Harry’s Another Man Magazine Mixtape

Gosh he is timeless.

In September 2016, Harry released images from his cover story for Another Man Magazine, which would feature three different cover photos, as well as separate photoshoots of varying aesthetics for the incredibly versatile pop star. The cover story offered a deep dive into the universe of one Mr. Harry Edward Styles (who was primed to make his solo debut the following year) including interviews with family and industry friends, as well as an intimate look into the novels, poetry, music, and quirky keepsakes that comprised his world at the time.

Among those treasured items shared with his readers, one would discover this page below, which displayed Harry’s mixtape featuring his Top Ten Favorite Songs Of All Time.

I suppose it shouldn’t surprise you that it is my theory this mixtape was actually a love letter for Zayn in 2016, during what must’ve been one of the toughest times of their relationship. It probably also served as a journal or a digital diary entry for Harry, chronicling all the intense things he was feeling at the time.

I mean c’mon, this is Harry we’re talking about here. He doesn’t do anything without thinking it through thoroughly and without adding tons of underlying sentimental value, which assures me this mixtape held meaning far beyond being his favorite songs at the time. This is the man who loves Zayn so openly and so loudly it has become increasingly obvious to us all over the years. It’s undeniable.

And this is also the lovesick, hopelessly romantic man who personally reached out to Rob Sheffield after reading his book “Love Is A Mixtape,” which he would later list as the book he would read for the rest of his life if he was ever limited to one.

Rob Sheffield & Harry 2017
From his ID Magazine interview with Timothee Chalamet

This raw glimpse into love, loss, grief, and reluctantly moving forward is actually based on Rob Sheffield’s own life and the unexpected death of his young wife, Renée Crist. I highly recommend reading the book if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it, and it’s easy to see why Harry is so attached to it.

As for Harry’s mixtape, I’ll link all the songs below, but I will only discuss my favorites, and the ones I felt were closely related to Zarry in 2016.

1 – Pink Floyd – Breathe

Harry put this track first on his mixtape, and I believe there was a reason for that. It was super relevant to what he was experiencing with Zayn at the time. He also made note on another page in his cover story that he had listened to nothing but Dark Side Of The Moon for 6 weeks straight in 2015, and we can all guess why.

Harry is annoyingly good at SAYING THINGS WITHOUT ACTUALLY SAYING THEM.

We all know the story of Zarry’s matching Dark Side Of The Moon prism tattoos from 2013, after which Zayn’s subsequently evolved into a mysterious tattoo of an eye that eerily resembled Harry’s.

However, if you take a closer look at the lyrics in this particular song, we see why Harry may have related this record to his and Zayn’s relationship at the time.

This simple 5-word lyric seems to encapsulate the entire sentiment of the body of songs Harry wrote from 2015-2016, both for Made In The AM as well as his solo debut album. He understood that Zayn needed to leave the band for personal reasons, but didn’t want to lose Zayn himself. I believe this contention is what led to the end of their relationship; and ultimately the end of the band.

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don’t be afraid to care
Leave but don’t leave me
Look around, choose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
And all your touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be

Run, rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun
And when at last the work is done
Don’t sit down, it’s time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave

Brain Damage By Pink Floyd

2 – Elvis – Can’t Help Falling In Love

A classic Elvis tune and an American hallmark of true romance. This record will never fail to speak straight to the heart. It landed as number 2 on Harry’s mixtape, so imagine my surprise when directly following the 2018 Still The One performance at MSG, Zayn covered this song in a haunting rendition (reengineering it from top to bottom to lend it his signature sound.) This was all undoubtedly done for Harry. It takes a man wildly in love to create something so achingly beautiful, and no one can convince me otherwise:

3 – Paul McCartney – Heart Of The Country

This is an adorable tune about settling down in a quiet, rural place, presumably retiring from the fast-paced lifestyle of a being a famous musician. It didn’t take long for Zayn to settle down on his own farm in the rural parts of Pennsylvania after leaving the band.

Zayn gardening in PA in June 2018, shortly before MSG.

4 – Crosby, Stills & Nash – Helplessly Hoping

This song has always been somewhat unnerving to me. The melody, lyrics, and imagery in this tune are just ghostly, and puts me in the mind of a bleak era of loss and despair. Or like a bad dream you just can’t be awakened from.

The sentiment spelled out in this tune must’ve unquestionably been something Harry related to at the time (in losing Zayn) considering he was still mentioning the song in 2019 when interviewed by the Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield.

Don’t tell me this first verse isn’t Harry in 2015, waiting with bated breath for the moment Zayn left him (something he was powerless to talk him out of.)

