Watermelon Sugar

About

Watermelon Sugar is a song by English singer and songwriter Harry Styles from his second studio album Fine Line released through Erskine and Columbia Records in November 2019. The introduction of the song sparked theories as to the meaning of "watermelon sugar" and the song's release caused widespread commentary and memes on Twitter.

Origin

On October 22nd, 2019, Harry Styles Twitter^[1] account tweeted, "Kiwi walked so Watermelon Sugar could run" (shown below). The tweet was the first mention of the song publicly and gained over 690,600 likes and 197,800 retweets in three months.

Spread

On November 16th, 2019, Harry Styles released the audio on YouTube (shown below, left). The video gained over 20.7 million views and 681,000 likes in two months. That same day, Styles performed the song for the first time on Saturday Night Live (shown below, right).

On November 19th, Twitter user @cheery90s^[2] tweeted, "just realised that watermelon sugar is about eating pussy" (shown below). The tweet garnered over 3,000 likes and 280 retweets in two months. In November StyleCaster^[4] published an article speculating the meaning of the song. The article reads:

Some quick Googling by dedicated Harry Styles stans uncovered the literary source of this phrase, plus a possible connection to his ex Camille Rowe. Camille once said that in an interview with Elle UK that one of her favorite books was In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan. Camille and Harry broke up in July 2018, and Harry has already admitted that his new music would be open about his break-up.

December 15th, The Guardian^[6] said, "Watermelon Sugar both show off Styles’s voice, its raspy undertones cutting through the funky horns and guitar riffs. He even manages to make “I want your belly” sound like a convincing come-hither." On January 20th, 2020, @BarstoolRia^[3] tweeted, "I feel like the Fine Line Harry Styles album is playing in the back of my mind at all times. I’ll be doing nothing and then all of a sudden I hear a voice in my head screaming 'watermelon sugar HIIIIGH'" (shown below, left) The tweet gained over 10,500 likes and 2,600 retweets in a week. On January 24th, Twitter account @StylesHUpdates^[5] announced "#FineLine (album), Lights Up, and Watermelon Sugar have been certified Gold by RIAA " (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References