Harry Styles’ 2017 debut single, Sign of the Times, is not a song; it is a coronation. It is a five-and-a-half-minute, piano-led, glam-rock epic that served as a profound and audacious statement of intent. At its core, the song is a monumental ballad of hopeful despair. It is a deeply affecting commentary on a world in chaos, a final, comforting message delivered in the face of an inevitable, shared apocalypse.
This was the first piece of music the world heard from Harry Styles, the solo artist. The pressure was immense. The expectation was for a safe, modern pop hit. Instead, he returned with a soaring, multi-part ballad that sounds less like his contemporaries and more like David Bowie, Queen, or Prince.
The song’s title, Sign of the Times, is a common phrase that is almost always used to describe a negative, decaying state of the world. Styles takes this feeling of public anxiety—a feeling all too real in the turbulent political and social climate of 2016-2017—and transforms it. He creates a grand, cinematic, and ultimately comforting anthem, not by offering a solution, but by offering transcendence.
The song is a masterpiece of “multiverse of meaning.” It can be read in two primary, interwoven ways:
The Macrocosm (The Societal Apocalypse):
This is the main, overarching theme. It is a song about the “end of the world,” a “final show” for humanity, which is stuck “running from the bullets” of its own creation. It is a commentary on war, political division, and a general sense of impending doom.
The Microcosm (The Personal Tragedy):
This is the emotional key, confirmed by Styles himself in a Rolling Stone interview. He wrote the song from the perspective of a young mother who is dying in childbirth. The doctors have just told her she has only a few minutes to live, and the lyrics are her final, desperate, and hopeful message to her newborn child, whom she will never get to see grow up.
The song’s genius is that the microcosm (the mother’s death) is an example of the macrocosm (the “sign of the times”). Her personal, tragic, and “unfair” end is a symptom of the chaotic, violent, and broken world the song is describing. The two meanings are not separate; they are one.
The Sound: An Apocalypse in Glam Rock
Before we analyze the words, we must understand the sound. The song is a deliberate rejection of modern pop structure. It begins with a somber, solitary piano, a sound of introspection and grief. This is the sound of the hospital room, the sound of the quiet before the “final show.”
But it does not stay there. It builds. It explodes. The drums crash in, grand and reverent. Electric guitars wail. A choir of voices rises in the background. The song becomes huge, a wall of sound. This is the sound of the apocalypse, but it is also the sound of transcendence. It is the sound of a soul “breaking through the atmosphere.” The choice to invoke 1970s glam and stadium rock is intentional. Styles is signaling that he is not here to make a “song of the summer”; he is here to make a “song of the decade,” a timeless, epic statement on the human condition.
In-Depth Analysis: Verse 1 (The Final Show)
The song opens not with an observation, but with a command. It is a command of comfort, one that immediately frames the entire song.
Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times
This opening line is the song’s entire thesis. The narrator is speaking to someone in deep distress. The command “stop your crying” is a plea for calm. The reason for this plea is the second half: “it’s a sign of the times.” This is a statement of resignation. The thing that is happening is not an isolated incident; it is a symptom of a sick world. It is the “way things are now.”
In the macrocosm, this is Styles speaking to us, the listener, about the state of the world (war, protest, division). In the microcosm, this is the dying mother’s first words to her newborn, wailing child. She is comforting her baby, whose first act is to cry, while simultaneously explaining her own death. It is a tragically beautiful and dark image.
Welcome to the final show / I hope you’re wearing your best clothes
The apocalypse is framed as a piece of theatre, a “final show.” This is the grand, Bowie-esque imagery. It is the end of an era, the end of the world. It is a spectacle. The line I hope you’re wearing your best clothes is a stunning, complex piece of writing. It is a call for dignity in the face of the end. If this is the “final show,” we must not meet it with cowering fear, but with a sense of occasion. It is a call to face the end with our heads held high, in our “Sunday best.”
For the mother, this is her death. This is her “final show” on Earth. The “best clothes” could be her newborn child, new, pure, and perfect, or it could be a sarcastic, dark joke, as she is in a hospital gown.
You can’t bribe the door on your way to the sky
This is the great equalizer. This is a direct statement that the end, death, or the apocalypse, makes us all equal. Your money, your fame, your status—all the things that defined the old world—are now useless. You cannot “bribe” St. Peter. You cannot buy your way into heaven. For Styles, the ex-boyband member now forging his own path, this is a powerful statement. He is rejecting the “currency” of his old life.
You look pretty good down here / But you ain’t really good
This is the song’s first, quiet judgment. It is a moral assessment of humanity. From a distance, “down here,” we “look pretty good.” We have our “best clothes” on, we have our iPhones, our social media, our polished lives. But it is a facade. But you ain’t really good. Morally, spiritually, we are corrupt. We are the cause of the “bullets” in the pre-chorus. This is why the “final show” is here. We have earned this apocalypse.
In-Depth Analysis: The Pre-Chorus (The Cycle of Human Failure)
The pre-chorus is the song’s “why.” It is the historical context for the apocalypse. It is a lament for humanity’s failure to learn.
If we never learn we’ve been here before / Why are we always stuck and running from / The bullets, the bullet?
This is the “sign of the times” explained. The “times” are not new; they are a cycle. “We’ve been here before.” We have had wars. We have had division. We have had hate. And we “never learn.”
Because we do not learn, we are “always stuck” in this loop. And our only reaction is “running.” We do not solve the problem; we just “run from the bullets.”
The “bullets” are the most important image in this section.
- Literally: This is about war, terrorism, and violence. In 2016-2017, the news was dominated by terror attacks (Paris, Orlando, Manchester, where Styles is from) and global conflict. The “bullets” were a very real, very present fear.
- Metaphorically: The “bullets” are the consequences of our actions. They are the hate, the division, the climate change, the problems we create and then run from.
