Adore You (Harry Styles song)
"Adore You" is a song by English singer-songwriter Harry Styles from his second studio album, Fine Line (2019). It was released through Erskine and Columbia Records as the album's second single on 6 December 2019. The song was written by Styles, Amy Allen, Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, with Harpoon handling the production and Johnson serving as a co-producer. "Adore You" has been described as a midtempo pop, funk, disco, psychedelic pop, and pop rock ballad, incorporating layered guitars, synths, brass and percussions in its production. A love song, its lyrics find Styles talking about the initial stages of a relationship.
"Adore You"
Upon its release, "Adore You" received generally favourable reviews from music critics, who praised its production and Styles' vocals. It was also compared to the works of the 1975, Mark Ronson and Justin Timberlake. "Adore You" was a commercial success. The song peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, in addition to reaching the top ten in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wallonia region of Belgium. It has been certified in multiple territories, most notably a platinum award from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), a triple platinum and double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), respectively.
The music video for "Adore You" was directed by Dave Meyers and premiered simultaneously with the song's release on YouTube. Filmed in Scotland, the high-concept visuals depict Styles as an outcast in the fictional island of Eroda, where he befriends a gold-dappled fish and takes care of it. The video was teased with a guerrilla marketing campaign which took the form of a tourism website and Twitter account for Eroda. To promote the song, Styles performed it on several occasions, including The Graham Norton Show and The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Release and promotion[edit]
On 20 November 2019, a Twitter account with the username "@visiteroda", which was launched in October, tweeted the post "The Isle of Eroda's rich history is embedded in daily life as the ruins of many structures from the past remain standing across the land. #VisitEroda."[26] Shortly after, a website was set up for the place and advertisements were posted on Facebook and Google in which the island of Eroda was promoted and questions from fellow Twitter users were answered.[26][27] The island was soon proven to not exist and was a part of the marketing campaign for Styles' forthcoming single.[26][27][28][29] On 2 December, Styles officially announced the title and release date of the single on his social media, with Eroda being the main focus of its music video.[30] Done up in the style of a tarot card, the single's cover art was also released on the same day and shows Styles praying in the ocean, encircled by five fish. It was inspired by the song's accompanying visual.[30] "Adore You" was made available for digital download and streaming by Erskine and Columbia Records as the second single from Styles' second studio album Fine Line on 6 December 2019.[10][31]
Styles gave his first live performance of "Adore You" on 7 December 2019 on The Graham Norton Show.[32] On 9 December, he performed the song at Capital FM's 2019 Jingle Bell Ball in London.[33] On 10 December, he performed it again on The Late Late Show with James Corden.[34] The performance set was bolstered by a "cutout" boat and "crashing waves," while Styles was backed by a band. Nina Corcoran of Consequence of Sound, praised Styles' performance, writing, "Maybe it's because of his suit or the way he moved during the song's instrumental interlude, but he gives off some major Bowie vibes during the performance."[35] On 18 December, Styles performed the song on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.[36] The song was included in the setlist of his one-night concert at The Forum, Los Angeles on 13 December, to commemorate the release of his second album.[37] On 27 February 2020, Styles performed the song on NBC's The Today Show at Rockefeller Center.[38] "Adore You" was again included as a part of the five-song set which Styles performed at the Music Hall of Williamsburg for Sirius XM and Pandora Radio's secret session on 28 February.[39] On 16 March 2020, Styles performed the song on NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert, alongside "Cherry", "Watermelon Sugar", and "To Be So Lonely".[40]
This song is featured on Just Dance 2021 and as a DLC in Fuser, as one of the first DLCs released on November 19, 2020,[41] alongside Groove Is in the Heart by Deee-Lite and Inside Out by Zedd & Griff.
