If you look back at One Direction’s viral music videos What Makes You Beautiful from over 10 years ago, you probably wouldn’t recognize Harry Styles.

At that time, the British singer wore a plaid shirt, looking like a cute high school “hotboy”.

That image is simply a far cry from the image he shows on the cover of his latest album Harry’s House – an album so successful that just counting the number of vinyls sold in the first week, it was enough to rank No. 1 on the Billboard 200. On the cover of Harry’s House, Harry Styles wears flared pants and a feminine blouse.

This is not the first time he has played with his gender image. He wore a flowing dress when he became the first man to appear alone on the cover of American Vogue.

If we compare the music, the difference is even more profound. No longer is there the young man who celebrates the beauty of life, praises youth as a colorful party or believes absolutely in the perfection of love.

In Harry’s House, there are still parties, but they are parties where he invites everyone except his family because they never gave him the love he needed, there is still tenderness and romance for the other person in love, but when the two are no longer together.

The album name is Harry’s House, Harry’s house, and just like that, Harry Styles invites us into his house, where he keeps his losses, his nostalgia, his loneliness, his torment and regret, but also where he keeps his laughter, his affection, his joy.

This is most evident in As It Was – a song about the brokenness of a person who has been left behind, but the hurtful lyrics are written on a fast, cheerful rhythm, as if sadness and loneliness were his dance partner.

Although not so sad, As It Was clearly does not praise life or give all for life, it completely lacks the coolness, the carefree look, the we-only-live-once spirit, while containing a few small crises, a few disappointments, a few breakdowns, things that few people want to hear during the warm joys of summer.

It is difficult to explain why the song As It Was is so addictive. It is not surprising that Harry Styles’ third studio album was successful, but to be successful to this extent is truly astonishing.

It’s no surprise that Harry Styles’ post-One Direction solo career has had some success, but looking back at his days as a “canned” singer in a “canned” band produced by Simon Cowell, we don’t know how, now, when people talk about him, instead of comparing him to pop “heartthrobs”, they compare him to Elton John, to David Bowie, great men who are always ready to cross all red lines.

Simon Cowell and the music production lines can create a fever, but stars, real stars, there is no formula to create them. Harry Styles is a real star.