Harry Styles: authentic artist, or industry plant? Ever since going solo post-One Direction, Harry has been on a mission to establish himself as a unique, creative voice. But has he done enough to really stand out as an original artist? Without the backing he’s had from the industry from the very start of his career, would he honestly be where he is? And how does he fit into the larger conversation of the problem with industry plants and how hard it is for original artistic voices to break through?
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Harry Styles: authentic artist, or industry plant? Harry’s infamous statement at the 2023 Grammys about “people like him” resurfaced a lot of questions about the former boy band member’s true identity. Ever since going solo post-One Direction, Harry has been on a mission to establish himself as a unique, creative voice. While he’s still all about mainstream pop music, we’re in a climate when pop music is full of interesting, innovative artists whose critical acclaim matches their cultural capital. The bar is high, and Harry’s reaching for it
Harry Styles: “If I’m gonna put something out, whether it’s a show or an album or a song, I want it to be perfect.” – Harry’s House Interview
But has he done enough to really stand out as an original artist? Without the backing he’s had from the industry from the very start of his career, would he honestly be where he is? And how does he fit into the larger conversation of the problem with industry plants and how hard it is for original artistic voices to break through?
Here’s our take on Harry Styles, the industry plant discourse, and whether reality tv artists can ever leave their public origin story behind.
When Harry Styles won the Grammy for Album of the Year, his acceptance speech kinda rubbed people the wrong way. His comment led many to wonder, “people like who?” It positioned Harry as an underdog who’s had to claw his way to the top of the mountain – rather than a cis white man who’s had a pretty comfortable life making pretty conventional pop music, the kind of artist who has won that award dozens of times. And maybe it does feel remarkable to Harry that he has gone from small town in England to Grammy winning artist, but to audiences who’ve watched his career unfold, it just feels like what he’s been groomed for.
What’s been exposed in the past few years is that, when it comes to the entertainment business, the decks are stacked in favor of the most privileged in society. Think of Anne Helen Petersen’s now infamous “Ten Long Years Of Trying To Make Armie Hammer Happen” article. The takeaway when it comes to art is that it doesn’t matter so much how good you are; what matters is what kind of team you have behind you, and how tenacious they’re going to be in terms of getting your foot in the door and making sure that door stays open. The conversations we’re having now around industry plants and nepo babies are part of the same problem — are these industries really at all fair, and how can we make them fairer?
Alison Williams: “The subtext is, you’re not good, you don’t deserve what you have. There will always be people who feel that way about me, 100%.” – Watch What Happens Live
With Harry Styles, it’s not just his music career that’s raised those questions as his branching out into cinema. There seems to be a concerted effort going on to position him as a deep, thoughtful actor who makes “interesting” choices like Don’t Worry Darling. It feels like he’s been fast tracked to a level of success he’s not really earned in that field — and in the cold light of day, when he’s placed opposite incredible actors like Emma Corrin and Florence Pugh, you have to ask whether he’s really ready for it.
The industry plant conversation has sprung up in the last few years because today’s audiences prize authenticity above almost everything else. The theory goes: if the industry is pulling all the strings for you behind the scenes, is the connection you’re having with your fans really as real as you say it is? In 2021, pop punk band The Tramp Stamps began to blow up on TikTok. But when it was revealed that their origin story wasn’t that they were three scrappy girls who’d met in a bar, but instead professional musicians who’d been working in the industry for a long time, they got piled on.
Yes, part of this was because they had a relationship with Dr Luke, but as Vox’s Rebecca Jennings points out, so do Doja Cat, Saweetie, and other established artists. The problem was their industry connections made them feel inauthentic. Also, because we’re so used to seeing artists emerge online and steadily grow a fanbase, audiences get suspicious when artists come out fully formed, with slick photography, press attention and a slew of festival dates lined up. British band Wet Leg, runners up in the BBC’s prestigious Sound of 2022 poll, have also had to contend with the label because of their rapid rise. Their touring partner Declan McKenna said: “the industry plant truthers are getting like flat earth for the tiktok gen.”
