Harry Styles sets new Spotify record with “Watermelon Sugar”
For many people, the first two weeks of the new year have been fluttering between acceptable & a bit much as they brim with anticipation for what 2021 has in store. For Harry Styles, the beginning of 2021 turned fruitful already as he set a new Spotify record with “Watermelon Sugar”.
Nowadays, the success of music is measured through the criteria of popular streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, etc. and Harry Styles managed some impossible numbers with “Watermelon Sugar” on Spotify.
#1BWatermelonSugar
Last week, Harry Styles joined a club of performers who pulled off the impossible – reaching 1 billion streams on Spotify. Styles achieved that with “Watermelon Sugar”, the song that became the singer’s first-ever single to surpass 1 billion plays on a streaming platform.
Fans of Harry Styles celebrated the milestone on Twitter, trending “PROUD OF YOU HARRY” & “#1BWatermelonSugar”.
“Watermelon Sugar” also garnered the British singer’s first No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart late last year. Harry Styles becomes the second former One Direction member to achieve this – former bandmate Zayn Malik topped the chart with his hit song “Pillow Talk” in 2016.
Fine Line
Harry Styles released Fine Line in late December in 2019, featuring hot hits like “Adore You”, “Watermelon Sugar”, and more. Fine Line peaked at No.1 on the Billboard 200 chart and “Adore You” reigned as a top ten Billboard Hot 100 track for weeks, both aiding the success of “Watermelon Sugar”.
Fine Line is Harry Styles’ second solo album after his self-titled in 2017. When asked what the album means to him, Styles described the album as “the sound of an artist plumbing the abyss,” in Pitchfork.
Combining his inspiration from legendary musician David Bowie, his musical aspirations completely outside of One Direction, and his love for pop; Harry Styles created this masterpiece of an album with ‘70s pop & folk-rock influences. Fine Line indulges in every musical & psychedelic whim the singer’s had, according to Pitchfork.
Inspiration behind “Watermelon Sugar”
Harry Styles took on NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert stage in March last year and sang some of his best hits to a virtual crowd. Armed with an acoustic guitar and a backing band, the British singer crooned renditions of his songs “Cherry”, “Watermelon Sugar”, “To Be So Lonely”, and “Adore You.”
Before playing “Watermelon Sugar” in the virtual concert series, Harry Styles shared the story behind the song, saying: “[I wrote “Watermelon Sugar”] in 2017, while I was on tour for the first album. I was in Nashville on my day off, and we went into the studio just to kind of play around a little bit.”
“We started some ideas and then I was with the guys that I made the first album with and we had this idea, this chorus melody, it was pretty repetitive. . . The Richard Brautigan book, In Watermelon Sugar, was on the table. And I was like, ‘that would sound cool.’ So, this song became “Watermelon Sugar”. It’s probably the longest it [has] ever taken me to finish a song.”
Styles also added: “It’s kind of about that initial euphoria of when you start seeing someone, you start sleeping with someone, or being around someone and you have that excitement about them.”
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Harry Styles has charmed our pants off for the last few years with his sensational music & dimpled smile. As he reaches new milestones as a musician & artist, fans of Harry Styles and we at Film Daily are thrilled to see him grow. The new Spotify record is a testament to Styles and his rocking tunes.
Is “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles a part of your favorite Spotify playlist? Let us know below!
