Entertainment
This song continues to raise eyebrows.
It’s been a minute since One Direction's pride and joy Harry Styles released his first self-titled solo album in May 2017, and it was way more than many bargained for. As expected, the artist had a few tracks that were almost blatant in their storytelling — "Two Ghosts" possibly being about his ex Taylor Swift, for example. There's one track, however, that has been a little tricky for fans to decode: “Kiwi.”
Styles has done a lot since the release of the hit song. He starred in the critically-acclaimed Christopher Nolan war film Dunkirk. He bagged lead roles in The Policeman and thriller Don’t Worry Darling, directed by girlfriend Olivia Wilde. He even released his second album, Fine Line, in December 2019. So why are fans still hung up on the mysterious “Kiwi”?
The “Watermelon Sugar” crooner is known to reference real people and events in his songs. He told Rolling Stone in 2017 that ex-girlfriend Kendall Jenner is “a huge part of the album.” Plus, “Carolina,” another track in his debut album, is supposedly about a fan he met on a blind date, remember? So when the Harry Styles talks about potentially being someone’s baby daddy in the form of an almost-confessional, angsty rock ballad, fans don’t forget. So, it’s time to revisit the unanswered enigma that has been plaguing us for years: What do Styles' "Kiwi" lyrics mean? And who is the song about?
The singer leads into the song kind of aggressively, letting listeners know that he means business. In the first verse, Styles belts:
"She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes
Hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect
And all the boys, they were saying they were into it
Such a pretty face, on a pretty neck"
The story only gets more interesting from there. His projections of "I'm having your baby, it's none of your business" over and over are enough to stop a listener in their tracks. It's either a tale of a rough night that he's refused to speak of until now or a fantasy that the singer just can't seem to get out of his head.
All in all, with lyrics like, "And now she's all over me, it's like I paid for it. It's like I paid for it, I'm gonna pay for this," you can bet that nothing good is going to come out of this scenario.
Fans of the former Directioner were sent into a bigger frenzy when his “Kiwi” music video debuted months later. In it, a little girl in a floral pantsuit starts a cupcake fight with her fellow youngsters in a school cafeteria. Styles later shows up to the pastry-littered room in a matching pantsuit and takes a class picture with the kids, begging the questions: Is this the baby girl, Harry? Are you giving fans confessional breadcrumbs, nay, whole cakes, with this song? Why are there so many wasted cupcakes? Where did you get your suit?
A potent mix of song lyrics, title, and music video spurred the rumor mill.
The Georgia Fowler Connection
Sleuthing fans made some logical geographical connections. “Kiwi” is a known colloquialism for a New Zealander, and the One Direction alum was rumored to be linked to New Zealand model Georgia Fowler back in 2015. But is “Kiwi” about her? No one knows if she, as Styles so eloquently sings, “goes home to a cactus” or works through a “cheap pack of cigarettes.” Just like any other Styles relationship, details of their short-lived love affair are scarce. What we do know is that they went on a spa date in England and, on a separate occasion, played Scrabble.
Fowler put the rumors to rest (sort of) during her The Morning Show appearance in November 2017. When asked about her being the muse for “Kiwi,” the Project Runway New Zealand host said, “I don’t really know anything about it.” Saying she “definitely didn’t have a baby,” Fowler explained, “That’s what the song’s all about, so I think it’s highly unlikely.”
Harry Styles’ Relationship Status
For those wondering whether the song was actually a baby announcement, Styles put all of those rumors to rest before they even got a chance to fully stir. In an interview on BBC Radio 1 Thursday in 2017, the singer said about “Kiwi,” “It started out as a joke, now it’s one of my favorite songs.” So, no, he wasn’t becoming a father at the time. (He did, however, admit in the same interview that his song “Two Ghosts” “was pretty self-explanatory,” so let’s take that.)
Harry Explains The Lyrics
"It’s one of the first ones I wrote for the album, when I was getting out a lot of energy,” he explained of the song’s origins, adding, “I hadn’t written in a long time, and this is what came out of it."
There you have it: "Kiwi" is purely fiction, and that comes straight from the horse's mouth. It sounds like the One Direction-er took a page from Michael Jackson's Thriller and hand-delivered fans his version of "Billie Jean." But, of course, it didn’t end there.
Kendall Jenner Rumors Rage On Anyway
Despite putting the question to rest, the “Kiwi” inquiries continued last year after Styles took over hosting duties of The Late Late Show with James Corden with ex-girlfriend Kendall Jenner as his guest. (They briefly dated in 2013 and again in 2019.) When the two played a game of the controversial “Spill Your Guts” segment, Jenner asked the “Adore You” singer point-blank which songs (plural!) in his debut album were about her.
Instead of answering, Styles opted to eat *checks notes* cod sperm. Somehow, his refusal to reveal which tracks were about the supermodel made fans think “Kiwi” is one of them and that the title is an acronym for “Kendall I wasn’t interested.” Seems a little far-fetched. But maybe time will tell.
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