Stevie Nicks Connects With Harry Styles Because They’re Both ‘Old School but Still Modern’
Stevie Nicks and Harry Styles have proven age is just a number. Anyone can be friends, no matter how big a generational gap separates them. What matters is what connects them. For Nicks and Styles, it’s the fact that they’re both “old school but still modern.”
Stevie Nicks said she and Harry Styles connect so well because they’re both ‘old school but still modern’
During a 2020 interview with Vogue, Nicks talked about her relationship with Styles. She said it’s important for her to have relationships with younger artists like Styles, who’ve been influenced by her, because they inspire her back.
“I’m inspired by them,” Nicks explained. “I’m inspired that Miley wants to make music with me. I’m inspired that the Haim girls are my biggest fans—and I theirs. A lot of these kids are making the amazing records I’ve been waiting for them to make. I’m not like other 72-year-olds. I listen to current music because I want to be current.
“When people find out how old I am versus the music I’m listening to, they think it doesn’t gel at all. I’ve been collecting musical knowledge since I was in the fourth grade listening to the singles my grandfather used to bring home. I listened to Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers until the sixth grade when R&B radio became Top 40. I said goodbye country and hello R&B, so it’s not like I’m ever stuck on one thing.”
However, Styles seems to be the happy medium. He’s an old soul and modern, just like Nicks. “What I love about Harry is that he’s very old school but still modern. And that’s kinda like me,” Nicks explained.
Nicks and Styles have also had success in bands and in their solo work
There are other similarities between Nicks and Styles. They both went from being in enormously successful groups to having equally successful solo careers.
“When I decided I wanted to be a solo artist, I’d only been in Fleetwood Mac for a few years,” Nicks explained. “I tried to figure out a way to do it gracefully because I didn’t wanna break up the band. I just wanted to sit at my piano and write poetry.
“After we did a record and a really long tour, the band scurried off to different parts of the world while I’d just be home writing songs for a year and a half. What did they care what I did while they were all on vacation? I’ve always said all the way through these two careers I’ve had: If you’re in a band first, never break it up.
“I know Beyoncé because I spent a day with Destiny’s Child making the ‘Bootylicious’ video. I owe them a debt of gratitude because that’s the one time I ever got to pretend I played rock-and-roll guitar! But when Beyoncé made the decision to be a solo artist, she did not see herself going back to Destiny’s Child every couple of years.
“And that’s a perfectly acceptable decision because sometimes that’s what people wanna do. I, on the other hand, said, ‘Why not have the ability to go back to Fleetwood Mac whenever I want?’ Being a Gemini, I get bored really easily, so being able to have those two careers was great.”
However, Styles didn’t have the choice to stay in One Direction when he started his solo career.
Nicks said she and the singer have different lives
Although Nicks and Styles have similar personalities and careers, their personal lives are completely different. During her interview with Vogue, Nicks said Styles has a freer life than she ever had. “Harry’s able to live a freer life because he’s a guy,” Nicks said. “He’s like Mick. He has a free life.”
“Would you say that you don’t?” Vogue asked.
“I’m only comparing us in the way that Harry goes off to the Bahamas to work on songs, then flies back to LA, then London, then Italy—I can’t do that. I can’t do that by myself. He’s able to do whatever he wants by himself, and it’s a whole different way of life.
“Being that Harry is a guy, he’s able to be a loner more than I am. As a woman, I’m not free to do all that. Even when I was his age, I couldn’t just get off anywhere I wanted. When we were on the road, Christine and I didn’t have a clue in the world what the boys did.
“We went to our rooms with security guys standing outside. It’s not like we ever escaped to go club-hopping in downtown Manhattan. We never got to live that life, so freedom as Harry knows it is very different than it’s been for me.”
Whatever their differences, Nicks and Styles can connect on certain things. Nothing else matters.
