We all know Harry Styles.
Born and raised in the UK, Harry spent much of his childhood in the small village of Holmes Chapel in Cheshire, England.
At 16, the aspiring singer flies to Manchester auditions for the British version of The X Factor — a decision that changed the entire trajectory of his life.
Led by Nicole Scherzinger, the show’s judges ended up choosing Harry as a fifth of a newly formed boyband alongside Louis Tomlinson from Doncaster, Zayn Malik from Bradford, Liam Payne from Wolverhampton and Niall Horan, who comes from Ireland.
Together, the five teens formed a band you may have heard of: One Direction. And shortly after, they were in central London for the X factor live concerts.
In the end, the group finished the series in third place, but that didn’t stop them from enjoying astronomical success across the globe.
After the show, One Direction embarked on the X factor toured around the country, and when they released their debut single in September 2011, it immediately topped the UK charts.
Backed by the commercial success of the group in their country of origin, as well as their growing popularity of social mediaOne Direction were quickly snapped up by an American record label, and they came to the United States as the opening act for Big Time Rush in 2012.
The rest, as they say, is history, with One Direction dominating the international music scene until their break in January 2016.
All five members went on to pursue solo careers after the hiatus was announced, but only one achieved the level of mainstream worldwide success that the group enjoyed during its heyday.
Although Louis, Zayn, Niall and Liam have all achieved significant chart success, Harry is the one who has has firmly established itself in industry, as well as branching out into theatre.
His three solo albums have been critically acclaimed, and in the years since One Direction’s hiatus, Harry has won two Brit Awards, a Grammy Award, an Ivor Novello Award and an American Music Award for his solo work.
Currently, Harry is in the second half of a 167-date, 7-leg tour, which kicked off in 2021 and won’t end until July 2023.
Called love on tourthe show supports her second and third studio albums and includes performances of some of her most beloved songs, including her 2022 hit “As It Was.”
But this track proved to divide Harry fans thanks to its lyrics: “Leave America, two children follow her.
After its release last year, UK fans used ‘As It Was’ as a way to send a message to Harry during his home performances after being fed up with his time in the US.
In dozens of videos from his UK shows, fans can be heard ostensibly shouting “leave America” and being noticeably quieter as lyrics from either side make their point.
It didn’t take long for Harry to figure out what they were up to, and he seemed amused by the trend and was often caught on camera smiling and laughing during this line. Eventually he stopped chanting “leave America” altogether because he knew the UK fans would just yell at him.
But of course, once he resumed the North American leg of his tour, it was a whole different story, and American fans are traditionally silent on the words “leave America.”
And Harry decided to get involved with the division when he returned to the stage in Los Angeles last week after enjoying a well-deserved break over Christmas and New Years.
During his second night at the Kia Forum, many fans wondered if they heard him say “I’m staying” during the “leave America” line, but it was heavily debated.
But on the third night, Harry left no room for questions when he changed the lyrics to ‘never leave America’, much to the disappointment of his UK fans.
In fact, many took to social media to admit they felt ‘betrayed’ by the edit, with fans from other countries also joining in the talk and vowing to ‘humiliate’ the star on future shows. .
In a TikTok, a fan shared an audio clip of the change and joked, “two wembley hslot tickets for sale on the grounds of the betrayal of our own species.”
Someone else posted a video with an anonymous confession that read, “I didn’t think Harry could ever make me nauseous, but last night’s ‘Never Leave America’ really did it for me.”
And that was the overwhelming consensus in the comments section of the posts, with one person writing, “really so salty at him about this.”
Another agreed: ‘I’m not British or a huge fan but I feel completely betrayed for some reason’, while someone else wrote: ‘I’ll say it, this whole thing between the Kingdom -United and America is starting to make me love her less 👍🏻”
“I feel completely betrayed,” added another. Another claimed: ‘he forgets he’s actually British and not American.’
“He just dissolved all the other countries with one word 😩😂” another summary.
And before you know it, fans were plotting to pull themselves together, with many referencing the famous One Direction song ‘Don’t Forget Where You Belong’ as they accused Harry of forgetting his roots.
“We just shouldn’t be singing while it was and waving country flags 💀,” one fan commented. Someone else added: “Sing along remember where you belong from in his UK gig 😏 HUMBLE HIM.”
“Remember where you belonggg🎶🎶🎶” a simple second reference to the song read, while another fan warned: “REMEMBER WHERE YOU BELONG IN HARRY.”
But not everyone was convinced Harry’s lyrical change was intended to shade other counties, with some saying they interpreted it as a reference to his time in America in the framework of the tour.
“Looks like he said it as a joke because he’s been there so long so it feels like he’ll never leave so he’s joking about it,” one fan theorized. Another agreed: “as someone from America: quietly read as a cry for help 💀”
Along the same lines, Harry could have hinted at recent reports that he would be poached for a Las Vegas residency at the city’s newest venue, the MSG Sphere.
And if so, maybe he’ll never really leave America.