting to mope about the idea of a Harry-less few months, he’s popped back out of hiding for a hot second to give us a video for his new single. Yep, the international man of good taste is bringing “Watermelon Sugar” to the airwaves next, and the visuals to go alongside it are making us yearn for a proper summer again.
Set on the beach and shot by legendary music video directors Bradley and Pablo (they were responsible for Charli XCX’s “Vroom Vroom” visuals, and the video for Dua Lipa’s “Electricity”), the video sees Harry transform the coded message at the heart of the song (it’s about cunnilingus, btw) into something sweeter and more family friendly. He frolics on a beach with boys and girls while they all eat watermelon slices. It’s a bit touchy feely, which is quite hard to watch considering we now get yelled at for being within six feet of anybody at the supermarket, but consider it a beautiful relic from the past you can enjoy from a distance.
Enjoy the whole thing, in all of its glory, below, and then go and stream Fine Line if you know what’s good for you.