Cherry

Album: Fine Line (2019)
Charted: 84
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Harry Styles poured his heartache following his breakup with the French model Camille Rowe into several of the Fine Line tracks. The pair had a year-long romance before splitting in July 2018; the Victoria's Secret beauty went on to date the art collector Theo Niarchos.
  • Theo's father owns a multi-million-dollar collection of artwork that is rumored to be one of the biggest in the world. During this mournful acoustic song, Harry mocks Camille's new boyfriend.

    Does he take you walking 'round his parents' gallery?

    He also tells her he's remained in touch with her pals.

    I just miss your accent and your friends
    Did you know I still talk to them?


    Harry told Apple Music's Zane Lowe he was still cut up about the breakup when he penned the song. "I was feeling not great. It's all about being not great," he said. "Because you get petty when things don't go the way you want it. There's parts that's so pathetic."
  • The night Harry Styles wrote the song, everyone had left the studio, apart from him, his frequent songwriting collaborator Tyler Johnson, and his engineer Sammy Witte. Harry told Apple Music that he wanted to be true to how he was feeling about the breakup. At the same time he was feeling under pressure to make "big songs" that were more commercial than the music on his debut solo album. Johnson told him, "You just have to make the record that you want to make right now - that's it." So they stayed up and wrote "Cherry" that night."
  • The song begins with Camille Rowe greeting Harry in French. "Coucou," she says.

    The outro is a soft-spoken French voicemail of the model talking. Harry told Rolling Stone, "I was playing guitar and she took a phone call - and she was actually speaking in the key of the song."
  • Camille's phone conversation translates into English as:

    Hey! Are you asleep?
    Oh, I'm sorry…"
    "Well, no… Nope, it's not important…"
    "Well then… We went to the beach and now we..."
    "Perfect! Let's go!"


    Said Harry about the voice sample, "It just felt like it needed it. We're friends and stuff, so I asked her if it was okay. And she was okay with it. I think she liked it."
  • The song title is not included in the lyrics, but does continue Harry's apparent fruit fetish. He has already given us tracks about kiwi and watermelon. Also, the general admission pits for his 2020 Love On Tour were named Cherry and Watermelon.
  • The song's co-producer, Kid Harpoon, revealed to Music Week that "Cherry" was written in the early hours of the morning, "with Sammy, Tyler and Harry a bottle of tequila down."

Comments: 1

  • Greenbean from AlaskaHarry, your as precious, truthful, brilliant and much loved. I’m looking forward to watching you blossom in the many decades ahead. Be safe...be happy.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's

Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go'sSongwriter Interviews

Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

George Harrison

George HarrisonFact or Fiction

Did Eric Clapton really steal George's wife? What's the George Harrison-Monty Python connection? Set the record straight with our Fact or Fiction quiz.

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

Hawksley Workman

Hawksley WorkmanSongwriter Interviews

One of Canada's most popular and eclectic performers, Hawksley tells stories about his oldest songs, his plentiful side projects, and the ways that he keeps his songwriting fresh.

Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes

Chris Robinson of The Black CrowesSongwriter Interviews

"Great songwriters don't necessarily have hit songs," says Chris. He's written a bunch, but his fans are more interested in the intricate jams.