Exclusive: As Harry Styles prepares for his imminent Together, Together Tour, people in the know explain why he’s so popular – and the one thing that makes him ‘incredibly cool’.
Harry Styles is about to return with a bang for his Together, Together Tour(Image: Getty Images for Coachella)
When fresh-faced Harry Styles first tried to impress The x factor According to the judges, 16 years ago, few could have predicted that he would become a global superstar. Since then, former in the same direction The members have become what Rolling Stone UK calls “one of the most exciting and entertaining forces of modern pop”, with record-breaking albums, some of the biggest tours in music history, and roles in Hollywood films.
Now, with another No. 1 album, a show-stopping Brit Awards performance and the Stadium Tour officially hinting at his 2026 return, the Redditch-born star has never been appreciated or discussed more.
But timing is everything, and Harry, 32, recently revealed he needed to take a break from the non-stop pop roller-coaster and “have some fun” to get back to the positive vibe he wanted. “I feel like I’m taking a big step forward from everything… I’ve learned a lot about myself, like, about myself and the way I want to work and move forward,” he said earlier this year. “It sounds really exciting.”
One person with whom he has definitely shared some fun is actress Zoe Kravitz, with whom he was first seen in August 2025. Recently, rumors have swirled that Harry proposed to Zoey, 37, after she was spotted wearing a diamond ring, but neither party has confirmed the news.
Summarizing Harry’s cross-border appeal, pop culture analyst and Brit Cult founder Mark Knox says it’s as much about the star’s infectious charisma as his music.
“He’s incredibly nice,” says Mark. “There’s almost something intangible about him that you can’t put your finger on. When Harry was on stage with One Direction, he stood out as this fantastic guy. He had an aura about him and he’s remained that way.
“It’s interesting, because she’s one of the biggest pop stars on the planet and is almost ubiquitous in pop culture, and yet she’s managed to maintain a level of privacy that means we don’t really know that much about her. In a time in pop culture where we have almost too much access, it makes her even cooler.”
Now, after a three-year break, Harry is having the biggest year of his career so far. Their fourth album, Kiss All the Time. At the Disco, Once Upon a Time, reached the top spot in March, and he is currently dazzling UK fans with his worldwide Together, Together Tour with an impressive 12-night residency at Wembley Stadium.
It’s quite a feat for a singer who initially rose to fame as part of a reality TV-produced boyband with Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and the late Liam Payne.
Following his No. 1 single, Aperture, Harry’s latest album was streamed more than 63 million times on its first day of release in March – about 43,750 times every minute! – making it the biggest new album of 2026 so far.
Music writer Michael Cragg described it as his “most divisive album yet, and yet very Harry Styles album”. “He recently talked about forgetting why he made music and I think making this album was a very personal journey of re-discovering that,” explains Michael OK! “He’s clearly at a point where he feels like he can try something different and focus more on what he wants to do, rather than what others want him to do. And you only get to that point if you’ve ticked every other box in terms of success, which he has.”
It was a bold move for an artist known for anthemic, uplifting pop, but Harry seems to have found his happy place. “Over the past few years I’ve discovered again what a privilege it is to be in people’s lives through music,” he said at an intimate event in February. “One in World What we have today seems so chaotic, it’s so easy to get discouraged – and I look at what you create together and there is so much hope here.
Harry’s parents – pub landlady Anne Twist and financier Des Styles – divorced when he was seven. The family moved to Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, with Harry’s older sister Gemma moving to Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, and she said she has fond memories of their “great childhood”.
At just 16, Harry auditioned for The “Everything in my life since The X Factor has felt like a bonus,” she said. “Come on TV and sing. I never expected and never thought this would happen.”
But he hasn’t rested on his laurels, says PR expert and talent manager Dermot McNamara. “Harry’s universal appeal is not accidental, but something that has built over time,” says Dermot. “He understands that his audience has grown up and wants something that is meaningful as well as exciting – that’s why he’s still on top. He hasn’t just retained his audience, he’s matured with them.”
Considering that Harry has spent more than half his life in the spotlight, it’s easy to understand why he decided to take some time off when he turns 30 in February 2024. He temporarily relocated to Italy, which he called a “big, important, transitional moment”, which allowed him to slow down and enjoy a quieter life.
“Without question, it has influenced the work I’m doing – it comes from a place of pure freedom,” he later said. We also learned last year that he had incorporated marathon training into his fitness regime. In fact he was so successful that he became one of the world’s top marathon finishers last year, completing the Berlin Marathon in 2:59:13.
Mark says, “I don’t think running marathons makes Harry cool, I think Harry makes running marathons cool.” “What he’s done is incredible – you look at pictures of him and think, ‘Maybe I’m a long way from looking as good as Harry Styles.'”
But after his well-deserved break, Harry is back, bigger and better than ever. He says, “Touring can be a give and take affair for a lot of artists, but there’s a visible chemistry with Harry and that translates straight into the performance – everyone wants to be there.” “It’s definitely worth the wait.”
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