So Harry Styles is an interesting name to throw into the mix, because we all know his origin story. The boy who didn’t make it as a solo artist on X Factor, who was put together into a group, who would go on to be the biggest boyband in the world for a few years. In that sense, of course he’s an industry plant. However, we don’t so vividly remember everyone else’s origin story and continue to throw it in their faces. Jessie Buckley also emerged from reality TV, reaching the final of the BBC’s I’d Do Anything, a competition to find the next person to play Nancy in the West End production of Oliver!
George Gray: “What’s all this business about being turned down by drama schools? Is it twice? Don’t worry, today you could be Nancy.” – BBC’s I’d Do Anything
But she’s almost erased that aspect of her history, and has established herself as a creative force in her own right, working with interesting auteurs like Alex Garland, Sarah Polley and Charlie Kaufman. Even someone like Kelly Clarkson, whose rise to fame is comparable to Harry Styles’, rarely gets the industry plant criticism, and is now a pretty beloved fixture of daytime TV. So is the problem not so much that Harry Styles has the industry on his side, but that to his detractors, that’s all he has?
It is always a challenge emerging from the safety of a boyband and attempting to establish yourself as an original artist. Justin Timberlake did it by partnering up with slick producers like Timbaland and The Neptunes. Robbie Williams did it by leaning into his bad boy image and associating himself with the countercultural cool of Brit Pop. For Harry Styles, he looked backwards, emerging with a retro vibe that wasn’t a fixture of One Direction’s music or style
Carson Daly: “Did you listen to that kind of 70s rock?”
Harry Styles: “I just wanted to write something honest.” – 97.1 AMP
But perhaps this is where those accusations of inauthenticity come from. Where other big pop artists right now are establishing themselves on their own terms, Styles is often spoken about in comparison with others, or as a reincarnation of icons from the past. People have commented on his style being evocative of Mick Jagger, and he’s also been described as “the new David Bowie”. While these comparisons are obviously incredibly flattering, they point to an artist who maybe hasn’t yet found his own voice.
It also feels like this criticism of Harry doesn’t so much apply to his music, but to his whole post-One Direction persona. Harry has a natural talent for people-pleasing and winning people over – yet at times the way he’ll bend into knots to avoid saying anything even potentially alienating to anyone can come off as a little bit too calculated. Is it, in part, this knack for never pissing anyone off that the industry selected him for and cultivated in him? And does this quality lead to him kind of standing for nothing?
Not only did he refuse to confirm he was in a relationship with Olivia Wilde when he obviously was, but he refrained from openly condemning fans who made toxic online attacks on her. The way he plays with gender in his fashions but won’t answer questions about his own sexuality have elicited accusations of queerbaiting, and these were exacerbated when he began to be interviewed specifically about queer culture while promoting his film My Policeman, in which he plays a gay character having what would have been at the time an illegal relationship.
Harry Styles: “For someone like Tom, all of his feelings toward men I would imagine would have felt so foreign.” – Mr. Policeman Press Conference
But while it’s quite uncomfortable to watch people try to pin his sexuality down or out him, the debate feels motivated by that same feeling that we still don’t know who he really is. And so regardless of how interesting or unique an artist he tries to be, there’s still a part of his persona that feels like a surface level appropriation of certain cultures, rather than an actual ownership over them.
Still, that figuring out is all part of the process of being an artist. Everyone goes through evolutions and changes, and for the audience, watching that happen is all part of the fun. The difference is that now, maybe we’re beginning to become more savvy about the power behind the throne. With art, it feels like the cream should rise to the top, but maybe the playing field isn’t as level as we want it to be.
Ultimately it’s good we’re having these conversations, because the inequalities that exist in these industries are real, and they should be called out. If Harry perhaps acknowledged that, rather than positioning himself apart from it, maybe people would be a little more forgiving.
Really the question is: can any performer, actor, writer, or band make it without the full force of the industry behind them? We like to think that audiences are kingmakers — and perhaps social media has empowered that direct relationship to some degree — but when we peek behind the curtain we see that, for the most part, the power still lies where it always has.
For Harry Styles, it feels weird to say, but he’s still at the start of his career as both an actor and a solo artist. And the support he has from the industry isn’t unconditional — it’s dependent on his growth and development, and anyone can see that he has evolved since his solo emergence in 2017. So we should be excited there’s more to come, not too critical that he’s not already there.
Harry Styles: “I would like to think about who I would like to be as a musician.” – Harry’s House Interview