Harry Styles shared his quarantine experience on a FaceTime call with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, discussing his adjustment to isolation, his daily schedule and thoughts on the ongoing pandemic.
“I think we’re kind of adjusting to the new normal,” he told Lowe. “I think for a lot of people, the reality’s setting in… At first, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re all in and we get to watch movies and eat burritos,’ and live the kind of meme life. And then you speak to people around the world. … I have some friends in Italy and stuff and for them, it’s really scary.”
“There’s hundreds of people dying every day and you kind of, if you’re in your house, you get to kind of remove from it a little bit and you get to watch films and read books and listen to music, which is amazing,” he continued. “But I think you get that humbling moment where you just remember that actually this is a very serious thing. So yeah it’s definitely been an adjustment and there’s people who aren’t with their families, and it’s a really hard time to be a single person living on your own right now.”
Styles is currently staying with friends, cooking and also getting food delivered — while the option lasts. “We’ve been ordering as long as we can because we figured there’ll be a point where we can’t and we obviously know the businesses are struggling,” he noted.
He’s also been maintaining somewhat of a routine while under self-quarantine. “I meditate, so I’ll meditate in the morning and then have a coffee and do some reading to kind of just try to wake up a little bit,” he said. “And then I go for a run, try and get some air and some sunshine, and try and work out in the morning or something. And then I’ll try to do a little work and just go for a walk in the afternoon. I have just been trying to get some air and not see anyone. But I’ve been going for drives and stuff just to get some air and some sun on my face.”
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Styles recently rescheduled his European tour in support of his new album, Fine Line, to 2021. “We were hitting the road in a couple of weeks,” he told Lowe. “It’s kind of across the board. Everyone’s shut down so it doesn’t feel so ‘Woe is me, why is this happening to me?’ type thing.”
However, he’s been using the time at home to create music. “I’ve been writing so much,” he said. “To be honest, I’m doing some of the stuff that I should be doing more often anyway…I should be playing the guitar more. I should be writing poems and lyrics more. So I’ve been doing a lot of that.”
He also suspected that time in quarantine will produce a lot of music. “I think a lot of powerful music is going to come from that,” he said, “because ultimately you have people who have a need to express themselves through music and writing and film and so many different ways who are now having a lot of extra time with no distractions…It gives you an ability to have almost like a bird’s eye view of the world and your life.”
While in quarantine, Styles’ friend Stevie Nicks recently sent out a PSA, warning fans to stay home and practice social distancing. She also compared Fine Line to a Fleetwood Mac classic: “Way to go H,” she said. “It is your Rumours.”