After years of speculation and rumors of Harry Styles releasing a solo album, he finally did.

His self-titled album became available to the public May 12. This is a full length album, featuring ten songs two of which were released before the album:  the singles “Sign of the Times” and “Sweet Creature.”  

The singles are very different, as “Sign of the Times” is a slow and emotional song while “Sweet Creature” is more upbeat and less serious. Nevertheless, whether a fan of One Direction or not, one is bound to swoon when serenaded by the angelic voice of Harry Styles.

If for some reason you have not heard of Harry Styles (stop living under a rock) there are some things you should know about him before judging his music.

In 2011, Styles, along with four other young men, were made into a group by X-Factor judge and music producing genius Simon Cowell. He felt that they all had more to offer as a group than they did as solo acts.  Overnight, the boy band became extremely popular in England, and viewers (especially teenage girls) would tune into the X-Factor to vote and make sure their boys made it onto the next week with hopes of winning the show  They ended up coming in third place.

After X-Factor ended, Cowell knew that there wsas something special about these boys, so he offered them a record deal. In 2o12 they released their first single which ultimately made them a world known icon: girls all across the globe fell into a trance when hypnotized by “What Makes You Beautiful.”

Though they were all close with one another and truly acted like brothers, there were two clear standouts in the group: Harry Styles and Zayn Malik. These two handled the bulk of the vocals, but some fans were not very happy about it. So, as each successive album came out, more and more Niall, Louis, and Liam got featured.  This made their fans happy, but left Harry fans questioning the possibility of Harry producing a solo album.

However, he never did. It was not until Zayn left the group in 2015 to start his own career that the group take a hiatus to focus on solo works. And thus here we are: our tween heartthrob and icon Harry Styles has finally shown us that he can in fact stand alone, and even go on tour.

Styles will go on tour throughout the world later this year, and tickets are already a hot commodity. Check out “Harry Styles” on Spotify or iTunes today.