Fine Line (Harry Styles album)
Fine Line is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Harry Styles, released on 13 December 2019 by Columbia Records and Erskine. The album's themes revolve around breakups, happiness, sex and sadness. The record has been described as pop rock, with elements of progressive-pop, psychedelic pop, folk, soul, funk and indie pop. It was primarily written with and produced by frequent collaborator Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon.
Fine Line
Supported by seven singles—"Lights Up", "Adore You", "Falling", "Watermelon Sugar", "Golden", "Treat People with Kindness", and the title track—the album debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart and has since been certified platinum. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it Styles' second consecutive number-one album in the US. The album had the third-largest sales week of 2019 in the US and broke the record as the biggest debut from a British male artist since Nielsen SoundScan began, earning 478,000 album-equivalent units. It has been certified triple platinum in the US for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over three million units in the country.
Fine Line received generally positive reviews from music critics, particularly towards its production and stylistic influences. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2020 Brit Awards, and for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2021 Grammy Awards. The album received a Grammy Award for Best Pop Solo Performance and a Brit Award for British Single of the Year for "Watermelon Sugar". In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked it at the time, number 491, on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Background[edit]
In an interview with Rolling Stone released on 26 August 2019, it was reported that the singer was putting the "final touches" on his album which Styles explained was "all about having sex and feeling sad." The album was also described to contain his "toughest, most soulful songs he's written yet."[2] On the direction of his second album, Styles revealed he wanted to be more fun and adventurous compared to his self-titled debut album.[3]
Much of the album was inspired by Styles' relationship with model Camille Rowe. Following the couple's split, producer and writer Kid Harpoon encouraged Styles to deal with his emotions by writing about them.[4] During the recording Styles was inspired by David Bowie, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell. The latter's album Blue (1971) and its use of the dulcimer, particularly influenced the album's musical style. Styles tracked down the woman who built the dulcimer used in Mitchell's album, Joellen Lapidus, and had a musical exchange; she would go on to sell him the Crying Seahorse dulcimer which was used during the album's recording.[5][4] Styles used "mushrooms" during the recording process.[6]
Commercial performance[edit]
Fine Line debuted atop the US Billboard 200 with 478,000 album-equivalent units (of which 393,000 are pure sales) in the week ending 19 December. It marked the biggest week for a pop album by a male artist in over four years. Fine Line also achieved the largest sales week from a British male artist since Nielsen SoundScan began, and made him the first UK male artist to debut at number one with first two albums. The album's tracks earned a total of 108.7 million on-demand US streams in its first week.[67] In its second week, the album remained at number one on the chart, selling an additional 89,000 album equivalent units consisting of 47,000 pure album sales, and becoming the first pop album to spend two weeks at number one since Ed Sheeran's No.6 Collaborations Project in August 2019.[68] According to Nielsen year-end report, Fine Line was the fifth-best selling album of the year in pure sales, with 458,000 copies—of which 354,000 were physical copies.[69] In its third week, the album dropped to number four on the chart, earning 54,000 more units that week.[70] In its fourth week, the album climbed to number three on the chart, earning 49,000 more units.[71] On 15 February 2022, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of three million units in the United States.[72] Fine Line is one of only three albums released in 2019 to have sold a million copies in traditional album sales in the US.[73]
After debuting at number 3 on the UK Album Charts in December 2019, the album peaked at number 2 in its 56th week in the top 100 on 14 January 2021 (week ending) behind Taylor Swift's Evermore.[74] On 16 October 2020, it was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 300,000 units in the UK.[75] The album has shifted over 500.000 units to date in the UK.[76]