Critical reception[edit]
"Adore You" received generally favourable reviews from music critics. In her review for The New York Times, Lindsay Zoladz regarded the song as an album highlight and wrote, "It's the one in which past and present coalesce most seamlessly, its playful psychedelia streamlined into sleek modern hit-making," while also praising Styles' vocal range and high notes in the track's chorus.[11] Popjustice's music critic Peter Robinson compared "Adore You" sonically to The 1975's "Somebody Else" (2015).[42] On the other hand, Emma Swann, of DIY magazine likened the song's musical style to the works of British–American musician Mark Ronson.[2] Lauren Murphy of Entertainment.ie characterized the song's "soulful little interjections" as Justin Timberlake-esque.[18] Reviewing for Clash, Susan Hansen favoured the "mesmeric" pop and soul elements of the song which suited praised Styles' "soft, fully projected" vocals. Viewing the sound as "lush", she felt that the basslines "flow seamlessly and carry the track through to completion."[13] Gregory Robinson of The Guardian said that the track displayed significant evolution in Styles' sound and viewed the hook as his "catchiest [hook] to date."[17]
In her review for Time, Raisa Bruner listed "Adore You" as one of the five best songs of the week and deemed it as "timeless and friendly".[9] MTV's Madeline Roth likened the song to Styles' previous single, "Watermelon Sugar" and wrote that the "funky, synthy new tune is a tale of lust and devotion."[43] Alex Rodobolski of Exclaim! called the song "a fun pop banger" with an "endearing tune" that circumscribes the album with "a certain sense of mysticism."[1] Writing for Rolling Stone, Brenna Ehrlich labelled the song as a "simple ballad about love and devotion."[44] Louise Bruton of The Irish Times regarded the song as "truly blissful".[45] In her review of Fine Line for The A.V. Club, Annie Zaleski called the song "velvety soul" and "luxurious" like Styles' previous single "Lights Up".[12] Rhian Daly of NME gave a mixed review and wrote that the song "does little to differentiate itself from being any other slice of generic chart fodder."[46]
Commercial performance[edit]
"Adore You" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 for the issue date of 13 December 2019.[47] In its fourth week, the song peaked at number seven becoming Styles' third top ten solo entry on the chart.[48][49] In May 2020, the single was awarded a platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for track-equivalent sales of 600,000 units.[50] In specific parts of the UK, it reached number four in Scotland.[51] It was Styles' third Irish top-ten hit and tied with "Lights Up" for his highest-charting track in the country.[52][53] In other parts of Europe, "Adore You" garnered top-ten peaks in Croatia,[54] Iceland,[55] Hungary,[56] Lithuania,[57] Slovenia,[58] the Wallonia region of Belgium,[59] and was in the top 20 in charts of the Czech Republic,[60] Estonia,[61] Belgium's Flanders region,[62] the Netherlands,[63] Latvia,[64] Poland,[65] and Portugal.[66]
In Australia, "Adore You" entered the ARIA Singles Charts at number 14 in the week of 22 December 2019.[67] The following week, the song climbed to number seven, making it Styles' third top ten, tying with "Lights Up" as his second highest-charting single there.[68] In its third week, the song dropped to number 14 but rebounded back to number 10 in the week of 12 January 2020.[67] The single further topped The Music Network Australian Airplay Chart, marking Styles' first number one on Australian radio.[69] In April 2020, the song was certified double platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for track-equivalent sales of 140,000 units.[70] In New Zealand, the song peaked at number six on the issue dated 23 December 2019, and has since been certified platinum by the Recorded Music NZ.[71][72]
"Adore You" debuted at number 35 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the issue date of 21 December 2019.[73] In its 15th week, it broke into the top ten at number seven where it remained for a further week.[74][75][76] This gave Styles his second single top ten single after 2017's "Sign of the Times".[77] The song eventually peaked at number six in its 17th week, becoming the second highest performing single from Fine Line.[78] It also became Styles' longest charting top ten single in the US.[79] The song reached number one on the Billboard Pop Songs radio chart, becoming Styles' first chart-topper.[80] The song went on to stay on the chart for 45 weeks, tying the record for most weeks on the chart with "Circles" by Post Malone", "Eastside" by Benny Blanco, Halsey, and Khalid, "Love Lies" by Khalid and Normani, and "New Rules" by Dua Lipa.[81]
The song also topped the list of most added songs of the week by adult contemporary radio, reaching the top of Mediabase Hot AC chart with 6642 spins, on the week of 26 April-2 May 2020.[82] In addition, it peaked at number two on the Adult Pop Songs chart and topped the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming Styles' first number-one hit on the latter chart.[83][84] In December 2020, the song was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for track-equivalent sales of three million units.[85] In Canada, the single peaked at number ten on the Canadian Hot 100, Styles' second single to reach the top ten of the chart.[86]
Music video[edit]
Background[edit]
The music video for "Adore You" was filmed in three Scottish locations: St Abbs, Cockenzie and Port Seton.[87][88] It was directed by Dave Meyers, while the script was written by him and Chris Shafer. Scott Cunningham was credited as the director of photography and Nathan Scherrer as the producer.[89] The visual premiered on Styles' official YouTube channel on 6 December 2019 at 05:00 PT (12:00 UTC), and was preceded by a trailer released on 2 December on the same platform.[90][91][92] The first two-minutes of the eight-minute long clip contains a narration by Spanish singer Rosalía.[29][93] The high-concept video features several VFX shots to offer a realistic feel to it.[43][94][95][96] The nautical outfits in the video were created by Harry Lambert.[97]