Hey Angel. Do you know the reasons why, we look up to the sky?
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) October 6, 2015
When Harry Styles started tweeting lyrics to Hey Angel not long after bandmate Liam Payne said that Harry wrote a song that left him in tears – fans assumed the track would be slow and bring us all to tears. When Made In The A.M begins however – we aren’t greeted with the slow and emotional ballad we were expecting!
Hey Angel. Do you look at us and laugh, when we hold on to the past?
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) October 9, 2015
Hey Angel is definitely a powerful song, and it’s one packed full of emotion, just now one that’s quite as slow or sad – it’s actually almost hopeful! Julian Bunetta says this song has special meaning to him and it’s clear that the song meant a lot to Harry too as he gave fans lyrics of it four times before it’s official release.
“Hey angel
Do you know the reasons why
We look up to the sky?
Hey angel
Do you look at us and laugh
When we hold on to the past?
Hey angel
Oh I wish I could be more like you
Do you wish you could be more like me?
Oh I wish I could be more like you
Do you wish you could be more like me?
Hey angel
Tell me, do you ever try
To come to the other side?
Hey angel
Tell me, do you ever cry
When we waste away our lives?
Oh I wish I could be more like you
Do you wish you could be more like me?
Oh I wish I could be more like you
Oh I wish I could me more, I could be more, I could be more
Yeah I see you at the bar, at the edge of my bed
Backseat of my car, in the back of my head
I come alive when I hear your voice
It’s a beautiful sound, it’s a beautiful noise
Yeah I see you at the bar, at the edge of my bed
Backseat of my car, in the back of my head
I come alive when I hear your voice
It’s a beautiful sound, it’s a beautiful noise
Hey angel
Hey angel
Do you look up to the sky?
Do you look up to the sky?
Oh I wish I could be more like you
Do you wish you could be more like me?
Oh I wish I could be more like you
Do you wish you could be more like me?
Hey angel
Hey angel”
Hey Angel appears to be one of the most ‘open to interpretation’ songs on the album – the lyrics can mean something different to everyone who hears them.
Hey Angel. Tell me, do you ever try to come to the other side?
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) October 16, 2015
The angel could be a lost loved one – a best friend, a partner, a family member…someone you used to talk to a lot. The conversation in this song is casual but meaningful; almost like you just get to a part of your day and you need to feel their presence again so you speak – sort of into nothing – and hope that they hear you. You hope they get your message.
The angel could be someone who was part of your life and isn’t anymore – for reasons beyond your circumstance. Perhaps there was an inevitable goodbye lurking around the corner so you cut ties before things got too painful, perhaps there wasn’t a chance for a goodbye because there was never a proper hello – maybe it was a summer fling or a summer friend – someone who was only on very borrowed time with you – but changed your life nonetheless.
Hey Angel. Tell me do you ever cry, while we waste away our lives?
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) October 22, 2015
The angel could be someone you loved and lost but not to death or distance – maybe it was by your own doing, or theirs, and there are still parts of them that you can’t shake. They exist, almost like an angel, everywhere you are. You still see them in your bed, in your car, dancing about your kitchen, or at your favorite cafe. They meant the world to you, but that part of your world is over, it doesn’t mean you miss them any less, or that you’re any less affected by them – you just can’t allow yourself to seem like it.
There are references to the other side, wishing you could be more like them – perhaps the angel mentioned is a former version, or a true version, of oneself.
Instead of this song being about another person maybe it’s about the person you truly are – the one you can’t be for reasons that are beyond your control; isn’t that the most painful story of all? The want and desire to be yourself without the ability to do so?
Maybe Hey Angel is about the way you see yourself everywhere – but it’s never exactly you, maybe the angel is the you that you know you could be, or the you that you were before it had to end, and you wonder if you’re letting yourself down by having to play the role; whatever that may be.
Maybe Hey Angel is meant to make us question who we are, who we love, and what we’d do if we lost the ability to grasp ourselves or our loved ones in the future.
The one thing we know for sure is that this song is the perfect way to open the album and the vocals are strong and different than most songs One Direction have recorded in the past. This is an incredible staple to the message that they’ve grown up, they’ve changed, and this is the way they memorialize the time between who they were and who they want to be.