"As It Was" is a wistful synth-pop track rooted in personal transitions. "It's about metamorphosis and embracing change," Harry Styles explained to Audacy's Bru, "and former self and perspective shift, and all of that kind of stuff."
For the first two-thirds of "As It Was," Styles juggles love woes.
Nothin' to say
When everything gets in the way
Loneliness after a broken romance.
"Harry, you're no good alone
Why are you sitting at home on the floor?
And a longing for the past.
In this world, it's just us
You know it's not the same as it was
But on the bridge, Styles gives himself a talking-to as he counts his blessings rather than getting bogged down in nostalgia for better times.
Go home, get ahead, light-speed internet
I don't wanna talk about the way that it was
Leave America, two kids follow her
The last line likely references Styles' American actress girlfriend and mother-of-two, Olivia Wilde.
The jaunty instrumentation is distinctly more cheerful than the introspective lyrics. With its roots in 1980s synth-pop, you could say it sounds as it was.
The child's voice at the beginning is Styles' 5-year-old goddaughter, whose father is the British producer Ben Winston. Ruby would call him before bed every night, and when he missed the call one evening, she left Styles a voicemail letting him know she wasn't happy about it. "I dug it out one day when I was in the studio, put it at the start of the song," he told BBC Radio 2's Zoe Ball. "And I loved it so it stuck and I hope when she's older she will enjoy looking back on it."
Styles wrote "As It Was" with the song's producers, Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson. The pair produced 10 out of the 12 tracks on Styles'
Fine Line album, including the hit singles "
Lights Up," "
Watermelon Sugar," and "
Adore You."
Ukrainian filmmaker Tanu Muino directed the video, which shows Styles wearing a selection of red outfits. We see the singer join his former lover spinning in circles on a turning platform before she gets spun off. He continues to chase intimacy with her before dancing his way outside to release negative emotions during the final chorus.
For Muino, filming the clip was a bittersweet experience. On the second day of the shoot, Russia invaded his homeland.
Muino's other credits include Cardi B's "
Up," Lil Nas X' "
MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" and Lizzo's "
Rumors."
Styles released "As It Was" as the lead single from Harry's Game on April 1, 2022. He recorded the album in multiple locations across the UK, Los Angeles, and Tokyo between 2020 and 2021.
Since releasing Fine Line in December 2019, the world has changed, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Explaining to Audacy's Bru why he chose this song as Harry Game's lead single, Styles said, "After everything that's happened over the last two and half, three years, I think the sentiment of - it's not the same as it was - felt pretty perfect."
In the first 24 hours after its release, "As It Was" became the most-streamed song in the United States in a single day, with 8.3 million streams. Olivia Rodrigo's "
Drivers License" previously held the record with 8 million streams.
"As It Was" also earned the Guinness World Records title for the most-streamed track worldwide on Spotify in 24 hours by a male artist after accumulating 16,103,849 streams in its first day on the platform.
The song marked Styles' second Hot 100 #1, following "
Watermelon Sugar" in 2020.
"As It Was" also became Styles' second UK chart-topper, following "
Sign Of The Times."
Harry Styles debuted the song live when he headlined Coachella on April 15, 2022. He also premiered two other Harry's House tracks, "Boyfriends" and "Late Night Talking."
Harry Styles conceived Harry's House as an examination of what's going through his mind when he's at home. He named it after Hosono House, the 1973 album by Japanese musician Haruomi Hosono, which he heard while touring Japan. "Imagine it's a day in my house, a day in my mind. What do I go through? I'm playing fun music. I'm playing sad music. I have doubts. I'm feeling stuff," he explained to Apple Music. "For a while it was, how do I play that game of remaining exciting? But I finally had a moment where I felt like, 'Okay, I'm not the young thing, so I would like to really think about who I want to be as a musician.'"
"As It Was" won for Best Pop and Best Cinematography at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards. Harry's House also won for Album Of The Year.
"As It Was" returned to the Hot 100 summit multiple times between April and September 2022. When it rebounded back to #1 for the week ending September 3, 2022 chart, it became the first song ever to have five separate runs in the top position.
It achieved the longest reign at #1 for a song by a British artist when "As It Was" spent its 15th week at the Hot 100 summit, surpassing the 14 weeks at the top by Elton John's "
Candle In The Wind 1997" and Mark Ronson's "
Uptown Funk."
Styles joined Prince ("
When Doves Cry"/
Purple Rain), Eminem ("
Lose Yourself"/
8 Mile) and Beyoncé ("
Check On It"/
The Pink Panther) in an exclusive club of artists to star in #1 movies while also topping the Hot 100 when his film
Don't Worry Darling topped the box office on September 25, 2022, while "As It Was" was in its fourth of five weeks at the top.
"As It Was" won Favorite Pop Song at the 2022 American Music Awards. Harry Styles also took home the prize for Favorite Male Pop Artist.
Styles performed this song at the Grammy Awards in 2023, where Harry's House won for Album Of The Year, beating out 30 by Adele and Renaissance by Beyoncé. Ben Winston, whose daughter's voice is at the beginning of the song, was a producer on the Grammy telecast.
This won Best Song at the 2023 BRIT Awards. It was Styles' third BRITS win for song of the year, following "
What Makes You Beautiful" in 2012 (as a member of One Direction) and "
Watermelon Sugar" in 2021.
Styles had a night to remember, also taking home the prizes for Artist Of The Year, Pop/R&B Act, and Album Of The Year (for
Harry's House).
Harry's House became the fourth longplayer to win the top album award at both the Brits and the Grammys after Phil Collins'
No Jacket Required and Adele's
21 and
25 albums.
"As It Was" was named the most-performed song of the year at the 2023 Ivor Novello Awards. The category honors the song that UK radio and television played the most over a course of a year.
