Daylight

Album: Harry's House (2022)
Charted: 13
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Here, Harry Styles sings of a love interest who has spurned him despite his affection. The girl is absorbed in her horoscope and drug habit, and her apathy toward him leaves him frustrated.
  • When Styles and his producers, Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon, started work on the song, they'd already been working all day and everyone was ready to go to bed. However, the One Direction singer felt they were in the moment and needed to finish the track that night. By the time they completed the jam, it was dawn and everybody celebrated by watching the sun rise on the Malibu beach. This explains the stream-of-consciousness lyrics in the chorus.

    Daylight, you got me calling at all times
    Ain't gonna sleep 'til the daylight
    Daylight, you got me cursing the daylight
  • Styles is glad they stayed up all night in the studio to capture the summery R&B track. "Life, and songs in particular, are so much about moments," he explained to Apple Music. "In surfing, for example, sometimes you don't get the wave and sometimes the wave comes and you haven't practiced. But every now and again, the wave comes and you're ready, you've practiced enough that you can ride it."
  • The song got Harry's fans wondering who the subject of his unreciprocated love is. Some speculated it's about Taylor Swift, with whom he had a brief relationship in 2013. Furthermore, the American pop princess recorded a song titled "Daylight" for her 2019 Lover album.

    When Howard Stern asked Styles if he's singing about Swift, he shot down the idea. "You know I'd love to tell you you're spot-on, but you're not," Styles told the SiriusXM host. "We will always wonder."
  • In the song's music video, directed by Ukrainian music video director Tanu Muino, Styles tries his hand at different circus skills. We see him walk a tightrope, dodge a knife thrower, perform a juggling act, and ride a penny farthing and a horse. He even takes to the skies in a yellow feathered leotard after being shot out of a giant cannon.

    Styles had never ridden a horse before the shoot and only had about 20 minutes of training before cameras started rolling. "We said to Harry, 'just look like you're confident on a horse - fake it until you make it,'" Ms. Cousins-Greenwood of Stampede Stunt Company told BBC Three Counties Radio.
  • The Tanu Muinos-helmed clip is the second music video Styles made for "Daylight." In 2022, he shot a visual for the song with James Corden of The Late Late Show in three hours with just $300.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

TV Theme Songs

TV Theme SongsFact or Fiction

Was a Beatles song a TV theme? And who came up with those Fresh Prince and Sopranos songs?

Pete Anderson

Pete AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Pete produced Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Meat Puppets, and a very memorable track for Roy Orbison.

Shawn Mullins

Shawn MullinsSongwriter Interviews

"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."

Penny Ford of Snap!

Penny Ford of Snap!Songwriter Interviews

The original voice of Snap! this story is filled with angry drag queens, video impersonators and Chaka Khan.

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" Album

Arrested For Your Art - The Story Of 2 Live Crew's "Obscene" AlbumSong Writing

In the summer of 1990, you could get arrested for selling a 2 Live Crew album or performing their songs in Southern Florida. And that's exactly what happened.