Harry Styles

It might not be perfect and it might be reductive in parts, but it’s not contrived or calculated.

As eager as he seems to establish a new context--to lift himself out of the realm of branded lunchboxes and touch down among the real rock artistes--Styles never overplays his hand on this winningly relaxed collection.

Through it all, he manages to steer clear of all the traps that ordinarily sabotage a boy-band star's solo move. But as the whole album proves, there's not a thing ordinary about this guy.

Harry Styles is fun listening and will rightly soundtrack many a summer. But after demanding to be treated as a capital-A Artist, Harry Styles finds himself atop a pedestal without anything to say.

The sheer confidence on display here suggests he’s more than up to the challenge; hopefully the songs will someday catch up to his ambition.

Reconciling the folkie and the rogue hardly seems like Harry’s priority; instead, the 23-year-old basks in the privilege of paying tribute to his many musical heroes, and trying on all the styles that fit.

Sometimes great, sometimes foggy album, which is almost bold in its resistance to contemporary pop music aesthetics.

Occasionally, as on Carolina or Only Angel, it dips into bland pastiche, but generally this is a fine solo effort from, lest we forget, one of the most famous twentysomethings on the planet.

With his debut, Styles manages to escape the notorious curse of former boy banders, turned leading men, creating an immersive, reference-fuelled tribute to classic rock for the millennial generation.

Harry Styles works exceedingly well as a modern pop album and an extension of the One D sound and brand, but as the kind of personal statement Styles wants to make, it comes very close, but ultimately falls just short. More weirdness, less slickness, and a distinct musical vision next time and maybe he'll get there.

Take issue with Styles’ taste at your leisure, but there’s no denying his comprehensiveness. His vocal performances are invariably the best parts of these songs.

This is music that plays well in every venue, from the late night hangouts of urban bohemia to the awkward houses of the indie disco.

Despite Styles' self-conscious references, his debut avoids indulgence. [Aug 2017, p.110]

Come-hither pop does not loom large on Harry Styles, the long-longed-for debut solo venture from the 1D heartthrob. Strummed ballads are the order of the day, as is rock, and MOR cuts that sound a tad too Gary Barlow, too soon--prematurely matured, perhaps.

Styles’s curveball is more eccentric but more appealing, with an endearing quality of relish in its musical adventures. It is so old-fashioned it may actually come across as something new to its target audience.

There's a handful of above-average tunes here, and an earnestness that suggests Harry Styles will have a fruitful solo career.

Taking inspiration from the best seems to have paid dividends, but it doesn’t half make you wonder what the real Harry Styles sounds like.

Styles is remarkably good as a confessional singer-songwriter. ... Not all the album’s musical homages work: Styles is desperately ill-equipped for the rock’n’roll raunch of Only Angel and the glammy Kiwi. Alas, his voice sounds no more like Rod Stewart than it does Rod Hull, while the lyrics are a torrent of hoary pub-band cliches that suggest his heart isn’t really in it.

Styles has opened himself up, as best he can, to his audience, and by gathering a solid team around him to help achieve that he’s created an immersive, well-produced collection of songs that isn’t trying to prove anything in particular to anyone.

The missteps don’t detract too much from this ambitious, if slightly unfocused, debut.

Styles plays all his roles gamely but unthreateningly.

As debuts by boy-group alums go, Harry Styles goes bolder than expected. It establishes that Styles can pull off a more mature sound and style, but it lacks the hooks and pop appeal of One Direction's big hits.