Harry Styles at Madison Square Gardens in New York City. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for HS)
This week, pop legend and occasional lesbian icon Harry Styles finally confirmed that his hit “Watermelon Sugar” is, indeed, about oral sex.
“The song is about – it doesn’t really matter what it’s about,” Styles said on 1 October while performing at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
The Fine Line singer continued: “It’s about, um, the sweetness of life! … It’s also about the female orgasm but that’s totally different, it’s not really relevant. So that settles that.”
Although it was pretty obvious to anyone who had a) watched the video for “Watermelon Sugar”, b) heard the lyrics or c) seen the many, many photos from the video of Harry dripping watermelon slices down his face, his announcement still caused something of a stir.
yeah sex is cool but have you heard harry styles saying that his grammy winning song watermelon sugar is about female orgasm livepic.twitter.com/z0XHfiKtkk
— dee. (@harrymoonchild) October 2, 2021
The reason for the stir is that, along with being unquestionably about oral sex and orgasms, “Watermelon Sugar” has also previously been claimed as a lesbian video.
Comments on its release ranged from “oh to be in Harry’s lesbian cult on the beach eating watermelon” and “the watermelon sugar music video felt like watching lesbian porn” to statements that are frankly too sexually graphic to repeat.
A man (Harry Styles) wrote the lesbian anthem (Watermelon Sugar) for the summer and it is fucking perfect.
— Erica Peterson (@MsEricaLynn) May 19, 2020
Hot take, Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles is a lesbian anthem about eating pussy!
— that_trans_MSW (@metalunicorn666) July 4, 2020
watching watermelon sugar was like watching the best lesbian porn i’ve ever seen and then harry styles just happened to be there elevating the performance
— rat (@ratxxgirl) May 20, 2020
Oh to be a lesbian feeding harry styles watermelon on the beach😔✨
— alex (@rawrxdalex) July 13, 2020
adding harry styles to my list is lesbian icons for watermelon sugar
— keels enjoying twin peaks (@kelelelou) March 9, 2021
I want it known that I would leave my life and everything it offers just if I could join Harry Styles’s watermelon sugar lesbian cult for 10 minutes
— opossum queen (@iceice_bay_be) May 19, 2020
Put together with Harry’s own ambiguous sexuality and fluid gender presentation – recently described by bisexual icon and author Roxane Gay as “weirdly sexy” – the “Watermelon Sugar” oral sex revelation is fast becoming a moment.
So to honour it, here are nine other times that Harry “honorary lesbian” Styles made our queer hearts flutter.
1. When Harry Styles played a gay intern on Saturday Night Live
The best part of this sketch was that Harry Styles played a gay character and the character’s sexuality wasn’t the joke.
The second-best part was hearing Harry Styles say “Getting railed to death” out loud.
2. Waving the bisexual Pride flag too many times to count
If a fan throws a bisexual flag on stage, Styles will drape it around himself or the microphone and keep singing. Those are the rules.
3. Waving the rainbow Pride flag too many times to count
4. Waving the trans Pride flag too many times to count
On his first worldwide solo tour, Harry Styles was thrown a transgender pride flag by a member of the audience at his show in Washington DC.
He waved the flag on-stage – alongside an Puerto Rican flag – in the shadow of the White House, where then-president Donald Trump was being criticised for his stance on both trans people and Puerto Rico.
5. Releasing Fine Line in the colours of the trans Pride flag
On the basis of all available evidence, Fine Line said trans rights.
6. Harry Styles and gay sex scenes
The singer-turned-actor reportedly was “throwing himself” into his new role filming gay sex scenes for his upcoming film My Policeman.
In April 2021, an “industry insider” insisted that Styles is “really excited about the challenge” of portraying a gay man in the 1950s, when homosexuality was criminalised in England.
The insider said he will shoot two sex scenes with co-star David Dawson, and he will also film a scene where he is naked on-screen by himself.
“Not much is going to be left to the imagination,” the insider said.
7. Swallowing cod sperm
In December 2019, Styles came face-to-face with his ex-girlfriend Kendall Jenner while guest hosting Tuesday’s The Late Late Show.
The pair played a game of forfeits, with each having to choose between answering an awkward question or eating an unusual dish.
Jenner’s question for Styles was something she said she’d been “dying to know” the answer to.
“Which songs on your last album were about me?” the supermodel asked.
Rather than ‘fess up, he tucked a bib into his shirt and dug into a bowl of cod sperm (a Japanese delicacy).
8. Being totally outshone by Lizzo – and being fine with that
Just before the pandemic, Harry Styles made a surprise appearance at a Lizzo gig to sing her hit “Juice” onstage.
This followed a series of adorable public interactions between the two, which began when Styles covered “Juice” on the BBC Live Lounge.
Even for the most steadfast Styles stan, it’s incontrovertible that Lizzo is a superior vocalist. Harry surely knows this – and is fine with it.
9. Being alone and getting mugged on Valentine’s Day
Harry Styles was robbed at knifepoint on Valentine’s Day and had to run home, alone, in corduroy flares, because nobody would help him.
At least he’s friends with Lizzo now.
