Harry Styles has avoided using words like “heterosexual” to describe himself in the past, and the reason why may now be coming into focus.
Fans are interpreting the lyrics of his new song “Medicine” as a not-so-subtle confirmation that he’s into girls and guys and whatever, man, he doesn’t do labels.
Related: Harry Styles does not identify as heterosexual
Here’s the verse that has the Internet convinced this is a thing:
How about we take this to the next level?
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Tingle running through my blood, fingers to my toes
Tingle running through my bones
The boys and the girls are here
I mess ’round a bit
And I’m okay with it
The boys and girls are here
I’m messing ’round with them
And I’m okay with it
To add to the intrigue, some people are hearing an even more telling lyric.
Take a listen below, which certainly does sound like “I mess around with him” rather than “I mess around a bit“:
“the boys and the girls are here, i mess around with him, and i’m okay with it”
this is the new bi anthem, thank you harry styles pic.twitter.com/xh76WhnxMd— ari the useless gay (@emptyskv) March 13, 2018
Hmmmm.
Related: Harry Styles kissed a man and fans can’t even
Here’s some more reaction:
Harry Styles was only 23 when he wrote the bi anthem Medicine https://t.co/coXX7gjyjK
— ?. (@boysonfiIm) March 13, 2018
harry styles literally made a song about giving head to girls *and* guys. bi culture is thriving.
— shooting star (@hemlockjunkie) March 14, 2018
lyrics from harry styles unreleased song he’s doin at new gigs now can we please accept him as the bi icon he was always meant to be pic.twitter.com/7HP7a7nURT
— ray (@cry_baby94) March 13, 2018
The song already has one high profile gay fan a bit hot and bothered:
The lyrics of Medicine by @Harry_Styles have me ???
— troye sivan (@troyesivan) March 13, 2018
Related:
MaxH
“I’m coming down, I figured I kinda like it”, sounds like he got high on MDMA, blew a guy, and after coming down, realised he liked it.
Polaro
Us +1.
CanadianGuy62
Call me when Zayn Malik comes out…now THERE is a hottie!!!
Donston
I don’t know. I just don’t find vaguely singing about how you might like giving head to dudes while you’re high is actually “coming out” or an ideal representation of “bi culture” and may hint towards some deeper “issues”. But whatever. He’s young. Do your thing but be careful. That’s probably the best way to look at it.
Nowuvedoneit
More like he is trolling the guys and girls and he likes it. Unless you explicitly said I don’t really care about it. And even if he did come out I don’t listen to his music.
Donston
Bi behavior and variations of a bi identity have always been used by famous people to troll or shock (which is something I still don’t get considering a good 70% are not completely, thoroughly 100% conventionally straight or gay. So, it’s not all that special, unique or subversive). But there are many guys out there who are into certain body parts but don’t have attraction, desire, passion, romantic instincts, etc towards a gender. And while people are celebrating him, I just don’t think singing about liking to suck D sometimes while you’re high is something that improves the bi image or helps the “bi agenda”. Hit me up when he gets a legit bf.
However, he has gotten cuter with time and a haircut.
formia2010
My question is, are you bisexual yourself? I feel as though over stepping into a topic that isn’t explicitly about your own sexuality is a slippery slope. The bisexual experience is unique in its own ways and isn’t defined by who you date, it’s about what you like and are attracted to.
Harry Styles has (for years) explicitly left his sexuality undefined. His concerts are full of pride flags and his support for the LGBT community has been relatively strong.
I think basing his sexuality on a song is iffy but if that’s how he expresses himself? I feel wrong to just ignore it. An artists work expresses so much more than most people in the pop industry. Straight girls singing about being super drunk and kissing girls isn’t really the same considering that type of music can be a lot less personal especially when you look at how their other songs connect to them. Harry Styles personally connects to his music.
Granted, it doesn’t have to be himself. Hoizer wrote a song from the perspective of two lesbians and it’s entirely possible Harry Styles was writting about the discovery of someone’s sexuality.
Getting high and finding out doesn’t invalidate it.
I know that we’ve been tricked before and tend to fall into pandering but sometimes cases have more weight to them.
I also find it a little insulting to imply that you’re only bisexual if you’ve actively dated both genders. But eh, I get the need to want him to prove himself. I’d be fine if he just said it himself that he was into men and woman, separate from a song. However, people have pushed for celebrities to come out before they’re ready to, and questioning his validity feels counter intuitive. The average straight person does it often enough, I don’t want to perpetuate that even more.
tham
I think he’s adorable. No matter which side of the fence he falls.
Lazycrockett
Bad Ink.
Sam6969
I don’t know if he is really “coming out”, since I had to read the whole “Medicine” song lyrics to distance myself from other people’s interpretation frenzy. If there are many people thinking he suggests in his song it is okay to experiencing love the way we want with a girl or a boy, then, fine. He spreads acceptance in his own progressive way.
If he does not want to be pigeonholed himself, it is okay, as well. He already said he was not inclined to overthink things in that department. I respect him as a human being on his own journey. “Live and let live”, reads the proverb. It is a collective and individual lesson hard to integrate, considering what Eckhart Tolle called: “the collective madness”, exposed everywhere.
http://people.com/music/harry-styles-never-label-sexuality/
“Medicine” song lyrics: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/harrystyles/medicine.html
Donston
While I get not wanting to be “pigeonholed” and not wanting to be reduced to a label, I also think that obsession with not wanting to be put in a “box” can also often hold people back. The obsession with wanting to be “formless” or “elusive” can reflect some serious issues and can be just as problematic psychologically and sociologically as securing yourself to a popular identity and hiding behind it. If society would just accept that most people aren’t 100%, completely conventionally straight or gay, didn’t put so much political weight on labels, actually looked at orientation as something nuanced that’s connected to sexuality, romance and emotion, and stopped fetishizing sexual indentity and sexual behavior (which is kinda what this song is doing) it would be easier on everyone to be themselves. Of course, homophobia and internalized homophobia are still big problems.
