#hs3 narrative

[so-idialed-9]

It is cute to still have a crush on your spouse after all these years.

Source

#seeding the new narrative #the story's changing #larryaf #hs3 promo #media #queer harry styles #2022

[lhrry]

You know, this music video is a really nice continuation of the narrative we've seen in all videos for HS3. Between AIW being about self-discovery, going inside, away from the crowds to deal with the duality within him (blue/red) just to then stripping naked in front of people and losing and then finding himself, then LNT with the public image vs private life, what people see/want to see vs what is true, then this with the forced performance and being a "meal" for people to devour. Fascinating.

#my question is how come he gets away with it

[twopoppies]

I wanna make it clear from the get go that I’m in no way defending Harry’s ticket pricing or Ticketmaster’s ridiculous monopoly over concert tickets.

That said, I think people have a habit of oversimplifying marketing and marketing strategies, and assuming that they’re directly reflective of an artist’s personal greed, so I’d like to offer some alternate food for thought.

I think Harry’s ticket pricing is the result of three things: 1) marketing and brand strategy, 2) audience, and 3) negotiating leverage.

Marketing strategies have multiple layers to them, and are highly dependent on variations per artist per genre. What do I mean? Two people can both be lucrative pop artists but appeal to a widely different audience and will therefore be branded and marketed accordingly. Ed Sheeran, for example, is one of the top pop artists in the business. He’s worked with many of the biggest and brightest pop acts, but his personal brand has always been down-to-earth singer-songwriter troubadour type. That’s the audience he plays to, and that kind of audience has a certain price point and is expecting it to be maintained. It’s very different to the kind of fan who would buy a ticket to a Beyoncé concert, or a Taylor Swift concert, and even though you can argue that there is overlap, you can understand that visually and experience-wise, the branding differs immensely. That directly affects ticket price points.

Next, audience. Like it or not, Harry’s music appeals to a wide audience that’s largely made up of very casual fans, so the profit strategy is quantity over quality. If you pay attention to the kind of audience Harry plays to, at least 75% of them are only going to one show each (casual fans, parents with young children, partners buying tickets for occasions, etc). That means, for them to maximize overall profits, an individual ticket that’s priced much, much higher will give them more returns than multiple affordable tickets (they don’t put the weight on repeat concert-goers because they’re a relatively small part of Harry’s concert audience). The profit strategy for Harry has always been to cater to the maximum number of people possible, while artists like Louis, whose ace up their sleeve is the solid, loyal fan base they’ve cultivated, will put the weight on repeat-concert goers and will therefore be more successful pricing each ticket lower, so people can go to multiple shows.

Yes, it sucks for Harry’s actual, loyal fans, but we have to accept that the current level Harry is at is finite, and given that the music industry will always be profit oriented, they are clearly trying to take advantage of that.

Lastly, negotiating leverage. I think we have to understand that the creative freedom we’ve seen Harry expressing (which has grown markedly from HS1 to HS3) is a direct result of the money he’s able to bring in. Money speaks, and the kind of money Harry’s bringing in tells his label that it would be idiotic to curtail him from writing the kinds of songs he wants, dressing the way he wants, doing covers of magazines in dresses, getting involved with queer artists, designers, actors and projects, etc etc etc. That leverage was hard won, especially for a closeted artist. The fact is, his profitability is likely the only thing that’s keeping them from shoving him back into the frat-boy womanizer narrative he had in 1D because what he’s proven is that his authentic music, taste, and style evolution is actually as lucrative (if not more) than their original branding of him.

So, yes, as much as the pricing of Harry’s tickets sucks and is unfair, I think people should think twice before branding it simple pathological greed. There are many things at play here, and we still have to acknowledge the capitalist nature of the music industry in general. “Survival” as an authentic artist in the music industry comes at a cost, and more than anything, that’s going to come down to an undeniable level profitability.

#harry’s image #ticket pricing #music industry

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Hi India, you mentioned earlier the pivot with hs3 promo and how it relates both to Holivia and MP marketing would you mind explaining what you mean by that?

Hi, love!

So, please take note I don’t really have much to back up this theory other than what the logical conclusion should have been vs what it turned out to be, but during the rollout of Harry’s House, we noticed a pretty obvious shift in the narrative.

Let’s start with the tracklist leak. From the moment we saw Cinema, everyone was like boom! That’s the one. About as subtle as a hand-grenade going off in a fireworks factory.