Helplessly hoping
Her harlequin hovers nearby
Awaiting a word
Gasping at glimpses
Of gentle true spirit
He runs, wishing he could fly
Only to trip at the sound of good-bye

5 – Ray Charles – Drown In My Own Tears

Uhh… yeah. That title, those lyrics, and just how precisely this heart-wrenching song relates to Zarry from 2015-2016 all speaks for itself. I’ll spare you a monologue.

It brings a tear into my eyes
When I begin to realize
I’ve cried so much since you’ve been gone
I guess I’ll drown in my own tears

I sit and cry just like a child
My pouring tears are runnin’ wild
If you don’t think you’ll be home soon
I guess I’ll drown, oh yes, in my own tears

I know it’s true, mm hmm, into each life
Oh, some rain, rain must pour
I’m so blue here without you
It keeps a-raining more and more

Page Two: Songs 6-10

Pages: 1 2

37 Replies to “Harry’s Another Man Magazine Mixtape”

  1. A.D. you are the BEST! I love this! I have never heard of Blaze Foley but love his voice and those songs! Also I prefer Hoziers cover of Sweet Thing to Van Morrisons original! I think Harry should add Crazy to that mix tape and mean it! I’ve been praying that Harry’s therapist would be able to help him move on from this hopeless relationship. I truly wish that for him. I want him to be happy and have a family and be with someone who loves him completely. Ugh. Hopefully someday soon. I loved this, thank you! Looking forward to all of your new stuff as well ❤

  2. A few months back I wrote about relations between FITW & SV6,so:

    “I’m here to help you with your load”

    “Let me inside,I wanna get to know you”

    “There is no reason to feel bad,but there are many seasons to feel glad”

    “Sunflower,sometimes keep it sweet in your memory”

    “Wow,look at you now,flowers in the window”

    “My sunflower,sunflower!sunflower!”

    “When I first held you I was cold,a melting snowman I was told”

    “Mouth full of toothpaste before I got to know you”

    ”There is time,time,time to plant new seeds and watch them grow”

    “Your flowers just died,plant new seeds in a melody”

    “There is no reason to feel bad”

    “I don’t want you to feel bad”

    * The first similarity is where Travis tells his lover how there are many feelings a person holds but he’d be there for his lover to help them out,to share the feelings,similarly,here,Harry asks his lover to let him in because he wants to know them,understand his lover’s complications in contrast to Falling where he says ‘I can’t unpack the baggage you left’,he wants to look into his emotionally distant lover’s burden.

    * The entire lyric says that there’s no reason to feel bad but there are times where one feels glad,sad & mad.Here Harry asks his lover to not be bitter over them falling apart and like he decided to,keep their happy memories as a reminiscent of their sweet times.

    * FITW talks about being in awe with his lover,that they’re ‘out in the crowd,one in a million’ as Travis compares his lover’s beauty to flowers in the window,also as a reminder of their love.Here,Harry shows his adoration for his lover by calling them a sunflower,also showing his possessive side specifying that the person is just his sunflower.

    * Though “When I first held you I was cold,a melting snowman I was told and “Mouth full of toothpaste before I got to know you”aren’t exactly similar,they might be referring to the same thing.In FITW the line is used to show apathy and lack of love or warmth for the world as a cold snowman which due to the additional use of the word ‘melting’ gives it a new dimension to show how Travis,though might’ve come off as a cold-shouldered person,he was actually melting or metaphorically dying because there wasn’t anyone who understood him and so he stayed quiet,in the definition others gave him – insensitive.The ‘mouth full of toothpaste’ could be classified into a broad spectrum of meanings, one of them being how he was quiet and not ready to open up to anyone, quietening himself with things he didn’t like (cuz obviously who’d want to keep toothpaste in their mouth for a long time?) before his lover,who understood his words,entered his life.

    * FITW talks about how not everything is lost,he & his lover still got time to plant new seeds which might be referring to beginning again or either soaring higher heights in their relationship which he calls as ‘new seeds’ and watch the story unfold.Harry is definitely talking about new beginnings from the either interpretation of FITW since Cherry,track 5 concluded the end of his relationship.He talks about the dead part of their relationship or it might allude to a characteristic of his partner which was no longer there.It might also refer to the love they hold for each other,that after a phase of turmoil his partner had lost the love they had for him which Harry recognises,but his craving for that person is too much so he asks them to start loving him again,to ‘plant new seeds’.[Speaking explicitly,it could also refer to him asking his lover to fuck him with music playing in the background,’plant new seeds in a melody’]

    * Coming back to the 2nd similarity,he reassures his lover that there isn’t anything bad,that they shouldn’t be feeling bad about anything because ‘there is no reason to feel bad’ and also because Harry doesn’t want them to feel bad for the reason that they cannot have two people at once,which might be an attempted shade which came off quite differently because of the song’s fluttering tunes.

