The Harry’s House era with Harry Styles is close to being over. The pop singer’s third album explores themes of loneliness, love, physical connection, belonging, and the chosen family you acquire as you get older as he pays homage to the idea of home and its constantly evolving meaning. The album has won praise from critics all over the world. It won three Grammys including Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.
Among all the other themes explored by Styles in the album, one of these is an inherently beautiful but tragic song called ‘Matilda‘. The song explores themes of parental abuse, family issues and the significance of ‘chosen family’. It went on to become one of the saddest songs of his discography. It also helped many who were going through the kind of things the song talked about. The question though remains, who exactly did Harry write the song for?
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The Theme Of Harry Styles’ Song ‘Matilda’
‘Matilda‘ is perhaps one of Harry Styles‘ most well-written songs. The song centers around a girl named Matilda who is mistreated by her family. In the song, Styles talks about the idea of the girl having a chosen family – one who wouldn’t mistreat her, one who would show her love. He urges her that it;’s okay to let it go and that she shouldn’t be afraid of growing up and leaving.
The chorus of the song goes: “You can let it go, You can throw a party full of everyone you know, And not invite your family, ’cause they never showed you love, You don’t have to be sorry for leaving and growing up.”
Speaking of the inspiration behind this song, Styles spoke to Zane Lowe about it. He said that the song’s character is based on someone he knows in real life. Although he has disguised her identity and story as Matilda, the title heroine of Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel inspired the name of the song.
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Who Inspired Harry Styles To Write The Song?
Speaking in the same interview, Harry Styles talked about the story behind ‘Matilda‘. He said, “I had an experience with someone where, in getting to know them better. They revealed some stuff to me that was very much like, ‘Oh, that’s not normal. Like I think you should maybe get some help or something.’”
“This song was inspired by that experience and person, who I kind of disguised as Matilda from the Roald Dahl book. I played it to a couple of friends and all of them cried. So I was like, ‘Okay, I think this is something to pay attention to.’ It’s a weird one, because with something like this, it’s like, ‘I want to give you something. I want to support you in some way, but it’s not necessarily my place to make it about me because it’s not my experience.’ Sometimes it’s just about listening. I hope that’s what I did here. If nothing else, it just says, ‘I was listening to you,’” he added.
Ever since the song’s release, fans all over the world have praised Harry Styles’ songwriting skills.
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