Then, the week before the HS3 leak, blogs were getting anons about how het Harry’s House was, how there was a mention of green eyes, and a song about fuckboys, and how there was a “really gross het lyric” in Cinema, and of course, our reaction? Panic and freak out!!! (But just enough to rabidly download the very organized leak to see for ourselves a week later.)

Then, when we came to our senses and realized the album was approximately, maybe, ever so slightly 0.00000000001% het-adjacent, the Zane Lowe interview was announced, which, from our experience with Fine Line, was when the “my ex-girlfriend” official narrative was rolled out. So, we held our breath and got…

Harry doo-doo-doo-ing his way out of a question and talking about thoughts on a treadmill. But then, Zane Lowe also hinted at the possibility that they re-shot this interview — that “there was a time they were supposed to do this in the UK” but that “there’s something so timely (?) about doing this in the afterglow of Coachella weekend”. It’s could have meant a number of things, but given the time they would need to set up and film the interview, then edit and release it, it seemed really strange that they would pack that all into the weekend after Coachella, and release it so soon afterwards, especially when Harry’s House is themed around home and England.

And then, on Howard Stern, Harry had so many opportunities to confirm who Cinema was about, was even asked directly and led to an answer several times, and the man ducked and dived with the best of them. So this begs the question: why on earth would Harry’s team blatantly name a song Cinema when he’s stunting with his director, go through the trouble of setting up all of this ‘het’ storyline within fandom, and do everything Harry can to divert from that original narrative?

My theory is that somewhere along the way the team decided it was best not to link Olivia to Harry’s House officially at all, so they reshot the Zane Lowe interview because, in the original, he, maybe, does confirm that Cinema is linked to Olivia. And then, Harry was given permission to duck and dive direct questions on Howard Stern (because it would look odd if they blacklisted Cinema talk altogether, seeing as it’s the song with the juiciest narrative).

Why? I don’t really know, but my best guess was that the overlap in promo timelines between My Policeman and DWD had just been confirmed (the first time Harry mentions MP publicly is on Howard Stern) and there wouldn’t be enough space between the two movies for Harry not to get pretty wild backlash if he did confirm their relationship in such a public way and then go on to star in a queer film.

Again, just a guess. Hope that helps!

#iaw ask #iaw anonymous #my policeman discussion #stunt discussion

[alarrytale]

I wonder if H tried to change the hs3 narrative at the last second by saying the the most of the album he wrote pre Olivia/during pandemics only because they didn’t expect that the fandom wouldn’t like Olivia? I like to think that he didn’t like her as much as I hated that stunt but in the end of the day it’s all about the money for them. as you said he is a male tsw*ft now who has a new muse for every album so yeah I expect hs4 to be totally about tr but also more sexually explicit like his sause song

Hi, anon!

You might be right. If not that, maybe the album promo blended over in the movie promo, so he toned down the O narrative for HsH to save it for the movie promo? Idk, he did talk quite alot about her in the BHG interview. More than he's talked about his other beards/muses for his other albums. So maybe they hadn't planned for a heavy O narrative for the album. And they executed it the way it was planned? Not low key, but not full on either? Who knows. Glad that thing is over anyway...

#solo harry #holivia for ts

[jlf23tumble]

The groupthink and insular nature of larries (you can’t sit with us unless you believe/espouse what we believe) def keeps people a reachin’ EVEN HARDER. And this all or nothing attitude leads to “unlarrying” which somehow means those people just buy into a whole other narrative (so did they really need “deprogramming” or just another doctrine to follow blindly? Rip to that girl who wrote about how she couldn’t believe she used to think Carolina was about drugs when Harry is so pure after she listened to HS3 lmaoooo).

Bottom line is all sides of HL’s fandom puts them in boxes and just ignore pieces of evidence that don’t fit with their narrative (hets ignoring H’s queer coding, larries ignoring all of AOTV post-2015, etc). Multiple things can be true at once - Louis can enjoy indulging in alcohol and weed and be happy and successful (he doesn’t need you to save him); Harry can make out with models and playfully react to signs about pussy and still be sleeping with dudes (plenty of queer men, even those who self-identify as gay, have been intimate with women); HL can have been in a relationship and aren’t anymore (or at least not in the “married” sense). This is all way more fun when you allow for people to be people and not unchanging posters on your wall. Ultimately i don’t care what you believe as long as you acknowledge we’re all clowns here in the dumbass circus.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

