Harry Styles is going solo and by the looks of this new single, it seems to be working out quite well for him. “Sign of the Times” is released as the second single off of his self-titled debut album, which is to be released on May 12th. The almost 6 minute music video released just two days ago has over 7.5 million views on YouTube alone. This is a very good sign for Harry just few days before the album release.
The video has been shot in Scotland’s Isle of Skye and looks very heavenly. It is a perfect place to shoot a video about lonesome. The video starts off with Harry Styles dressed in a bluish overcoat standing alone in the rugged landscape with wind blowing through his hair. The cinematography in “Sign of the Times” music video deserves an award.
Later on in the video, Harry feels some kind of energy (maybe freeing even), and starts of lift off into the sky. There he roams the place, which is an absolute beaut) and takes off into the sunset when the song goes “We got to, we got to run” repeatedly.
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The lyrics to the song holds some meaning, buried somewhat inbetween the lines. So it is worthwhile to take a look at them.
Lyrics Review of “Sign of the Times”
In an interview with the Rolling Stone magazine, Harry told that “Sign of the Times” is written in the perspective of a mother giving birth to a child, but she is not going to make it. So let’s try to fit in the meaning into that perspective.
Verse 1
Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times
Welcome to the final show
Hope you’re wearing your best clothes
You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky
You look pretty good down here
But you ain’t really good
‘Sign of the times’ in general terms mean an unwelcome period. So we can safely assume and say that the mother’s death was unpredicted. The ‘final show’ is the final moments of the death bed. Wearing your best clothes can be interpreted in two ways here. In one hand it refers to the final funeral ceremonies where the deceased is dressed quite elegantly. On the other hand, it’s a hope that the dying person was on their best behavior. Because they are about to enter the afterlife.
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‘The sky’ is a reference to the heaven and the singer says you can’t bribe your way there. If you were morally good in your life, the pearly gates will automatically open up for you.
The next two lines speak about how looks can be deceiving. She looked good on earth, but the lyrics suggest she wasn’t that good of a person.
Pre-Chorus
We never learn, we been here before
Why are we always stuck and running from
The bullets? The bullets? -//
These lyrics speak about the emotional bullets one has to face. We think we can outrun them, but they are just inside us, shooting outside. You either learn to control them or let them kill you.
Chorus
Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times
We gotta get away from here
We gotta get away from here
Just stop your crying, it’ll be alright
They told me that the end is near
We gotta get away from here
Again, Harry Styles tries to comfort the person on the death bed. He has been given the grieving news that she is going to pass away and he says “we” gotta get away from here. It is a slight comforting gesture that death is a common factor for everyone.
Verse 2
Just stop your crying, have the time of your life
Breaking through the atmosphere
And things are pretty good from here
Remember everything will be alright
We can meet again somewhere
Somewhere far away from here
Since the ‘end’ is a common factor to everyone, “Sign of the Times” asks everyone to live the life to the fullest. This doesn’t mean doing harm or bad, because then you won’t get a key to the pearly gates and you can’t bribe your way in like you did in clubs down on earth as well.
Harry Styles is afloat when these lyrics run by and I think he means to indicate that he is in heaven. So obviously things look pretty good from up there. Again he says that everyone will meet again in some far away place from earth-heaven or hell. Making the path is up to you.
Bridge
We don’t talk enough, we should open up
Before it’s all too much
Will we ever learn? We’ve been here before
It’s just what we know
Harry Styles gets into a confessional mood, revealing that it is better to talk out the things that are bothering you. If not, it could build up inside and explode inside, which would mean in the worst case-suicide. So he might be drawing a personal experience about his friend Matt Irwin who committed suicide.
“Sign of the Times” draws to an end after the chorus repeats several times. The music video keeps on being epic and the sight and the shots are just beautiful. I can safely call this a great work of music from all possible angles.
Final verdict on “Sign of the Times”: It’s one of those videos where you can watch the entire 5 minutes and 40 seconds without blinking your eyes.
If you love this song as much as we do, make sure to leave a comment below or comment your favorite lyrics from the song and tell us what they mean to you.
The song is the mother speaking to the child. Not someone speaking to the mother.
This is very helpful to understand. Thank you.
Very powerful song. Brings up so many emotions. Harry is truly an earth angel and an old old soul here to awaken humanity. He has fans as young as 8 months old and in their 80’s. Now THAT’s pretty remarkable right there when you can transcend all ages..to open hearts fully. Bravo Harry! I wrote all my books to only your music! And I’m 71 and not ashamed to say I’m your biggest fan 🙂 You inspire to me to keep writing my inspirational books.