Harry Styles’s ‘Coming Up Roses’ Is a Love Song About Romances That Don’t Last Forever
3 min readHarry Styles’s “Coming Up Roses” is a love song, the singer confirmed, but not a typical one. Originally conceived as a Christmas song (which Styles abandoned after two lines), the Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. track captures the uncertainty of new love, the fear of that relationship ending (“And everything seems to be comin’ up roses / But I’m scared if we’re both right / Does that mean we’re not aligned?”), and Styles’s decision to focus on the moment regardless of what the future holds (“There’s only me and you”).
The singer recently spoke to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about how “Coming Up Roses” came together—and how it reflects what he’s learned about love from his relationships that didn’t work out.
He called the song “one of my favorite things I’ve ever done. The kind of writing of it was really something that just happened. Like that was one of those that felt like it just fell out, and then you’re like reading the lyrics back, and I’m like learning something as I’m doing it. I’m like, oh, magic.”
He wrote the song in the month of December: “It started because I was trying to write a Christmas song, so that lasted two lines,” Styles told Lowe, citing his first verse’s “Tell me your fears / I’ve turned back the clocks, it’s that time of year.”
But then the lyrics transformed into something different: “I started it and then it kind of just wrote itself,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Oh, this has nothing to do with Christmas.’ For me, it is a love song about how special something can be—and not everything has to last forever in order for it to be special. I think some of the greatest relationships in your life that teach you something don’t last forever, you know?”
He added that defining successful relationships as only those with “longevity and lasting fraternity” misses the point.
“It just negates all of the beauty and so much positivity that can come from a relationship where you learn something about yourself,” he said. “And I think that’s a gift that someone else gives you even when it’s difficult.”
He added, “It’s something I’m really grateful for because I kind of had to learn a lot about myself at that point.”
Read the lyrics to “Coming Up Roses,” and listen to the song below:
Tell me your fears
I’ve turned back the clocks, it’s that time of year
If we stay the course, we could get it right
But I’m not devoid of an appetite
And everything seems to be coming up roses
But I’m scared if we’re both right
Does that mean we’re not aligned?Just for tonight, let’s go hangover chasing
And I’ll talk your ear off about why it’s safe
As I fumble my words and fall flat on my face through the truth
Just say the word and we’ll take up the test
Where we flirt with the bad ones and skip all the rest
But we see out the night with your head on my chest, me and youThere’s only me and you
Now I see your tears on account of my wants
And now it appears that I’m feeling guilty and worried, dear
That you think that I might not want you here
Does all of this seem to be bringing us closer
Or am I back seating your life?
Judging while you driveJust for tonight, let’s go hangover chasing
And I’ll talk your ear off about why it’s safe
As I fumble my words and fall flat on my face through the truth
Just say the word and we’ll take up the test
Where we flirt with the bad ones and skip all the rest
But we see out the night with your head on my chest, me and youThere’s only me and you
It’s only me and you
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la
