Harry Styles, Paul McCartney Once Dished on Leaving Their Bands
The Beatles’ breakup is the most famous band breakup of all time, however, One Direction’s breakup is perhaps the most famous band breakup in recent years. Interestingly, Harry Styles and Paul McCartney actually shared their different experiences with each other in an interview. Here’s a look at what they had to say about creating music without their former bands.
Paul McCartney told Harry Styles how he felt making music after The Beatles broke up
One of the new trends in media is celebrities interviewing each other. For example, Styles and Paul interviewed each other for a June 2017 article in a magazine called Another Man. Another Man released the article not long after Styles released his self-titled debut album. During the interview, Styles asked Paul about making music after leaving The Beatles.
“When you first went from being in a band to being on your own, what was the creative side of that like?” Styles inquired. “There’s obviously so much knowledge of who you were when you were in this group, did you find it at all difficult to think, ‘If I do anything different is it going to be right?’ How did you approach that first creative experience?”
“Yeah, well actually when The Beatles broke up, I was in the process of writing some stuff,” Paul responded. He revealed he “just had to get” his album McCartney out of his system and he didn’t think much about it. Then, when he formed Wings, he tried to get away from The Beatles’ signature sound — at last initially. After crafting hits like “Band on the Run” and “Jet” with Wings, Paul felt more comfortable making Beatlesque music, something he still does to this day.
What Harry Styles thought about making music after One Direction’s breakup
On the other hand, Styles didn’t seem to need to get anything out of his system after leaving One Direction. “The nice thing for me is that I’m not coming away from the band feeling like I wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do,” he revealed. “I loved it and it was what I wanted but I’m enjoying writing at the moment; trying new things. I’ve been asking myself, ‘What do I want to say?’” Afterward, Paul praised Styes for doing his own thing after leaving One Direction.
Why Harry Styles found The Beatles inspiring
This wasn’t the end of Styles’ connection to The Beatles. During an interview with Vogue, he discussed how he tried very hard to make a good album when he crafted his self-titled album. On the other hand, when he created his next album, Fine Line, he felt more free. He was inspired by the way artists like The Beatles and David Bowie went through different eras. Styles thinks it’s important for artists to evolve. He didn’t just cross paths with Paul — he also drew inspiration from the Fab Four.
