Harry Styles unveils ‘Watermelon Sugar’ music video

Visual is ‘dedicated to touching’ in reference to the days before social distancing

Harry Styles has released the music video for his single “Watermelon Sugar”.

Filmed on a Malibu beach in January, the clip sees Styles frolicking in the sand and being hugged and caressed by bikini-clad women.

In a reference to the days before social distancing, the opening frame of the video declares: “This video is dedicated to touching.”

The visual seems to be a homage to Elton John’s classic 1983 video for “I’m Still Standing”, which was shot in the French Riviera.

Styles’s blue-tinted sunglasses also appear to be a nod to the bespectacled singer’s signature look.

Some eagle-eyed fans have suggested the new video was filmed on the same beach as One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful", which was shot with Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik in 2011.

Fans first heard the song, which features on Styles’s album Fine line, on Saturday Night Live in November 2019.

The Independent’s critic Alexandra Pollard called the album “dextrous” and “audacious”, but added it is “just a little too in thrall to music’s greats”.