Harry Styles says he was scared to make 'fun music' after leaving One Direction

• Harry Styles said he was hesitant to make "fun music" after leaving One Direction in 2015.
• He told Better Homes & Gardens that he was determined to be "taken seriously as a musician."

When Harry Styles launched his solo career after leaving One Direction, the musician said he was so determined to be taken seriously that he steered clear of making "fun music."

During an interview with Better Homes & Gardens on Tuesday, the Grammy winner, 28, opened up about his musical evolution in the years since the beloved British boy band — made up of Styles, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Niall Horan — went on an indefinite hiatus in 2015.

"I'd come out of the band, and it was like, if I want to be taken seriously as a musician, then I can't make fun music," he told the publication.

After the pop band formed on the UK version of "The X Factor" in 2010, Styles said the mentality became "all about how do you keep it going and how do you get it to grow," along with getting people to "engage with you, to like you."

The pop star said he spent much of lockdown in early 2020 "processing a lot of stuff that happened when I was in the band."

"There were so many years where, for me, especially in the band and the first few years coming out of it, I'd just been terrified of it ending, because I didn't necessarily know who I was if I didn't do music," Styles said.

When Styles signed his solo contract, he said it didn't contain the same restrictive clauses, ones related to his personal behavior, that were in his previous One Direction agreements. "I felt free," he recalled.

Styles released his eponymous first studio album in 2017. Looking back, he said he now recognizes that he was "bowling with the bumpers up" and "playing it safe."

His second studio album "Fine Line" arrived two years later in 2019. While the artist acknowledged that it was "freer" than his solo debut, he recalled feeling a deep need to deliver "really big songs."

Now, Styles is fresh off two headlining performances at Coachella 2022 and gearing up for the release of his third studio album, "Harry's House," on May 20. And his perspective has changed drastically since his One Direction days, he told the outlet.

"Finally, it doesn't feel like my life is over if this album isn't a commercial success," the artist explained.

He later continued: "I just want to make stuff that is right, that is fun, in terms of the process, that I can be proud of for a long time, that my friends can be proud of, that my family can be proud of, that my kids will be proud of one day."