Harry Styles, Zack Tabudlo continue to unravel with beguiling releases

Cover art of Styles’ latest No. 1 single

In his second No. 1 solo hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart “As It Was,” Harry Styles makes a welcome departure from his catchy rockers.

The song, which is on its eighth nonconsecutive week on the top spot as we write this (after it was temporarily bumped off last week by Drake’s “Jimmy Cooks”), utilizes the guitar-fueled synth-pop sound of the ’80s to help sort out his thoughts on inevitable change and a shift in perspective.

As Harry explained to Apple Music, one of the things he had to face during the pandemic was the realization that “you just can’t go backwards, whether that’s us as a people or me in my personal life. You learn so much in those moments.”

Vulnerable

Using a clip from his goddaughter Ruby Winston’s voicemail in the song’s intro, the 28-year-old pop star admits the need for him to be more vulnerable and emotionally accessible after a period of isolation: “Harry, you’re no good alone/ Why are you sitting alone on the floor?/ What kind of pills are you on?”/ Ringin’ the bell/ And nobody’s coming to help/ Your daddy lives by himself/ He just wants to know that you’re well.

Harry Styles

The upbeat track, the lead single from the former One Direction member’s acclaimed third solo album “Harry’s House,” is as trippy as it is poppy. It is served well by bouncy, pulse-pounding hooks that quickly bring to mind the feel-good exhilaration of A-ha’s chart-topping mid-’80s hit, “Take On Me.”

Upon its release, “As It Was” broke Spotify’s record for the most-streamed song in the United States in a single day (with 8.3 million streams), beating Olivia Rodrigo’s “Driver’s License” (with 8 million streams).

On the Pinoy music front, Zack Tabudlo’s (“Habang Buhay,” “As You Are,” “Asan Ka Na Ba”) self-penned new single “Anghel” talks about two stories of interconnected heartbreak: His unreciprocated love for someone who’s also nursing a broken heart: Sino’ng nagsabi sa ’yo/ Na ’di sapat ang tulad mo?/ Hindi mo ba nakikita anghel na nakikita ko?

Zack Tabudlo

As it was with “Pano,” Zack’s smoky vocals complement the punchy lines and stanzas in “Anghel” that blend well with his deceptively easy-peasy shifts, from a confessional tone to impassioned, soaring falsetto—a potent combo that explains the singer-songwriter’s lingering presence in contemporary OPM (original Pilipino music). INQ