5 key details you probably missed in Harry Styles' new music video 'As It Was'

• Harry Styles released "As It Was" on Friday, the lead single from his new album "Harry's House."
• The music video, directed by Tanu Muino, is a colorful depiction of loneliness and letting go.
• It appears to feature nods to "The Matrix" and famous industrial designers Charles and Ray Eames.

The song opens with a voice note from Styles' 5-year-old goddaughter.

The music video begins with a shot of Styles behind a window, putting his gloved hands against the glass.

But the first voice you hear does not belong to the singer. Instead, you hear his 5-year-old goddaughter Ruby Winston, who says, "Come on, Harry, we wanna say goodnight to you."

"She used to try and call me before bedtime every night," Styles explained to Capital FM. "One time, I don't know, it didn't ring or something, so she sent me that. And I kind of dug it out at some point while we were in the studio."

"I kind of just fell in love with it," he added.

The missed call from a loved one, paired with the blurry visual of Styles, creates a sense of detachment and loneliness. This also foreshadows lyrics in the second verse: "Answer the phone / 'Harry, you're no good alone.'"

The video depicts Styles in red and a female character in blue, possibly referencing a central metaphor in "The Matrix."

In "The Matrix," the hero Neo is offered a choice between a blue pill and a red pill. The former represents blissful ignorance, while the latter represents painful truth.

"You take the blue pill, the story ends; you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe," Morpheus tells Neo. "You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."

Styles exclusively wears red throughout the music video, even down to his fingernails, while the woman dressed in blue seems to portray his estranged lover.

In this context, we can assume that Styles wants to "take the blue pill." He continues to pine for his lover, choosing to ignore how they've grown apart ("Seems you cannot be replaced / And I'm the one who will stay / In this world, it's just us / You know it's not the same as it was"). 

However, Styles himself is dressed in red, which could indicate that he will be forced to "take the red pill" eventually, face reality, and move on.

The woman dressed in blue could also represent the Matrix more generally, which is a carefully controlled system of conformity. Styles' red clothing could represent the desire to break free from societal expectations.

This theory is underscored by a set of lyrics in the second verse: "Why are you sitting at home on the floor? / What kind of pills are you on?"

In some scenes, Styles' eyes are altered to appear blue.

Styles has famously green eyes, but they sometimes appear distinctly blue in the video, particularly as he's singing the first chorus.

This could serve to underscore the "Matrix" reference and this woman's power over Styles — as in, he's still taking the blue pill.

Drugs are known to affect the appearance of one's eyes, from redness to pupil dilation. Moreover, being under the influence of something is often represented in pop culture by a change in eye color, as with the bright-blue eyes of the Fremen in "Dune."

Styles and his lover are pinned down and closely observed, much like butterflies.

In this scene, Styles is nearly nude and his famous butterfly tattoo is on full display.

While he lies with the woman on the floor, strangers come and carefully place metal bars around their limbs.

As one fan on TikTok noted, their spread-eagle positions recall the process of pinning butterflies for observation and aesthetic display.

This could be a reference to how celebrities are observed and appraised by the public, and how this practice can sabotage a romantic relationship.

More likely, this scene is a reference to Charles and Ray Eames, influential industrial designers.

Charles and Ray Eames were a married couple who greatly influenced the intersection of architecture, manufacturing, and fine art. Through their furniture studio Eames Office, established in 1947, they created several iconic midcentury-modern pieces, such as the Eames Lounge Chair.

The couple was famous for emphasizing functionality in design — or what Charles called a "way-it-should-be-ness."

"Any time one or more things are consciously put together in a way that they can accomplish something better than they could have accomplished individually, this is an act of design," he said, according to their website.

This bears a clear connection to Styles' forthcoming third album, "Harry's House," which features an upside-down room with simple furniture on its cover. Styles has also teased themes of comfort, coexistence, and growth.

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