What does "Adore You" by Harry Styles mean?

Lyrics Meaning of "Adore You" by Harry Styles

Hint: it’s more than it seems!

For rising artists everywhere, the sophomore album is a tricky one. It’s a test of artist tenacity, and more factors are involved than just the music. It’s a measure of lyrical, contextual, and conceptual maturity. It’s “Point B” on an artist’s intangible Vision Map, where you’re able to see the creative direction they’re growing into for the first time. “Adore You” is the third song released from Fine Line, Harry Styles’ sophomore album, and it seems pretty simple to understand at face value; however, paired with its uniquely cute-yet-cryptic music video and a mysterious social media marketing campaign that went viral before the song’s release, it bears a conceptually deep, enigmatic meaning that delivered the thrill fans hoped for from Styles’s new LP.

"You don’t have to say you love me"

Bearing fingernail polish and pageboy hats, Harry Styles uses the cloudy, seaside charm of a fictional island in the United Kingdom to explain love and friendship in its many diverse and ambiguous forms. In the music video, Styles is a “freak” in his hometown whose smile causes spontaneous combustion and temporary blindness. He is ostracized for his inner light and is eventually driven by loneliness and depression to sink himself to the bottom of the ocean. A rainbow fish, flopping on a rock, stops him from walking further into the sea and gives him hope for relationship. Throughout the video, the fish serves as a figure for the complex relationships that humans form with each other — how we can be friends; then fall in love; then part ways; then come together again; and finally come to realize that we don’t one person in particular to become complete individuals, but rather we should value the lessons and experiences we share with each person in our lives as they come and go because those are what build us into the people we are.

Verse 1

Walk in your rainbow paradise (Paradise)
Strawberry lipstick state of mind (State of mind)
I get so lost inside your eyes
Would you believe it?

I believe Styles chose to use “rainbow” as his imagery here to represent uniqueness. Although this imagery could apply specifically to the LGBTQ+ community, he also could be more generally referring to the nuances of each person that makes the human race so special and “colorful.” The next line “Strawberry lipstick state of mind,” sounds closely related to a lyric from the second song released from this album, “Watermelon Sugar,” that says, “Tastes like strawberries / On a summer evening.” It could be possible that Styles had a specific person in mind while writing each of these songs, which is an interesting observation worth noting. Makes me want to know more, but I’ll just have to wait on fructose-baited breath with the rest of his fans to learn more.

Pre-Chorus

You don't have to say you love me
You don't have to say nothing
You don't have to say you're mine

The Pre-Chorus offers a more realistic view of 21st century relationships. They’re often non-committal, undefinable, and label-less. Styles gives his two-cents by saying that it’s okay with him if that’s what his love interest wants or needs, allowing freedom in the relationship and alleviating any pressure they might be feeling regarding relationship titles or roles. Styles expands on this in the Chorus:

Chorus

Honey (Ah-ah-ah)
I'd walk through fire for you
Just let me adore you
Oh, honey (Ah-ah-ah)
I'd walk through fire for you
Just let me adore you
Like it's the only thing I'll ever do
Like it's the only thing I'll ever do

Essentially, in the Chorus, Styles tells his love interest not to worry about expectations or assumptions because all he wants is to adore him/her. He explains that his one desire is to love this person and take care of them, and he doesn’t expect any particular sort of treatment in return. Styles is forthcoming that, no matter who this person is or what they’re like or what they’re going through, he is fully invested in taking care of him/her.

Verse 2

Your wonder, under summer skies (Summer skies)
Brown skin and lemon over ice
Would you believe it?

The second verse offers a little more detail to Styles’s unfolding story: summertime, icy drinks, tanned skin… I can practically see the condensation sliding down two half-full glass flutes, positioned on a petite sidetable between two reclined lounge chairs, under a cloudless blue sky. Probably near a pool. Or the ocean. Somewhere quite unlike the island in this song’s music video. This verse just makes me yearn to know more about the inspiration for this song — the people it was written about and their relationships with Styles. It’s a sexy sort of vague detail, which perfectly compliments Styles’s, well… style.

Deeper Meaning of "Adore You" by Harry Styles

I have to admit, before this album released, I was never a Harry Styles fan. Not at any point in his musical career was I ever drawn to him or his music. What I perceived as “teeny-bopper bands,” especially “boy bands,” were never my taste, so my knowledge of Styles and his history are certainly lacking behind that of general pop-culture fans. I will say, after investigating this song and its layered meaning and cross-media depth, I will boldly admit my former ignorance and state that Styles, especially with the Fine Line album, is a pioneer for this era of pop music that blends driving synth beats of the late 20th century with current themes and culturally relevant topics to create catchy and insightful music. If you could have watched me type this article with the song playing on repeat, you might have even caught me dancing a little — but I will neither confirm nor deny!