#one direction #for realllllllll ya nailed it #i have some other anons i probably won't answer just because i let some sit too long and some are just too long so--tags below! #bradrry and deuxmoi anon: lmaoooo but maybe?? idk #at least one half yes--i see it #peace ring/bird ring anon #no clue where the bird is but if it's part of my ring theory #that bird might have flown! #louis choking and resenting fans anon #i feel he resents a lot of fans for a lot more than any momentary physical grab #but YEAH--gross #tumblr larries dying off anon #idk i think you can definitely find pockets of very loud people #maybe fewer than before? #but i also think they've soured a lot of fandom experience--see above #acid eyes and people ignoring lyrics anon #ONE HUNDRED PERCENT #and even more so when you think of that anon i had yesterday #who was like it doesn't have to be 100000% h/l #you could argue that one being somewhat related to zayn #and yeah--true #but a lot of people don't make that reach #instead they just say shit like omg they must have listened to this together!

[septembersghost]

I love your response about hsh lyrics. I feel like Harry’s songwriting in hsh are disregarded as lyrically and thematicically inferior to his earlier albums or other works from his contemporaries. Albums like TS midnights and HS/fine line are regarded as lyrically superior, with comparisons favouring narrative style lyrics with poetic phrasing and explicit references that listeners can easily infer meaning from. This is of course a deeply engaging mode of storytelling which TS executes exquisitely on all of her albums and which harry has beautifully employed throughout old 1D albums and in HS and fine line. But I think it’s completely unfair to compare midnights or HS or fine line to hsh, considering the albums’ respective styles of songwriting are so contrary.

Hsh is really distinct in its evocative energy and it’s lyrics aren’t painting a narrative which you can visualise and directly empathise with, nor are they waxing poetic that you can directly relate to. Instead, it’s this different brand of lyriciscm embedded in playful and nostalgic imagery. Seemingly against your will, you’re sitting on cool granite countertops and swinging your legs against the kitchen cupboards of ‘little freak’, or you’re feeling the sun on your face in the garden courtyard of ‘grapejuice’, or you’re sitting in a cafe booth with the smell of freshly brewed coffee keeping you awake in ‘keep driving’. Olfactory imagery, instrospective musings and shamelessly debauche flirtations make this album one that, on first listen, appears lyrically unsophiscated. On subsequent listens, the mastery of this album unfolds - the rough edges can be seen as an artistic choice, to portray life as we experience it (unfiltered). And that’s what makes it so universally appealing.

thank you, i'm so glad you do! 💖

this is such an articulate message and you expressed this beautifully, i'm just reading it and nodding along.

it's curious, i have seen midnights criticized/called a "regression," because it isn't folklore/evermore, and aside from the fact that there is plenty of quill pen lyricism on the record (ex: i searched aurora borealis green/i've never seen someone lit from within/blurring out my periphery), the intent of midnights is entirely different. she was forthright about that - returning to pop sensibilities, returning to intensely diaristic and explicitly personal storytelling. i agree with your assessments. i love the quill/fountain/glitter gel pen categories as a reference to categorize songwriting, because each form is unique and has its own strength and value. this is equally true of harry's approaches. I think it’s completely unfair to compare midnights or HS or fine line to hsh, considering the albums’ respective styles of songwriting are so contrary. same.

or to use another metaphor, i compared them to painters before, and on hs3 he's working with watercolors. it's meant to evoke sensations, bring forth sensory imagery and tie the emotions to those memories rather than the emotion itself being quite so visceral.

Seemingly against your will, you’re sitting on cool granite countertops and swinging your legs against the kitchen cupboards of ‘little freak’, or you’re feeling the sun on your face in the garden courtyard of ‘grapejuice’, or you’re sitting in a cafe booth with the smell of freshly brewed coffee keeping you awake in ‘keep driving’. Olfactory imagery, instrospective musings and shamelessly debauche flirtations make this album one that, on first listen, appears lyrically unsophiscated. On subsequent listens, the mastery of this album unfolds - the rough edges can be seen as an artistic choice, to portray life as we experience it (unfiltered). <- you GET it, and you are a wonderful writer. i'm not kidding, this is a GORGEOUS explanation and review of the album and deserves to be published somewhere. it's such a potent experience when it clicks, and consoling and lonely and jubilant too.

