Mick Jagger on Harry Styles: “I Like Harry. … He Just Has a Superficial Resemblance to My Younger Self”

Harry Styles is the talk of the music world once again, the English pop superstar having released his latest album, Harry’s House, this past Friday, May 20 to near-universal acclaim.

And while the former One Direction standout can count several high-profile music icons in his corner, so to speak, earning public approvals from the likes of Stevie Nicks (who couldn’t get enough of Styles’ 2019 album, Fine Line), and Peter Gabriel in recent years, it’s not without some (good-natured) critiques.

In a new interview with the Sunday Times, Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger was asked about Styles, who frequently draws comparisons to Jagger’s on-stage persona and general sense of genre-bending androgyny with his sense of style:

“I like Harry — we have an easy relationship,” Jagger said, as quoted by UCR. “I mean, I used to wear a lot more eye makeup than him. Come on, I was much more androgynous.

“And he doesn’t have a voice like mine or move on stage like me; he just has a superficial resemblance to my younger self, which is fine,” added Jagger. “He can’t help that.”

Harry Styles’ live show is rather electric, thanks in part to a stellar live band that recently delighted the Coachella stage, but also Styles’ energetic presence, leaping around the stage as he entertains the masses, many of them screaming in bliss.

Elsewhere in the Sunday Times chat, Jagger reflects on the loss of his longtime band mate and friend, Charlie Watts, who passed away in August at the age of 80:

“I don’t really expect him to be there anymore if I turn ’round during a show,” said the singer. “But I do think about him. Not only during rehearsals or on stage, but in other ways too. I would have phoned him up and talked about last night’s Arsenal game because he supported Tottenham and I’m Arsenal. I miss him as a player and as a friend.”