Harry Styles – Fine Line (Lyrics Review and Song Meaning)
“Fine Line” acts as the epic finale to Harry Styles’ latest album ‘Fine Line’ released on December 13, 2019. The song that starts off with a mood of melancholy ultimately ends in a high note accompanied by an orchestra. In a way, the song acts as the definitive line between the ups and downs seen in the tracklist of this album. Let us take a look at the meaning behind these lyrics.
“Fine Line” is the title track of Harry Styles’ second studio album, and Harry said it is one of the most special songs to him in this album. Songs such as “Falling,” “Watermelon Sugar” or “Cherry” may be talking about him missing his ex-girlfriend, but this song is about finding that line between love and hate.
In an interview with Zane Lowe, Harry Styles explained the mood behind this track; “One thing I hadn’t experienced before was how I felt during the making of this record. The times when I felt good and happy were the happiest I’ve ever felt in my life, and the times when I felt sad were the lower I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Listen to “Fine Line” by Harry Styles
Buy ‘Fine Line’ Album on Apple Music and Amazon
“Fine Line” Lyrics Meaning and Song Review
Verse 1
Harry Styles describes a relationship that has a price tag on it. Immediately we resort to thinking that the singer might be talking about a prostitute. But further lyrics explain that she has his devotion as well. This could only mean that Harry is stuck in a relationship he does not want to be in.
Harry feels as if her love is up for sale. Maybe she is only pleased with expenses incurred for her, maybe she is just too materialistic. Either the case, Harry still stands by her. But sometimes he can hate her with a passion. One could assume that this is the normal highs and lows of a relationship. But the last line of the verse lets us know that Harry has another girl on his mind.
Chorus
The chorus of the song is a repetition of Harry saying that they will be a ‘fine line’ in their relationship. This does not necessarily mean anything good for the relationship. A fine line draws borders between two things, it means that there is a clear cut difference between two sides. Such a ruling is not essentially helpful for a longterm relationship. Ideally, there should be blurred lines between the couple’s likes and dislikes, love and lust, happiness and sadness etc.
Verse 2
In the second verse of the song, Harry Styles further elaborates the stained edges of their relationship. She drives him crazy, and not in a good way either. She pushes him beyond his patience tolerance, and she has secrets that never gets unravelled.
Harry Styles paints her mixed emotions about this girl with the use of metaphors “sunshine” and “temptress.” Whilst, ‘temptress’ is not necessarily a bad synonym, it is not usually associated to describe pure goodness of heart.
‘Spreading you open’ has a sexual undertone to it to mean to have sex. According to Harry, she is only herself when she is in sexual congress with him. Or, maybe, the singer finds her bent to his whims only during this physical activity.
Outro
From “we’ll be a fine line,” Harry moves on to “we’ll be alright.” Rather than opting to move away from this relationship, he decides to make up his mind. We already know this is not a permanent fix.
Let us hear what you think about the “Fine Line” song by Harry Styles in the comments below. Do you draw perfect lines in your relationship?
I think this song is about his fans and the PR ($) relationships he has to have to keep them loving him and buying his music. You can tell he lives to entertain and he is happiest on stage. Fans have his devotion but He doesn’t want to fight (upset) his fans, he doesn’t want to lose everything (sleep in dirt). He hates that he has to have these fake relationships but his hand is at risk. The fame, glory and adoration… the sunshine and temptress. He folds (has fake PR relationship) I agree w/ duh above about “spreading {one} open” line. I think the Fine Line is the one he walks with his fans and his fame.
So he needs to get drunk to think about her. Does he need the drinks or does he need it to think about her. He has to be high to think about her so she is in that level of his mind
I think this is good, however, I don’t know about the her and she. But I’m not going to nit pick. Honestly, in my opinion, I think this song is about life. Yes it’s obviously about a relationship as well because it says things like “The only way of knowing you” and things like that. But what I think Harry is saying in the song is that there are good times, bad times, but also just okay times. You’re walking on that Fine Line when things aren’t good, but necessarily aren’t bad either. And even though it’s hard doing those kind of times, you know that you’re going to be alright. Maybe he’s talking about their relationship just being on a Fine Line right then and he couldn’t figure out how to fix it. Also, I don’t think that the “Spreading you open” line really means anything sexual. I think what he was saying is that getting them to open up, and learn about who they are on the inside, is the only way of knowing who they are. I don’t really think the beginning verses are about a prositute either. I think when he’s saying “put a price on emotions, looking for something to buy.” He’s just making a metaphor of “Name a price and I’ll buy it.” He’s saying if there were to be a price on emotions he would be them because he doesn’t have any right then. He feels as it he’s numb. However, that’s just my opinion on all this.
Ikkkk, she??? Come onnnn
I think this song is about himself. After all the ups and downs that you notice in the previous songs, he found the fine line between that happiness and sadness. And he uses “we”, possibly talking about the two people he was in those moments (Harry happy and Harry sad) or also this “we” can be related to all of us, because we are always going through ups and downs, but eventually Harry believes that we will all find the fine line and we´ll be alright.
great review but don’t say « her » (don’t put a gender on the person he’s talking about » 🙂
A lot of people think many songs on the album are about Camille his ex girlfriend and she’s definitely a girl
yeah but yk there could also be other people with different genders just that he had to add she/her pronouns just for the media
So yeah i think the pronounces in the paragraphs should have been in they/them
well the word “temptress” by definition is referring to a woman so i think the pronouns r correct.
How do you know it’s a she? Maybe it’s a he? Should have you they/them pronounces since harry make the song gender neutral and i think there’s a reason for it
temptress? That’s a woman…..
he said “her” in the first verse as well
the lyrics literally say “get back to thinking of HER” ????
i don’t think he’s talking about the person the song is about here as he uses ‘you’ in other lines. he’s thinking of a girl in that line but that doesn’t mean the song is about her. maybe it’s a girl he is interested in or maybe it’s a girl that he’s jealous of. maybe he’s just thinking about her. harry has been painted as a womaniser his whole life so he probably was worried a lot about how the media says he is dating whatever girl and how it might affect his personal relationships. he might be referring to that. also in harry’s song woman from his self titled album, he talks about this woman that he’s obsessed with and it can be interpreted that his partner is with this woman. maybe he was referring to that. ik im talking a lot but there’s so many different ways it could be interpreted. it annoys me when people assume harry to be straight, he’s clearly not. i dont mean this to come across as aggressive either. have a nice day, tpwk 🙂
Honestly, why can’t we just accept who he is, without painting him as a womanizer, or objectifying, or assuming he’s straight? Can we just accept who he is?
Exactlyyyy