#this was the coolest thing to read and i'm in awe of your writing ability in capturing this #thank you so much for sharing it #anonymous #letterbox #harry styles #harry's house

[bciwasinlove]

I saw an anon saying how people will ignore certain things to fit their narrative [which is true] but then said FL clearly references a break up. 💀💀💀

Did we listen to the same album? Half of FL is about harry himself and his personal struggles/journey and the other half that does more involve a lover is just I love you baby light of my life [same thing with HS3].

I just feel like some really want them to have had some horrible break up for who knows what reason bc they constantly argue that's what larrys songs are about when most are about themselves, loving one person and only ever one person and the struggles of being a closeted person + hiding their relationship due to working in a homophobic industry.

#larry songs #break up songs #they arent

[releaseholiday]

I think Chicago is not even about him, like he’s not talking about himself like everything we know don’t fit the narrative, neither for the solos. I’m curious about the sound tho

Could be, definitely! I think this album will be more about sounds then lyrics, his own hs3 alskajs

#the boys are in a head empty just vibing era

[daisiesonafield-blog]

With all this talk about HS3 being super domestic and about long-term mature love. Along with the unsubtle and insistent push about holivia being "so serious", with ridiculous engagement/marriage rumors. All of that is really making me think that Harry & Louis are actually really married.

like for real

#hs3 speculation #hs3 marketing #hs3 rumors #larry is real #harry's narrative vs reality #hs3 narrative #like for real they won't stfu about it being domestic and about mature love #and they've also really been pushing the 'so serious' crap for forever now #it can only mean one thing #hs3 is gonna be super fucking gay and married life #and that is obviously about louis and H #married #mar 20 2022 #mar 2022 #I AM LOOKING

[larrytimelines]

Here they are on this VERY planned pap walk. These photos are from March 15 2022, in Soho, by Piccadilly Circus. Here’s another ‘spotted’ pic from the same day.

At first glance you’d think they were papped just leaving that eye shop and walking down the street from it. But that’s not what happened. I even doubt they were actually in the store. They just took pictures so it looked like they were leaving the store.

If you check street view, you’ll notice that they have pictures outside the store, then on a completely different street. AND they are not even walking on the sidewalk, they’re IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. That is a tactic for pap walks so that there aren’t other people blocking the view or in the picture.

So although it looks like they just got papped leaving this shop, they actually went to several different locations to hold hands and walk for the camera. LITERALLY. I am not exaggerating. This was no accident. They hired that photographer to “catch” them strolling around London holding hands.

Also, they’ve embargoed the pictures and are slowly releasing them to the public, just like they did when Holivia first dropped in January 2021.

This is being done to set the narrative for HS3, Harry’s House.

#long post #holivia march 2022 #HS3 marketing #holivia pap walk #how pap walks are done #holivia #holivia pap pics #HS3 narrative #HH #mine #mar 15 2022 #mar 2022 #holivia in london #posted on #mar 20 2022 #and #mar 21 2022 #PR strategy

[larrylimericks]

18Apr22

Our knickers got put in a twist At Rob’s clickbait disguised as a list; Pham’s pics—always blurry— Have focused fan fury; And Niji’s tour vibe will be missed.

#larry #harry #harry styles #hs3 #harry's house #rob sheffield #rolling stone #rob published a 'every harry styles song ranked!' list #those kinds of lists exist only to get people talking #it did the usual: pushed some het narratives ... #got rolling stone some clicks ... #capitalizes on harry interest after coachella to get normies more acquainted #and prepped for hs3 #we got new hshq pics from coachella #the usual pham-blur #give me like 1 in 10 blurry atmospheric photo #rather than 9 of 10 #but harry must like something about them #niji announced he won't be rejoining love on tour #hope it was amicable #he was such a great addition #in louis news ... #apparently daily mail ran an article on banana #i just wanna cradle all the twitter larries who think it's going somewhere #it's not #you can't find logic in a shit show #limerick-hs #april 18 #2021

[twopoppies]

