Harry Styles‘ new “Daylight” music video is actually the song’s second visual treatment. The first — allegedly — was shot by James Corden in three hours for $300. In one of its cheekily low-budget mise-en-scènes, Styles dressed in a bowler hat and oversized bowtie like some sort of candy-coated ringleader. In the official, Tanu Munio-directed video for the Harry’s House cut, he’s finally found his circus, bobbing and weaving through jugglers, clowns, and aerialists.
The “Daylight” video taps into the same cheeky surrealism as other recent entries in the Styles visual universe (see: the merman club singer from “Music for a Sushi Restaurant“ and robot love story of “Satellite).” That said, it’s not the best ever music video to be set at a carnival — that would be Amy Grant’s “Baby, Baby.” Earlier this year, Harry’s House won the GRAMMY award for Album of the Year, which was definitely one of the decisions the Recording Academy could have made.
