Harry Styles has opened up about his past relationship with Taylor Swift, thanking the singer for their experiences together.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the One Direction member was asked about his relationship with the singer, with whom he had a brief romance with from October 2012 to January 2013. Photos from their second date in New York City’s Central Park quickly made the rounds on the internet.
“I gotta pee first. This might be a long one,” he told the interviewer, Cameron Crowe. “Actually, you can say, ‘He went for a pee and never came back.’”
When he returned, the 23-year-old talked about those specific photos from Central Park.
“When I see photos from that day, I think: Relationships are hard, at any age,” he said. “And adding in that you don’t really understand exactly how it works when you’re 18, trying to navigate all that stuff didn’t make it easier. I mean, you’re a little bit awkward to begin with. You’re on a date with someone you really like. It should be that simple, right? It was a learning experience for sure. But at the heart of it – I just wanted it to be a normal date.”
Swift is known to write songs about her former boyfriends, and two songs specifically, “Style” (with lyrics like “you got that long hair, slicked back, white t-shirt”) and “Out of the Woods,” have been rumored to be about Styles.
“I mean, I don’t know if they’re about me or not…” he said, “but the issue is, she’s so good, they’re bloody everywhere. I write from my experiences; everyone does that. I’m lucky if everything [we went through] helped create those songs. That’s what hits your heart. That’s the stuff that’s hardest to say, and it’s the stuff I talk least about. That’s the part that’s about the two people. I’m never going to tell anybody everything.”
And four years after their relationship ended, Styles wanted to thank Swift for their “time together,” and he’s grateful that the two shared certain experiences.
“Certain things don’t work out,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that can be right, and it’s still wrong. In writing songs about stuff like that, I like tipping a hat to the time together. You’re celebrating the fact it was powerful and made you feel something, rather than ‘this didn’t work out, and that’s bad.’ And if you run into that person, maybe it’s awkward, maybe you have to get drunk … but you shared something. Meeting someone new, sharing those experiences, it’s the best shit ever. So thank you.”
Styles, who will star in Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” this summer, is preparing for the release of his new album, due out on May 12, after One Direction went on a hiatus.
“Of course I’m nervous,” Styles said. “I mean, I’ve never done this before. I don’t know what the f— I’m doing. I’m happy I found this band and these musicians, where you can be vulnerable enough to put yourself out there. I’m still learning … but it’s my favorite lesson.”