The long-awaited Harry Styles “Golden” music video arrived on Oct. 26—and it was well worth the wait.
The video features Styles swimming, driving, dancing, and running in an Italian coastal city, high-waisted pants and lace gloves to boot. For anyone who might be feeling a bit stir-crazy from months of quarantine, “Golden” is an escapist’s fantasy that follows Styles as he beckons the camera to run along the picturesque rocky coastline with him.
“Golden,” the first track on Styles’ 2019 album Fine Line, radiates a warm embrace of harmonies and pulsing hi-hat cymbals that draw in the listener. The video’s vintage-esque yellow filter and stunning Italian location play off the themes of the sunny-sounding song as well.
Styles acts goofy, sticking out his tongue and laying on the hood of a car. He spends most of the video staring directly into the camera, bringing the audience into this fantastical vacation world.
Directors Ben and Gabe Turner, in creating this European getaway for Styles’ audience, make the “Golden” music video feel like an invitation back into Styles’ Fine Line world—a world where you treat people with kindness and hang out under a canyon moon.
So if you’re like me—and your semester in Rome is now a semester in Chestnut Hill—or if you’re just bored of the same four walls of your bedroom, “Golden” is a beautiful 3.5-minute break from the reality of COVID-19. It immerses its audience into a dream where Harry Styles can run down the middle of the street, wear a yellow fisherman’s hat on a rocky shore, and strut his stuff in a teal suit coat—all without wearing a mask.
Photo courtesy of Columbia Records