Ulimately, as I said, I don’t really care until the dude gets bf. Plenty of guys like sucking sometimes dick but aren’t legitimately interested. Also, he’s young and a pop star. There’s no way he wasn’t aware that this song was gonna cause a stir and spike up his buzz.
Sam6969
Donston, if it “CAN” reflect issues, then it is not automatic and “obsession” with not wanting to be put in a box either.
Of course, it is the current social realm, that makes a big deal out of it, so when there are candid individuals (more than we think), who just do not give much thoughts on where they fit in the binary societal conception (most of the time they are straight-leaning, or really bi), they may end up thinking, under constant pressure, there is something wrong with them. The issue does not come from them, in the first place, but from this binary conception of human beings. Most of them just comply with these diffused, but pervasive injunctions, while for others it is more complicated, because they feel they do not know themselves yet (they are lucid), or they are discreet because they are natural introverts and value their privacy, or they feel their own reality is more subtle, nuanced and they just do not want to comply with all this nonsense. We can only really talk about actualities, not potentialities and choosing a label restrains potentialities. For some people, it is just nonsense.
Of course, when you are scrutinized by people, with strong expectations on you, and the way they think of you is important to make a living, it adds to the complexity of dealing with it. Public attention puts the pressure on you to define yourself and I think it is refreshing there are people to say there is another way: they like boys, girls or both to various degrees, or they are still experiencing (even at 80!), open and free to what comes to them. Obviously, they may also be conflicted and excessively subtle, but they do what they can. Personally, I do not dwell on it and do not see it as an issue: to each his own journey. Internalized homophobia is part of the journey and who am I to judge them?
I also particularly want to underline the fact many of us do not know our sexual and romantic possibilities, even long after having entered the adult life. Most of us will never know the range and depth of all what we can feel and experience in the love and sexuality realm, as we may be locked up from inside and (self-) assigned to a kind or another of (gender) exclusivity and sexual activity. I think sexuality largely remains a mystery, even if our knowledge improves as time passes. Just consider the use of sexual energy and orgasms through tantric activities and you will discover you really know little (spell “tantra” on some porn website, it will give you a glimpse at this unexplored continent ^^).
So, I will not blame anyone (whether they are 20, 40 or 60) for not choosing a “camp”, because they may still explore themselves for good reasons, as the journey varies from an individual to another.
seaguy
Where’s all the he is just trying to get our pink dollars people like they did with Nick Jonas?
William Krzemien
LOL….and I loveeeee Nick way more than Mr. Styles! ;D
Doug
Why do gay men keep falling for stuff like this? Harry Styles has branched out into a solo career and he needs to sell music… like 80% of the rest of pop singers, he’s going to play to a gay audience in order to sell more of his stuff. Why would any male star these days cater only to female fans when he can bring in close to twice as much money by teasing gay men to fantasize about him?
Lazycrockett
There is nothing to fall for, while I never followed 1D, Styles debut is an incredible strong album. He has talent and has no need to prime the gay audience. Plus the album isn’t for the most part what the gay audience would listen to.
William Krzemien
I’ll give a fuck when he gives a fuck about my my life! ….However, I will dispense some common sense advice, JUST BE TRUE TO WHO YOU ARE & BE YOURSELF….one will be a lot more happier in life! <3
DCguy
Just my personal opinion, I think the days of lgbts getting excited because maybe somebody kinda sorta might have made a hint in a song are over.
If he wants to come out, great come out. If he wants to write a song that kinda maybe sorta says nothing, then I’m not really into it.
Black Pegasus
Another celebrity troll who flirts with the mythical bisexual label. Nothing courageous about it at all. Self proclaimed bisexuals are actually hurting the perception of gay men and women. They are actually homosexuals too afraid to be gay.
Sam6969
That’s prejudice. Telling bisexuality does not exist is the biphobia (or discrimination and erasure), bisexuals report regularly on LGBT forums. They DO exist, it is just that you cannot wrap your mind around it. There are gay-leaning, straight-leaning and “50/50” bisexuals. It is now an established fact.
“[Research]now completely validates that bisexual people exist” (John Sylla, American Institute of Bisexuality)
Sources:
http://www.americaninstituteofbisexuality.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/the-scientific-quest-to-prove-bisexuality-exists.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisexuality
Brody
Reading a little too much into song lyrics, you are.
He BGB
I thought all British guys were bi. Lol.
OzJosh
After thirty or forty years of pop/rock stars sending out a (slightly) gay/bi vibe to add a bit of edginess or mystery to their images, you’d think this would seem awfully hackneyed. But Queerty is quite happy to play along, so I guess not.
Craig
I wouldn’t count lyrics as coming out. Was Katy’s I Kissed A Girl coming out? Or when Christina Aguilera sings she’s “kissing all the boys and girls” in Not Myself Tonight?
Lookyloo
Why do people always assume songs are from the singers actual real life perspective – or reflect the singers real life urges?
Tons of songs are done from the perspective of a fictional character and fictional scenarios.
Do people think The Beatles really lived in a yellow submarine just because they sang the lyrics “we all live in a yellow submarine”..?