Harry Styles Covered One Direction's 'What Makes You Beautiful'

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(Image credit: Robert Kamau)

published 10 December 2019

The season of Harry Styles is upon us, and what a fruitful season it's proven to be. We've had three singles and two videos already, while there's a mere three days to go before his second album, Fine Line, is released unto the world. We've had a delightful stint hosting Saturday Night Live, which gave us the eternal gift of Doug. And this weekend, Styles granted us one more gift: a performance of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful," complete with dance moves Mick Jagger would envy.

Styles and his band switched up the arrangement, so much so that the crowd didn't recognize the song that launched One Direction into the stratosphere until he sang the opening lines. Adorably, he looked pleasantly surprised that the audience could recite all the words, commenting, "Still know it!" Harry! It has been but eight years! A thousand more couldn't erase those lyrics from our collective brains!

Two more important points to note: Firstly, that glittery denim jumpsuit is one of Styles' best ensembles to date, and there have been a lot of exceptional ensembles (see the above sheep print sweater vest, in which he channeled Princess Diana).

Secondly, the new arrangement of 'What Makes You Beautiful' threw Styles a little, so much so that he attempted to sing the chorus early (skip to 2:11). Which is a. Unsurprising, considering One Direction must have performed the original version close to 84628562875 times, and b. Very, very, very cute. Look at that facial expression! Somebody make this a GIF!

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Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.