Harry Styles Responds to 'Vogue' Cover Backlash: 'Lines Are Becoming More and More Blurred'

Styles also took to Instagram to share a photo of himself from the Variety shoot, captioning it, "Bring back manly men," in a clear clapback to Candace Owens, who had slammed Styles' Vogue cover. ("It is an outright attack. Bring back manly men," she wrote of the photos of him in a dress.)

Leaving Los Angeles and returning to England earlier this year also forced Styles to take a look inward and when the BLM protests erupted following the police killing of George Floyd. The singer spoke out publicly in a widely-liked Instagram message in May about his white privilege, pledging to donate to post bail for arrested organizers.

“Talking about race can be really uncomfortable for everyone,” Styles said. “I had a realization that my own comfort in the conversation has nothing to do with the problem — like that’s not enough of a reason to not have a conversation. Looking back, I don’t think I’ve been outspoken enough in the past. Using that feeling has pushed me forward to being open and ready to learn. … How can I ensure from my side that in 20 years, the right things are still being done and the right people are getting the right opportunities? That it’s not a passing thing?”

While Styles is five years removed from his One Direction days, he also reflected on his time in the group and how much he learned by studying the songwriting chops of 1D collaborators Ryan Tedder, Savan Kotecha and Teddy Geiger. “When we were in the band, I used to try and write with as many different people as I could," he said. "I wanted to practice — and I wrote a lot of bad s--t.” And, in case you're wondering why Harry never badmouths his boy band days, the explanation was very simple.

“When you look at the history of people coming out of bands and starting solo careers, they feel this need to apologize for being in the band. ‘Don’t worry, everyone, that wasn’t me! Now I get to do what I really want to do.’ But we loved being in the band,” he told the magazine “I think there’s a wont to pit people against each other. And I think it’s never been about that for us. It’s about a next step in evolution. The fact that we’ve all achieved different things outside of the band says a lot about how hard we worked in it.”