In the mother’s story, this line is even darker. Her death is not from natural causes. She is a victim of these “times.” She is “running from the bullets” and has been hit. This is why her death is a “sign of the times.” She is a casualty of the very violence that defines the era.
The repetition, “the bullets, the bullet?” feels like an anxious, stuttering, persistent thought. It is the sound of the threat, always there, always in the back of your mind.
In-Depth Analysis: The Chorus (The Hopeful Escape)
The chorus is the song’s emotional engine. It is a plea, a command, and a promise. It is the song’s central tension: the clash between “it’s the end” and “it’ll be alright.”
Just stop your crying, it’s a sign of the times / We gotta get away from here / We gotta get away from here
The first half is a restatement of the thesis. But it is now paired with an action: We gotta get away from here. “Here” is the broken world. “Here” is the “final show,” the hospital room, the society “running from the bullets.” The “running” from the pre-chorus is now reframed. It is not a cowardly “running from”; it is a necessary “getting away.” It is an escape.
But where are we escaping to?
Just stop your crying, it’ll be alright / They told me that the end is near / We gotta get away from here
This is the pivot. The “sign of the times” (resignation) is replaced with “it’ll be alright” (hope). This is the comfort, the core message. Even though “the end is near”—a confirmed fact, delivered by “they” (the doctors, the prophets, the news)—it does not mean it is a bad thing.
The “getting away” is not a horizontal move (running to a new country). It is a vertical move. It is an act of transcendence. It is an escape to a new plane of existence. It is the promise of peace after the end.
In-Depth Analysis: Verse 2 (The Transcendent Perspective)
The second verse is the song’s “happy ending,” its vision of the afterlife. It is the result of the “getting away.” The perspective has changed from “down here” to “up here.”
Just stop your crying, have the time of your life / Breaking through the atmosphere / Things look pretty good from here
This is the most radical, joyful, and defiant statement in the song. The “end” is not something to be mourned; it is something to be celebrated. “Have the time of your life.” It is a release from the pain, the “bullets,” and the “running.”
The escape is now explicitly named: Breaking through the atmosphere. This is the soul leaving the body. This is the rocket ship leaving the dying planet. This is the mother’s spirit ascending.
And from this new vantage point, Things look pretty good from here. This is a direct contrast to Verse 1’s you ain’t really good. When you are “down here,” in the thick of the chaos, the world is ugly. But when you “break through,” when you gain perspective, when you see the whole picture, it is beautiful. This is a profound spiritual and philosophical statement.
Remember everything will be alright / We can meet again somewhere / Somewhere far away from here
This is the ultimate comfort. The “it’ll be alright” from the chorus is now a certainty: “everything will be alright.” And then, the final promise. This is the mother’s last, beautiful gift to her child: “We can meet again.”
This is the promise of heaven, of a reunion, of an afterlife. The “somewhere far away from here” is not a physical place, but a spiritual one. It is a place beyond the “bullets,” beyond the “final show.” This is what makes the song a “happy” song about the end of the world. It is a song of faith.
In-Depth Analysis: The Bridge (The Final Moral)
The song has given us the problem (Verse 1), the history (Pre-Chorus), and the solution (Chorus & Verse 2). The bridge is the moral of the story. It is the final lesson, the “why” it all happened.
We don’t talk enough / We should open up / Before it’s all too much
This is the song’s quiet, human center. This is the artist, Harry Styles, speaking in his most direct voice. Why is the world ending? Why are we “running from bullets”? Why are we in this “sign of the times”? Because we don’t talk enough.
Our failure is a failure of communication. A failure of empathy. A failure to “open up” to each other. We have allowed our differences to grow “all too much.” This is the mother’s final piece of wisdom for her child: “Please, be better than we were. Connect with people. Open up.”
Will we ever learn? / We’ve been here before / It’s just what we know
This is the final, heartbreaking, and realistic conclusion. He asks the question, “Will we ever learn?” And he immediately answers it, not with a “yes,” but with a sad shrug. “We’ve been here before.” This is who we are. “It’s just what we know.”
This final line is a moment of profound sadness. It suggests the “final show” is inevitable because we, as a species, are incapable of not being self-destructive. It is “just what we know.”
The Outro: The Desperate Run
The song’s outro is a desperate, chanting, pleading escalation of the chorus. The command “Stop your crying” is gone. It is replaced by the raw, repetitive, and desperate action of the escape.
We gotta get away / We got to get away / We got to, we got to run
The song’s final minute is a frantic, choir-backed sprint. The “hope” and “comfort” are now powered by pure, desperate urgency. It is the sound of the credits rolling on the “final show,” the sound of the mother’s spirit “breaking through the atmosphere,” the sound of a soul running towards the “somewhere far away.” It is not a “run from” (like the pre-chorus); it is a “run to.” It is a run to the light.
Conclusion: A Timeless Anthem of Hopeful Tragedy
Sign of the Times is a masterpiece of modern pop because it is not modern pop at all. It is a timeless, grand, and ambitious rock ballad that tackles the biggest themes imaginable: life, death, the end of the world, and the hope of an afterlife.
As a debut single, it was a profound act of artistic courage. It cemented Harry Styles, not as an ex-boyband star, but as a “serious artist” in the lineage of the 1970s rock gods he emulates.
The song is a paradox. It is a “sad banger” of the highest order. It is a song about the end of the world that makes you feel hopeful. It is a song about a mother dying that makes you feel “alright.” It captures the specific, anxious feeling of the 21st century—the “sign of the times”—but offers a timeless, spiritual comfort. It is a song that gives us permission to be terrified of the “bullets” but encourages us to face the “final show” with our “best clothes on,” and to believe, with all our hearts, that we will meet again, “somewhere far away from here.”