Behind the Hit: Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles

“Watermelon Sugar” is a song by English singer Harry Styles from his second studio album Fine Line, included as the album’s second track. Styles wrote the song with Mitch Rowland and the song’s producers, Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon. They were inspired by the American novel In Watermelon Sugar (1968) by Richard Brautigan. “Watermelon Sugar” is a horn and guitar-driven rock, funk-pop, and indie pop song.

Originally released as a promotional single from Fine Line on 16 November 2019, “Watermelon Sugar” was later released as the album’s fourth single on 15 May 2020. The song was well-received by music critics, with many praising its concept and Styles’ vocals. The single also performed well commercially, peaking within the top ten in more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States, where it became Styles’ first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

“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
Breathe me in, breathe me out
I don’t know if I could ever go without
I’m just thinking out loud
I don’t know if I could ever go without”

The music video for “Watermelon Sugar” was released on 18 May 2020 to positive reviews. Directed by Bradley & Pablo and filmed in Malibu, California, it features Styles alongside a plethora of bikini-clad women dancing on the beach and eating watermelon. Styles has promoted the single with many live televised performances including on Saturday Night Live, Later… with Jools Holland and Today.

Styles announced the video’s premiere a day prior with a teaser video showing a table on a beach, which was in a scene in the music video. It was directed by Bradley & Pablo and filmed in Malibu, California on 30 January 2020. They had tried to work with Styles for other songs on Fine Line and they eventually began working on “Watermelon Sugar” a week before they began filming. The video was inspired by Paul McCartney’s 1960s style and was partly filmed using a 35 and 16 mm Arri SR3 camera to make some shots look vintage.

Check out the music video below:

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Photo Credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com