To gauge just how far Harry Styles’ personal brand has travelled on the world stage in his 13 years of stardom, it’s worth glancing back to the pop star’s first X Factor audition. Then, Styles was a fresh-faced 16-year-old, working part time at a bakery near his family home, in the nice Cheshire hamlet of Holmes Chapel. Wearing a hoodie, plunging white t-shirt and a grey neck-scarf, he resembled an Inbetweener taking baby-steps toward Indie Sleaze; the boy everyone at school thinks will one day be famous. He kissed his mum on the cheek as she smiled her support.
Back then, Harry’s tepid render of Train’s Hey Soul Sister was interrupted by chief whip Simon Cowell, who told him to start again. He then opted for a heartfelt acapella rendition of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely. In that moment, the audience fell head over heels in love with Harry, establishing everything they would want from him moving forward. They have stayed, exponentially multiplying ever since, crowning a sweet kid with curly hair who once talked about the Northern popularity of Viennese whirls on TV as one of the personal bellwethers of 21st century taste.
