1 hour ago
1
God save Harry Styles! Thus far in his career, the former One Direction frontman and unproblematic fave has been the golden boy of British music, one of our few stars to successfully crack America and not embarrass us in the attempt. Amid ever-dwindling sources of national pride, Styles has been a constant, the UK’s preferred Prince Harry and even less controversial than Paddington. But is his charmed run about to come to an end?
As Styles gears up for his big comeback, after a three-year hiatus from music and in large part public life, there are signs he may have set his sights too close to the sun, with controversy over ticket prices and a backlash brewing. Can Harry style it out?
He is once again asking for your credit card number
Styles announced his plans for a “seven-city global residency” last month along with his new album, the irritatingly titled: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. But fans’ enthusiasm for his return was quickly tempered when they saw the ticket prices, with standing tickets at Wembley starting at £144.65 (the 65p is important) and VIP packages stretching to £725.45. Even nosebleed seats cost £92. Meanwhile the most expensive package available, for Styles’ month-long stint at Madison Square Garden in New York, is quoted at $1,667 (£1,208). Fans’ outrage caused the presale to be a trending topic on X this week, with many pointing out the irony of the tour’s title – Together, Together – given the prices and limited stops. “Nobody can afford to go,” said one user. Someone else challenged Styles to front up and collect the cash himself: “I want you to stand in the pit … look every fan in the eye and ask them for $1,200.” Of course, many fans would pay double for that.
… but fans seem willing to pay
“HOW MUCH,” tweeted Liam Gallagher when Styles’ presale went live. When someone said Oasis’s reunion tour tickets were hardly cheap, Gallagher replied: “They were reasonable looking back at it now.” In fact, Styles’ ticket prices are in line with other recent stadium pop shows by Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo – reflecting rising costs across the board. Fans have certainly been willing to pay. A massive 11.5 million people, equivalent to the population of Belgium, registered for the Madison Square Garden presale, making it Ticketmaster’s “highest volume ever recorded for an artist presale” in New York and “the largest artist presale registration ever seen for a single market or residency-style run”. The Hollywood Reporter crunched the numbers and found that even with Styles performing a whopping 30 shows at the venue, totalling about 585,000 tickets, 95% of those who signed up to the presale will miss out. Not every registration will have been legitimate, of course, or an earnest attempt to buy – but it’s still indicative of demand. “Sorry, kids, you’re not going to college because mommy had to see Harry Styles 30 times at Madison Square Garden,” joked one X user.
He’s being set up for a hero’s welcome
Though Styles’ ticket prices are hardly exceptional, there’s a sense that his comeback is being pitched as a cut above the average pop tour, with not just shows but “global residencies”. On Wednesday, Styles announced two more dates at Wembley, setting him up to break the records set by Coldplay and Taylor Swift at the venue. Next month, he’ll perform at the Brit Awards. The album’s first single Aperture, meanwhile, just became his third UK No 1. It all points to a triumphant return to the spotlight for Britain’s favourite son – and perhaps a boost in GDP. In 2023, following his third album, Harry’s House, Styles was named UK music’s most successful export. Last year, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated his worth at £225m. (He reportedly owns four properties on the same London street, and plans to combine them.)
Even through his three-year absence, Styles has been a presence in Britain. In August 2024, Network Rail unveiled “Harry’s Wall” specifically for fans to deface in place of the nearby, Grade II-listed Twemlow viaduct, where Styles reportedly spent time in childhood. A lookalike competition later that year reportedly lifted “London gloom”, even without an appearance from the man himself.
… but he has a long way to fall
For all the goodwill behind Styles, there are signs of a brewing backlash. Many fans have taken his ticket prices as a sign of Styles forgetting his roots in bubblegum, of-the-people pop. (Don’t forget, he was discovered on The X Factor.) One longtime fan accused him on X as having “lost touch with reality”: “I’m at a loss for words … Music should be accessible. Remember how you started.” By claiming A-list prices, Styles has raised the question of whether even fans will feel like they’ve got their money’s worth. Whatever your feelings about Coldplay and Taylor Swift, they have proven track records of putting on a spectacle, and the back catalogues to support a show of several hours; Styles’ new album will be his fourth, while his easy, relaxed stage presence – always part of his charm – may not translate to a stadium. He’s also somewhat out on a limb as one of the few male solo artists jostling for a place among pop’s big names. Culture writer Emily Bootle argued this week that Styles’ “songs do not stand up to the heft of his public image”, and he’s built a career on good looks and charm while female pop stars are held to far higher standards. The Daily Mail has already begun fomenting backlash, claiming this week that the ticket-price controversy was just the beginning of “good boy” Styles revealing his “true colours” – though it failed to drum up any actual dirt.
Will he impress Shania much?
The best the tabloids may be able to hope for is some disgruntled gym-goers prepared to go on the record that Styles doesn’t put his weights away. (Regularly sighted at Barry’s Bootcamp, he’s in fact known for holding the studio door open for others.) Historic charges of him “queerbaiting” with gender-fluid fashion and sporadic forays into acting (with 2017’s Dunkirk, and 2022’s My Policeman and Don’t Worry Darling) have failed to make a lasting dent in Styles’ “Mr Perfect” image. He’s also broadly escaped badmouthing from the other members of One Direction – a rarity among broken boybands. It could be that Styles is just a generally good egg. Jenny Lewis, frontwoman of Rilo Kiley, supported Styles on his 2021 arena tour and had nothing but good things to say, telling the How Long Gone podcast that Styles loaned her his AV equipment to beef up her “DIY” show and seemed a genuine fan of her music. Photographer Myriam Boulos, whose images are being used for the Together, Together tour, has also praised his support and collaboration. For the UK leg, Styles is donating £1 from every ticket sold to the LIVE Trust, raising about £780,000 for small music venues. Shania Twain is supporting; we’ll see what she has to say.
Harry may have a different finish line in mind
It might seem a bumpy start to Styles’ comeback, but perhaps, on the verge of his 32nd birthday, his measures of success have changed. For someone so famous he’s kept an impressively low profile during his three-year hiatus, even while starting up a relationship with actor Zoë Kravitz. The pair have been frequently photographed together since last summer, but in a low-key, natural way suggestive of an actual relationship; Page Six reported this week that Kravitz has been calling Styles her “soulmate”. For his part, Styles recently alluded to “some more positive things” in his life, though he might have been referring to the other passion he’s picked up during his time out: marathon running. Styles ran the Berlin event last year under the pseudonym “Sted Sarandos” (an apparent play on Netflix’s CEO Ted Sarandos – please let this not foreshadow a docuseries) and logged an impressive 2:59:13 time. There’s now speculation Styles might have another goal in mind for his “global residencies”. Runners have noticed that the dates seem to line up with marathons in each city and allow time for training – though the New York City race, the day after the last of Styles’ gruelling 30-show run at Madison Square Garden, might be a stretch, even for Mr Perfect.
