![]() "I listened to the 'Anna' and 'Medicine' leaks without hesitation because we all knew 'Medicine' and 'Anna' word for word anyway, so it didn't feel naughty to do," shared Marsden.ĭevoted fans also recognized two infamous song titles among the batch of leaked music, "Complicated Freak" and "Baby Honey," which had been spotted years ago on a whiteboard in the background of a photo of Styles working on his self-titled album in 2016. That's a lot more work and time and crafting he's put into it," maintained Marsden.Ī few of the older leaked songs were familiar to fans, like debut album cuts "Medicine" and "Anna," which Styles used to fill out his first tour's setlist and rose to fan favorite status, so much so that Styles performed "Medicine" at his second weekend headlining Coachella. "One Direction put out new music literally every year, whereas this album took three years. "A week-early leak and a month-early leak are two different fish in my opinion," explained Lily Marsden, a 23-year-old admin worker in Birmingham, England. Pro leakers used Styles' quote to justify listening to the album, but those opposed don't find the situations comparable. If there was an album I liked and I could listen to it a week before, I probably would. When One Direction's third album, Midnight Memories, leaked back in 2013, Styles told Digital Spy, "If there was an album I liked and I could listen to it a week before, I probably would." ![]() Nearly every One Direction album was leaked a week in advance of its release date. ![]() This popular stance was legitimized by a now-deleted tweet from the official Sony Twitter account that read, "PSA: Friends don't let friends listen to Harry's House before May 20." The popular music and fandom podcast, Every Single Album, that breaks down Styles' career echoed the opinion that Harry's House leaks are off limits, but the rest are a free-for-all.Īnd Jess is right, Styles is no stranger to music being leaked. But this is just the kind of faulty logic that dictates fandom spaces. To those outside of the contentious and insular fandom, these dividing lines may appear contradictory, the entire "respecting Styles' artistic vision" argument works for the Harry’s House leaks, but doesn't extend to the older tracks. This subset of the fandom then sought to enforce its ethical code on their mutuals and followers. The loudest online accounts had an immediate answer: It was OK to listen to the older leaked songs, but unforgivable to listen to Harry's House. The question became: What should we do with all of this new content? Some fans theorized that the older songs were leaked to distract from Harry's House. Fans quickly discovered it wasn't just Harry’s House that leaked, but additional unreleased songs from Styles' self-titled debut album, as well as One Direction demos from his early pop star days. While Alvarado battled her inner "What would Harry want me to do" monologue, the debate grew. She said she stopped herself after two songs because she thought to herself, "Girl, how dare you?" Harry worked so hard on this album I shouldn't listen to it, but on the other side of me was like, 'Listen to it, listen to it, listen to it.' I eventually gave in and listened to it not even two minutes after finding the audio on Tumblr," continued Alvarado. "I went on Twitter on my lunch break and the first thing I saw was tweets from mutuals saying, 'if you see the leaks don't listen to them,'" said Emily Alvarado, a 23-year-old cashier in Stockton, California who has been "living, breathing Harry Styles," since the early days of One Direction. Within hours, Harry's House spread on Twitter, Tumblr, TikTok, and Discord, and with it, of course, circulated fandom ethics discourse. Like is typical of these fandom rifts, the Harry’s House leak probably won’t affect the millionaire pop star, as leaks have become a somewhat inevitable part of the modern album cycle. The debate is representative of the divisive nature of fandoms, spaces that constantly seek to assign moral superiority to the way they consume content and support their idol. ![]() The internet's British boyfriends, ranked
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