  4. I just love the way Harry loves. If only it wouldn’t make him hurt so much 🙁 he deserves the world, wish him all the happiness and love ❤️ nice post!

  5. You need to watch Jack Edward’s on YouTube. Specifically the episode about poetry that influenced Harry’s music and the part about Sweet Creature and Shakespeare’s Othello. Would love to hear your thoughts on his theory.

    1. @Marincola62 I’ve seen that video and I was laughing when he was saying “Sweet creature” must be about family since he says “two hearts in one home”, if only he knew. I loved his analysis though, sounded very Zarry.

  6. Hi AD ❤️ Beatiful work like always 🙂 Drown in my own tears by Ray Charles is so Harry. I’m almost convinced he wrote the song.The song tells about their situation in 2015 very well. And then I remembered an interview where Harry said he was writing songs in the pandemic. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking the songs will be when you think about what happened at that time.Considering the photos he was seen outside for the first time after the baby news, it seemed that the man in that photo was a very different person.I guess his songs will give the same impression. A lost and desperate man who doesn’t know what to do with himself. And I’m looking forward to hearing the HS3, and I’m afraid of what I’ll hear.And lastly I didn’t understand what you meant when you said nobody deserved fine line at first but now I understand very well.

    1. Finishing the mixtape with she got you makes me want to cry 🙁 Every day I’m falling more and more in love with the way he loves Zayn. So pure. Almost heavenly.

  9. I’ve got your picture
    That you gave to me
    And it’s signed with love
    Just like it used to be
    The only thing different
    The only thing new
    I’ve got your picture
    She’s got you
    I’ve got the records
    That we used to share
    And they still sound the same
    As when you were here
    The only thing different
    The only thing new
    I’ve got the records
    She’s got you
    I’ve got your memory
    Or, has it got me
    I really don’t know
    But I know, it won’t let me be
    I’ve got your class ring
    That proved you cared
    And it still looks the same
    As when you gave it, dear
    The only thing different
    The only thing new
    I’ve got these little things
    She’s got you….

    Why it’s so harry?🥺

  10. Beautiful Piece work!! Romantic, tragic, it has happiness and emotional sentiments.
    There love is strong because they just have each other. But the world is not ready for them😞. I think media will destroy them Both.
    We will support them!!!
    Hope they found peace Some day. ❤️😘
    Love you A. D.

    1. Love you too! 🥰 Yeah you’re so right. The world would explode if they ever went public with their love. It is a nice hope, but I’ve never seen it happening any time soon.

    1. Lol your profile name is silly haha stop. 😂 Don’t worry it’s coming soon. I want it to be perfect for you all. I don’t want the sequel to lack. As far as a date, realistically I would have to say early May because I have a few things going on in April with my family that will absorb my concentration apart from the videos of both channels. After I’m settled mentally I know I can write better. 🙂 Thanks love!

      1. I hope you will write the sequel from Z’s point of you and the reason is that you have to overcome what you feel right now about the whole situation and especially your sentiments about Z… Either way, I’m sure you’re gonna rock it… Also I would like to read another book from that has nothing to do with Z & H… I love your writing (even if I had to google some words cause English is not my mother language)…

        As far as the mixtape, this is a love letter for sure as the next one of Harry’s with more songs…

        I hope they find peace and love (both of them) even if it isn’t between them… (Although I believe that a love like this never dies) !

  12. Some of these lyrics are so gut wrenching : (
    I found it interesting on one of Ingrid Michaelson’s album she has a cover of Can’t Help Falling in Love

  15. When you’re weary
    Feeling small
    When tears are in your eyes
    I’ll dry them all
    I’m on your side
    Oh, when times get rough
    And friends just can’t be found
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down
    Like a bridge over troubled water
    I will lay me down

    Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water

    Need you when I’m broken, when I’m fixed
    Need you when I’m well, when I’m sick
    Friends that I rely on don’t come through
    They run like the river, but not you

    Zayn – There You Are

    1. Hi there! No it’s a very similar style ring, but the one pictured above has two birds. At the time he took the rose ring off briefly to wear that ring in 2018. The one he is wearing now has only one bird. I’d imagine they’re both from Alessandro (the first one was confirmed.) But it is interesting him going from two birds to one.

      1. You can look at it another way. Remember, Z said he think he is ready to fall. He then wrote vows on his hand. It could be as Z says in his vows: They are ONE but each are their own pillar. (1 bird but it needs two wings to fly)

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