I’m not really looking forward to the HS3 era push right now. I think the sex sells things is absolutely what they’re going for. You saw those peeks during the Grammys and the non-uniform outfits on tour that were basically thirst trap shirtless looks. Definitely made to draw attention to sex appeal. And that’s fine. But I agree with the unsustainable nature of this ambiguity. And if it will feel like he’s playing around with a bi/pan identity for selling things to as many people as possible. And part of being able to have this male interest at this time is because Olivia is still right there. Which just feels off to me. I get he’s bound by contracts, and I absolutely think he’s working off Sony’s formula of what will get the most attention and streams and sell. Regardless of how truly authentic it is to Harry. And I obviously also know he’s hinted a bit at this type of direction with talking about My Policeman influencing his writing, giving him plausible inspiration for themes and male characters. But for some reason it’s just hitting a bit more manufactured as you and Daisy pointed out. Which is too bad for some fans. The GP won’t care. Which is why Sony won’t care. It’ll get all the buzz and curious streams. But the free love group bed aspect feels very, I don’t know… not great. Like the orgy type criticism of Lights Up (which missed the point of LU) but actually going for it. Sigh, I just wanted Eroda back or TPWK but we get Watermelon Sugar 2.0. So true that sex sells. And psychedelic theme sex will probably sell more. I have to remind myself often that while Harry controls some things, he’s also very bound and very much a super controlled group think mass market appeal brand at this point.

Hi honey. Yeah, I'm nervous about a lot of aspects of what we're thinking might be a part of this video. Harry tends to throw us for a loop and never does what we expect, but I think we're very much getting Watermelon Sugar 2.0 which, honestly, I knew was coming as soon as the song took off. The suits always want "the last success with a new twist". ALWAYS. In every industry I've ever worked in. So none of us should be surprised. And I think it's helpful (at least for me) to remember that this is selling a brand. Harry Styles™ is a brand and they're wrapping it up in whatever way they think will get the most streams/sales/awards/articles/gossip etc. and that doesn't necessarily mean that's who Harry Styles is as a person.

As for HS3 as a whole? They've always tried to sell his albums as being about his love life. Fine Line was "sex and feeling sad" which we all know barely even touched the surface of what it was about and how much it meant to so many of us. So maybe we're getting sexy guy having sex era. But I really don't think that's all we're going to get.

My advice to everyone who's wringing their hands over what's coming is to just take a deep breath and try to stop catastrophising. Nothing is ever what fandom makes it into before we get all the information.

On the plus side, free love and sex does get him away from the "I'm so in love with my A-list director girlfriend" narrative. 🙄

#hs3 #hs3 narrative #hs3 speculation #late night #harry's image #pr and marketing

[ladychlo]

:D

#this whole super domestic super loving #best friends #families blending so well together #uk and london home base #looks like something forever #the whole proposal stories at the start #the whole being discreet enjoying their time together regardless of work and distance #this whole narrative of Holivia is sending me lol #that's like litteraly just Larry #HS3 is gonna be so about best friends in love and being married #and how you grow up with your lover #lol #holivia #stunt

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

.

#I get new Larries not understanding how Louis’ PR (or the lack thereof) works #but OG Louie Larries falling for this crap of they’re seeding a new narrative to end BG’ or whatever .. #are you not embarrassed? did you not live through the last seven years and put 2 + 2 together? #did you not understand the timeline syncs between HS and LT and how they are used only to promote HS ? #between Fine Line and Walls singles and album releases and their timelines . was it not transparently clear that WMI/ Eroda etc. were used #exclusively to promote Fine Line? and as soon as FL dropped. Walls was let go like a corpse into the ocean. #does someone have to explain this to you again #so you’re not surprised for HS3 promo cycle? #I mean they’ve basically written out a timeline for us #and you KNOW there’s no benefit in it for Louis #the outcome has already been decided #just enjoy LTWT content and stop spotting tall shadows in the darkness #or expecting a deus ex machina because I guarantee you #that H is scheduled to win win win #let Louis be Louis. enjoy the shows. love his antics. #support him and his crew and let him bloom #you aren’t the clever detectives you think you are #the labels aren’t inadvertently letting you discover mistakes #Louis isn’t rebelling to give you clues #and neither is Harry. #just enjoy what you enjoy. #let it go. #free louis from your insane theories.

[halohamilton]

Do you think Harry will release anything this year like music or some other project with Gucci

Idk sjsksk

I unfortunately do not work with him or his team so I have no way of knowing these things lol

#Gut feeling says after June to expect something #Cos idk about the tour tbh #And idk if the stunt will still be a thing #Fingers crossed its not lol #And that 'prediction' was right #She'll be back with jason by then #Bye bye olivia #Hello HS3.... #With nasty narratives lol but that's expected #To keep #In case I'm right #Maybe August-September