Harry Styles covers some ground across his 13 songs on Harry’s House – pulsing synth, ’80s-inspired groove, and driving alt-rock numbers. Another unique taster on the album is his Fleetwood Mac-Esque ballad, “Boyfriends.” The 28-year-old singer lulls through the song, talking about the struggles of modern dating and partners that just don’t seem to care.
Videos by American Songwriter
After premiering the song during his headline set at Coachella, the song quickly became a fan favorite, creating widespread buzz around his third album. Today (June 13), Styles brought the song to the Japanese Youtube performance series The First Take bringing his backing band along for an acoustic rendition of the track.
The popular series features artists performing some of their top hits in a single take. The channel has amassed over 6 million subscribers so far, making it the most highly subscribed omnibus music channel in the country. The premise is simple—a bare room, simple instrumentation, and an artist performing a song in only one take.
Styles’ video begins with him walking up to a microphone in a stark white room introducing himself and the track in his trademark bobbled necklace and Gucci ringer tee. Soon after, he and the rest of the band jump into the song with just a few strums of a guitar leading the way.
The performance strips away any distraction from Styles’ vocal prowess as he croons through the song with ease. Watch the full performance below.
Fans across the globe were clearly impressed by his efforts on the show taking to social media to sing his praises.
One Twitter user, @pinkrry_, added the video to their morning routing saying, “Harry Styles singing ‘Boyfriends’ on The First Take is the best way to start the day.” While another, @sad_yeeyee_, admitted they hoped to see Styles stumble a little through the number saying, “is it bad that i wanted him to mess up a bit? but it’s harry styles and he was singing boyfriends so ofc he isn’t going to mess up… he’s so perfect and for what?!”
Photo by Lillie Eiger / Courtesy of Sony Music
