One Direction may be gone. But as for the individual members of the British boy band, they’re thriving in their solo careers. And one in particular is rising on the charts this week: 25-year-old Harry Styles.
Working on his forthcoming, second studio album, Fine Line, Styles just released one of two new singles: “Watermelon Sugar.”
Harry might be hesitant to reveal the song’s meaning. (More on that below.) But it doesn’t take much to figure out that this ’70s-inspired tune seems focused on one thing in particular: oral sex.
Harry wastes no time getting into intimate details that, in light of the song’s meaning, become more explicit as the song progresses.
He gets right to the point as he sings, “Tastes like strawberries on a summer evenin’/And it sounds just like a song/I want more berries and that summer feelin’/It’s so wonderful and warm.”
Things get more suggestive when he adds, “I want your belly and that summer feelin’/Getting washed away in you.”
Apparently this experience, one that Harry is calling a “watermelon sugar high,” has left Harry feeling as if he could never “go without.”
In an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats1, Zane asked Harry about the meaning of this latest track. Harry responds with a coy, “I don’t know.”
But Zane, along with fans all over the internet, is quick to suggest that this song is in fact about, as Zane says, “the joys of mutually appreciated oral pleasure.” For his part, Harry has said vaguely that his latest album as whole focuses on “freedom … self-discovery and reflection.”
And although there is a post-apocalyptic novel by Richard Brautigan of the same name, chances are “Watermelon Sugar” isn’t alluding to that book … and is naughtily referencing something else entirely.
Kristin Smith joined the Plugged In team in 2017. Formerly a Spanish and English teacher, Kristin loves reading literature and eating authentic Mexican tacos. She and her husband, Eddy, love raising their children Judah and Selah. Kristin also has a deep affection for coffee, music, her dog (Cali) and cat (Aslan).
