JAKARTA - Harry Styles openly talks about his inner struggle against the pressure of popularity and his new musical direction.
The One Direction personnel admitted that he was often haunted by feelings of alienation in the midst of the world tour. He felt trapped in a noisy but personally empty system of awards.
"Something I often struggle with, in the middle of a tour, is feeling unsure about what I'm giving, unsure about what I'm contributing to the world. Especially when the system of rewards and admiration you receive feels so hard," Styles said, quoted by Runner's World via NME, Wednesday, March 4.
"Obviously I get so much energy from here. People give me so much, which I really appreciate. But what am I contributing? Sometimes I feel very existential about it," he continued.
Another difficulty that Styles faces as a public figure is the loss of privacy to observe the surroundings. For him, an artist should be an observer of the world, but popularity actually reverses this position.
He felt his position had changed from an observer to a figure who was constantly observed by the public, which he said made the creative process very difficult.
As for his new album, Styles turned to electronic music inspired by the Berlin nightclub culture. He named producers such as Floating Points, Jamie XX, and German techno DJ Ben Klock as major influences.
This choice was made because he wanted to create an immersive and collaborative musical atmosphere, rather than just performing on stage as the main center of attention.
"I want to recreate what I felt on the dance floor, lost in instrumentation and musicality. I don't want it to feel like a sermon I'm giving. I want it to feel like we're in this music together. Like I'm in it with you," he said.
Styles realized that his work was no longer about him after it was released to the public. He felt a sense of freedom when he realized that his role was simply to be a human being who continued to record life through questions, not to give absolute answers to everything. For him, the question is always much more interesting than the answer itself.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
