Harry Styles Talks One Direction, Camille Rowe and More in ‘Rolling Stone’: 4 Revelations

Credit: Photograph by Ryan McGinley for Rolling Stone

Harry Styles Talks One Direction, Camille Rowe and More in ‘Rolling Stone’: 4 Revelations

Harry Styles’ upcoming album was brought to you by Camille Rowe and mushrooms. The former boybander didn’t hold back while discussing sex, drugs and One Direction in his Rolling Stone cover story. “While I was in the band, I was constantly scared I might sing a wrong note,” Styles, 25, admitted to the magazine in the interview, published on Monday, August 26. “I felt so much weight in terms of not getting things wrong. I remember when I signed my record deal and I asked my manager, ‘What happens if I get arrested? Does it mean the contract is null and void?’ Now, I feel like the fans have given me an environment to be myself and grow up and create this safe space to learn and make mistakes.” While Styles played coy on the band’s chances of reuniting, he doesn’t feel pressure to distance himself from former bandmates Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik, who famously quit in 2015 before the group released their fifth album. [jwplayer YtAjCNUf-l3ahXupL] “I know it’s the thing that always happens. When somebody gets out of a band, they go, ‘That wasn’t me. I was held back.’ But it was me,” he told Rolling Stone. “And I don’t feel like I was held back at all. It was so much fun. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s not like I was tied to a radiator.” The “Sign of the Times” singer has yet to announce the release date of his second studio album, but told the outlet that he is currently putting the final touches on the tracks. (An insider told Us Weekly earlier this month that Styles’ new album is expected to be released “later this summer/early fall.”) “It’s all about having sex and feeling sad,” Styles told the magazine about his upcoming music. Scroll through for more revelations from Styles’ Rolling Stone cover:

Credit: Photograph by Ryan McGinley for Rolling Stone

Harry Styles Talks One Direction, Camille Rowe and More in ‘Rolling Stone’: 4 Revelations

Harry Styles’ upcoming album was brought to you by Camille Rowe and mushrooms. The former boybander didn’t hold back while discussing sex, drugs and One Direction in his Rolling Stone cover story. “While I was in the band, I was constantly scared I might sing a wrong note,” Styles, 25, admitted to the magazine in the interview, published on Monday, August 26. “I felt so much weight in terms of not getting things wrong. I remember when I signed my record deal and I asked my manager, ‘What happens if I get arrested? Does it mean the contract is null and void?’ Now, I feel like the fans have given me an environment to be myself and grow up and create this safe space to learn and make mistakes.” While Styles played coy on the band’s chances of reuniting, he doesn’t feel pressure to distance himself from former bandmates Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik, who famously quit in 2015 before the group released their fifth album. [jwplayer YtAjCNUf-l3ahXupL] “I know it’s the thing that always happens. When somebody gets out of a band, they go, ‘That wasn’t me. I was held back.’ But it was me,” he told Rolling Stone. “And I don’t feel like I was held back at all. It was so much fun. If I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t have done it. It’s not like I was tied to a radiator.” The “Sign of the Times” singer has yet to announce the release date of his second studio album, but told the outlet that he is currently putting the final touches on the tracks. (An insider told Us Weekly earlier this month that Styles’ new album is expected to be released “later this summer/early fall.”) “It’s all about having sex and feeling sad,” Styles told the magazine about his upcoming music. Scroll through for more revelations from Styles’ Rolling Stone cover:

Credit: Photograph by Ryan McGinley for Rolling Stone

On His Relationship With Camille Rowe:

The musician’s pal and collaborator Tom Hull gave the magazine insight into Styles’ relationship with the French model, whom he split from in July 2018 after one year of dating.

“He went through this breakup that had a big impact on him,” Hull told Rolling Stone. “I turned up on day one in the studio, and I had these really nice slippers on. His ex-girlfriend that he was really cut up about, she gave them to me as a present — she bought slippers for my whole family. We’re still close friends with her. I thought, ‘I like these slippers. Can I wear them — is that weird?’”

After Styles asked him about the slippers, Hull confessed Rowe bought them. “He said, ‘Whaaaat? How could you wear those?’ He had a whole emotional journey about her, this whole relationship,” Hull said. “But I kept saying, ‘The best way of dealing with it is to put it in these songs you’re writing.’”

Styles, for his part, added that may of his songs come from dealing with heartbreak. 

“It’s not like I’ve ever sat and done an interview and said, ‘So I was in a relationship, and this is what happened,’” he explained. “Because, for me, music is where I let that cross over. It’s the only place, strangely, where it feels right to let that cross over.”

Credit: Photograph by Ryan McGinley for Rolling Stone

On How Drugs Impact His Creative Process

“We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s Ram in the sunshine,” Styles told Rolling Stone as they entered Shangri-La studios in Malibu. “We’d just turn the speakers into the yard. You’d hear the blender going, and think, ‘So we’re all having frozen margaritas at 10 a.m. this morning.’” 

The singer added that he once bit off the tip of his tongue while he was under the influence in the studio.  

“So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth,” he said. “Mushrooms and Blood. Now there’s an album title.”

Credit: Photograph by Ryan McGinley for Rolling Stone

On the Chances of a 1D Reunion:

“I don’t know. I don’t think I’d ever say I’d never do it again, because I don’t feel that way,” Styles explained. “If there’s a time when we all really want to do it, that’s the only time for us to do it, because I don’t think it should be about anything else other than the fact that we’re all like, ‘Hey, this was really fun. We should do this again.’ But until that time, I feel like I’m really enjoying making music and experimenting. I enjoy making music this way too much to see myself doing a full switch, to go back and do that again. Because I also think if we went back to doing things the same way, it wouldn’t be the same, anyway.”

Reunion or not, Styles plans to maintain a relationship with his former bandmates.

“Definitely. Because above all else, we’re the people who went through that. We’re always going to have that, even if we’re not the closest. And the fact is, just because you’re in a band with someone doesn’t mean you have to be best friends. That’s not always how it works,” he noted. “Just because Fleetwood Mac fight, that doesn’t mean they’re not amazing. I think even in the disagreements, there’s always a mutual respect for each other.” 

Credit: Photograph by Ryan McGinley for Rolling Stone

On His Sexuality

Styles has never publicly put a label on his sexuality, but he made it clear to Rolling Stone that he wants his fans to feel “comfortable being whatever they want to be” at his concerts. 

“Maybe at a show you can have a moment of knowing that you’re not alone. I’m aware that as a white male, I don’t go through the same things as a lot of the people that come to the shows,” he said. “I can’t claim that I know what it’s like, because I don’t. So I’m not trying to say, ‘I understand what it’s like.’ I’m just trying to make people feel included and seen.”