If you've been listening to Harry Styles' first single "Sign Of The Times" on repeat, get ready to add another tune by the singer on your rotation. The former One Direction musician premiered a new single on the April 15 episode of Saturday Night Live and Harry Styles' "Ever Since New York" lyrics show he's an already great solo artist.
When fans first heard the title of the slow ballad, some jumped to the conclusion that it could be about Taylor Swift, since the pair dated back in 2012 and she's obsessed with New York (she's written a song about it and is the city's global ambassador of tourism). But, if you were hoping for a very straight forward answer to that speculation come the song's drop, you'll be disappointed. (Bustle reached out to reps for both singers for comment on the speculation, but has not yet received responses.)
The lyrics are frustratingly vague on that front, but are still really beautiful and worth listening to. They may not divulge who or what the song was penned about, but they open up a haunting window into the mind of a man who just wants to be told something by his significant other, but doesn't seem to be getting the answer he wants.
Check them out in full below, thanks to a transcription from Genius.
Tell me something, tell me something
You don’t know nothing, just pretend you do
I need something, so tell me something new
Choose your words 'cause there's no antidote
For this curse or, what's it waiting for?
Must desert you, just before you go
Oh, tell me something I don't already know
Oh, tell me something I don't already know
Brooklyn saw me, empty avenues
There's no water inside this swimming pool
Almost over, that's enough from you
I've been praying, I never did before
Understand I'm talking to the walls
And I've been praying ever since New York
Oh, tell me something I don't already know
Oh, tell me something I don't already know
Oh, tell me something I don't already know
Oh, tell me something I don't already know
That chorus of "tell me something I don't already know" is echoed throughout the song as a lonely refrain. It's a song that is pleading for something that's seemingly already over and a message that won't be heard, according to the "understand I'm talking to the walls" line. It's hard to tell who or what exactly is being sung about, but the melancholy song is a strong number in any case, and will be a really great addition to Styles' solo album. Now I just can't wait to hear the rest of the album's lyrics.
