How Radiohead influenced Harry Styles

What does the most “independent” and unconventional band in rock have to do with one of the biggest pop stars of these times? In reality, since the days of One Direction, Harry Styles has used as “reference” historical and recent names of genres and periods apparently distant from his music. And in these days of the release of the new album “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” (arriving tomorrow) he said that seeing Radiohead in Berlin was an important factor in the choice to return to tour, and how to organize it in the form of a residency. “Together, Together”, as the concert tour is called, will take place with multiple dates in seven cities around the world starting in May 2026, including 30 dates at Madison Square Garden.

“I think a lot of the reasoning for me is that it makes the show better,” he said, speaking about his residency with Zane Lowe for Apple Music. “I think you can build something that doesn’t have to travel every night. I think the show itself is better. There’s something about it that allows me to stay in my life while I’m doing it. And so I think it allows me to take better care of myself, which I think makes me better at doing what I do.”

The singer said the project was influenced by his time in Berlin, where he also saw Radiohead. “I felt so part of the audience. I had a very clear moment: ‘This is why I’m going on stage’. I’m watching this and I feel everything going on around me in the crowd. There are people picking up other people’s things and people carrying things to each other. It’s this feeling of strangers looking at each other and rubbing shoulders when someone is emotional and looking into a stranger’s eyes and shouting a chorus together. I had a moment where I thought, ‘I’m there for people to have this’, you know? I’m soundtracking all of this.”

Styles also cited LCD Soundsystem as a source of inspiration: “When you watch them be so immersed in what they do, I think the inspiration came from there, like, ‘Oh, this is how I want to feel when I’m on stage.’ And that then influenced the type of music I was making.”