MUMBAI: After almost two years of anticipation, Harry Styles finally gave his fans what they earnestly craved: A confession.
While performing onstage in Nashville, Tenn. on Friday, Oct. 1, the 27-year-old pop star confirmed a popular theory about the meaning of the title of his hit song “Watermelon Sugar.”
But not without some teasing first.
“This song is about…” Styles began. “It doesn’t really matter what it’s about.”
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He continued, “It’s about, uh, the sweetness of life.” He then had the crowd sing a few lines with him before finally admitting, “It’s also about the female orgasm but that’s totally different, it’s not really relevant,” prompting fans to erupt in cheers.
Watch a video of the moment here, courtesy of YouTube user Real_Vlogging_Mama.
“Watermelon Sugar,” originally released in November 2019, includes the lyrics, “I just wanna taste it, I just wanna taste it / Watermelon sugar high” and “Tastes like strawberries / On a summer evenin’ / And it sounds just like a song / I want your belly / And that summer feelin’ / I don’t know if I could ever go without.”
If you never attached any sexual innuendo to “Watermelon Sugar,” don’t worry, you’re not alone. While many fans’ minds went in one direction the moment they heard the song (or watched its sexy music video—which the star dedicated to “touching”), many have shrugged off the idea that it was about oral sex. Katherine Heigl, who used to let her kids listen to it, also thought the song was about…”watermelons and sugar.”
And Styles has never touched directly on the real issue when asked about it in past interviews. In 2020, during a small gig filmed for NPR, the singer talked about how he was inspired to write “Watermelon Sugar” while in the studio in Nashville.
“We had this chorus/melody which was pretty repetitive and a Richard Brautigan book, In Watermelon Sugar, was on the table,” Styles said, “and I was like, ‘That would sound cool.'”
In 2019, in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Styles played coy when asked if “Watermelon Sugar” was about “the joys of mutually appreciated oral pleasure.”
“Is that what it’s about?” the singer replied, smiling. “I don’t know.”
