Ahead of his headlining performance at this year’s Coachella Music and Arts Festival, famed pop-culture interviewer Nardwuar caught up with Harry Styles for an interview that took a deep dive into his One Direction past, his love of Fleetwood Mac, and the first song he ever sang.
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Nardwuar is known for his innocuous yet thorough interviews, somehow finding tidbits of information that are lost upon the rest of the world. For his interview with Styles, he paired each of the hyper-specific questions with a piece of rare memorabilia.
He first asked the “As It Was” singer what Elvis Presley’s “The Girl of My Best Friend” meant to him. Styles then revealed it was the first song he ever learned the words to and subsequently the first he ever recorded on a karaoke machine as a child. Nardwuar gave Styles a 7-inch pressing of the record from the ’60s.
Elsewhere he talked about Styles’ connection to Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood—whom he has peddled nail polish from his beauty brand Pleasing. The Canadian interviewer found a rare 8-track cartridge of Fleetwood Mac’s seventh studio album Penguin from 1973.
Other name-dropping moments came from Styles remembering a time when Brandi Carlile urged him to sing “River” at one of Joni Mitchell’s famous in-house concerts. “It was probably one of the most nerve-wracking things I’ve ever done,” he said.
Styles, like most of Naurwuar’s interviewees, was shocked to hear some of the niche memorabilia he dug up, quipping “Where did you find this?” to each item he was gifted.
“Well, you’re Harry Styles,” Nardwuar answered. “We have to find stuff.”
The duo also reminisced about Styles’ One Direction days with a picture of the 5-piece from an old concert, a 1D toothbrush in need of new batteries, and a doll of Styles himself circa 2012. Check out the full interview below.
Styles begins the first of many residencies around the U.S. this weekend at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The singer will play the historic venue for 15 nights before moving on to a 5-night stand in Austin, Texas. After the Austin dates, he will move on to Chicago and California for residencies at the United Center and Kia Forum, respectively.
The singer dropped his third and latest full-length, Harry’s House, earlier this year to both critical and fan acclaim. The album’s lead single “As It Was” hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts, with its follow-up “Late Night Talking” debuting at No. 4.
(Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
