Entertainment

Harry Styles Is Collaborating With Some Big Names

I can't imagine you possibly need more reasons to be excited about a solo project from any one of the One Direction boys, but the list of Harry Styles' collaborations on his debut solo album is only allegedly two names long and yet already impressive than more established artists. According to fellow musician Robbie Williams, Styles has lined up some pretty amazing humans: we're talking Bruno Mars and Max Martin, reportedly. And you know this is a big deal, because even Williams is jealous of the rumored collaborations.

Williams is a British singer-songwriter whose career Styles has mirrored so far. He was in the pop group Take That before branching out on his own, much like Styles' trajectory with 1D. (It's also worth noting that Williams ultimately went back to Take That, wink wink, nudge nudge, just saying.) He doesn't have the blossoming career that he once did, and spoke with the Radio Times for their latest issue about trying to rustle up collaborations of his own. Two of the names at the top of his list were Mars and Martin, but he had no luck getting ahold of them and thinks he knows why.

Last year I tried to work with Bruno Mars — didn’t hear anything back. Tried to work with [Swedish hitmaker] Max Martin — didn’t hear anything back. They literally didn’t return my calls. Then I met Harry Styles in an airport. ‘Oh, you’re writing, Harry? Great, who with? He goes: Well, I just spent a week with Bruno Mars, and I’m about to spend a week with Max Martin.'

Bigtime ouchies for Robbie Williams, but bigtime excitement for fans of Harry Styles. Those are heavy-hitters. Bruno Mars pretty much can't touch a song lately without it blowing up — examples range from "Grenade" to "Locked Out Of Heaven" to "Uptown Funk" to "24K Magic" — and Max Martin has the most number-one hits of any producer, including Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time," Katy Perry's "Roar," and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off."

This solo record doesn't even have a release date yet, and already it has all the makings of a smash hit. So, while I'm bummed for Williams, I couldn't be more excited at the big name collaborations that are already stacking up for this Harry Styles album.

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