Sweet Creature (song)

"Sign Of The Times"
"****Sweet Creature****"
"Two Ghosts"

"**Sweet Creature**" is a song performed by Harry Styles. It is the fifth track from Harry Styles. It was released as a promotional single on May 2, 2017.

## Background

In February 2017, Rob Stringer, the CEO of Columbia Records, revealed that Styles's debut album was close to being completed. Styles released his debut single "Sign Of The Times" in April 2017, and announced that his eponymous debut studio album would be released the following month.

Styles wrote "Sweet Creature" with Harpoon. It was the first song that the duo wrote for the album. Production was handled by Harpoon, Bhasker, Salibian, and Johnson. The recording took place in Harpoon's Barn and The Village in Los Angeles. Harpoon played bass, guitar, and güiro, as well as provided background vocals. Bhasker played the piano and served as the executive producer. Harpoon and Ryan Nasci engineered the song with Matt Dyson and Michael Freeman. The song was mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent at EastWest Studios, Los Angeles, and mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound in Edgewater, New Jersey.

*Sweet Creature* first appeared as the fifth track on Harry's debut album, *Harry Styles*. He performed the song throughout *Live On Tour*. Harry also performed the song at Love On Tour at Wembley Night Four on June 17, 2023

Harry Styles said during his *Zach Sang Show* interview: “*Sweet Creature is definitely written about one person*”. When asked if the song was written about a specific person, he answered: “*In my opinion, I think most songs are written for one listener.*”

## Music and composition

"Sweet Creature" is an acoustic folk ballad, with a length of three minutes and 45 seconds. Bernard Zuel of *The Sydney Morning Herald* characterised its sound as country-pop. The song employs fingerstyle guitar picking, bass, simple harmonies, and background runs. On the track, Styles croons the song's title over and over, accompanied by guitar riffs. Sasha Geffen of MTV News noted that backing instruments and vocals get added later to the song's guitar-driven production. Geffen said that the track lowered the magnitude from Styles's sonorous debut single, "Sign of the Times", to "an intimate, acoustic level". According to Digital Spy's Justin Harp, the song, although not very different from the ballads of One Direction, marked a departure from the energetic pop sound of the band.

Several critics compared the track's acoustic guitar arrangement to that of the Beatles's 1968 song, "Blackbird". Reviewers such as, Rick Pearson of *Evening Standard* and Jeremy Gordon of *Spin* said that it sounded like the works of the pop singer Ed Sheeran, and Pearson compared it specifically to his 2017 album *÷*. *Variety*'s Eve Barlow noted that the song attempted to emulate the guitar sound of the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood", Plain White T's' "Hey There Delilah", and Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again".

In an interview with radio host Zach Sang in May 2017, Styles revealed that "Sweet Creature" was written about a specific person. He said that the song was "more so than one story, it's very much a piece of me that I haven't shared or talked about before". Sung in the form of a lullaby, according to *Entertainment Weekly*'s Leah Greenblatt, the track's lyrics discuss the confusion and potency of young love. In the song, Styles sings of an imaginative animal, who's not named. A guitar strum opens the track, over which Styles sings: "Sweet creature, had another talk about where it's going wrong". It leads to the chorus, which has been described by *Idolator*'s Mike Wass as "loved-up" and "starry-eyed": "Sweet creature, sweet creature/ When I run out of rope, you bring me home." Harp interpreted the refrain's lyrics as a declaration that "love alone is sometimes enough to bridge the divide in a rocky relationship". Annie Zaleski of *The A.V. Club* described it as "a simple but effective song praising the strength of a bond that endures despite turbulence".

## Critical reception

Jon Caramanica of *The New York Times* said *Sweet Creature* is one of the album's highlights, "full of gentle Cafe Wha? guitar and straightforwardly earnest singing." In *Billboard*, Da'Shan Smith wrote that "Sweet Creature" showcases "Styles' range and ability to hit some pretty spectacular power notes." Leah Greenblatt of *Entertainment Weekly* opined the "strummy lullaby," along with the song "Two Ghosts", are "delicate sketches, wistful and pretty." BBC music reporter Mark Savage called it the album's "most effective, direct song." Mikael Wood of *Los Angeles Times* described the song as "honeyed croon." Leonie Coope of *NME* felt the song "could have as easily have been written about Joni Mitchell as much as his ex Taylor Swift." Writing for *Exclaim!*, Corey van den Hoogenband described it as a "Beatles Jr. song that, although suspiciously reminiscent of "Blackbird," is pleasant enough." *The Straits Times*' Anjali Raguraman agreed that it is a "modern-day take" on the mentioned song, with "its delicate guitar picking." Eve Barlow of *Variety* believed it attempts "to ape the sort of picked-out acoustic strums" of a "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's, "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles or Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again". Rick Pearson for *Evening Standard* thought "the folksy skip of [the song] is as good as anything on Ed Sheeran's *Divide*. In *Chicago Tribune*, Greg Kot wrote that the "trifle" song "pulls everything back but voice and guitar to make Styles appear older than his years,"

## Lyrics

Sweet creature

Had another talk about where it's going wrong

But we're still young

We don't know where we're going but we know where we belong

And, oh, we started

Two hearts in one home

It's hard when we argue

We're both stubborn, I know

But oh

Sweet creature, sweet creature

Wherever I go, you bring me home

Sweet creature, sweet creature

When I run out of road, you bring me home

Sweet creature

We're running through the garden, oh, where nothing bothered us

But we're still young

I always think about you and how we don't speak enough

No, we started

Two hearts in one home

It's hard when we argue

We're both stubborn, I know

But oh

Sweet creature, sweet creature

Wherever I go, you bring me home

Sweet creature, sweet creature

When I run out of road, you bring me home

I know when we started

Just two hearts in one home

It gets harder when we argue

We're both stubborn, I know

But oh

Sweet creature, sweet creature

Wherever I go, you bring me home

Sweet creature, sweet creature

When I run out of road, you bring me home

You bring me home

## References

1. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7685155/no-5-rob-stringer-power-100-2017
2. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/harry-styles-self-titled-debut-may-12-tracklist-7760233/
3. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7744377/harry-styles-solo-single-cover-art-sign-of-the-times
4. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/harry-styles-sweet-creature-about-someone-7784812/
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/hear-harry-styles-sweeping-new-folk-song-sweet-creature-120208/
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlmztXz8E68
7. ↑ https://consequence.net/2017/05/album-review-harry-styles-harry-styles/
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 https://www.idolator.com/7662247/harry-styles-ballad-sweet-creature?chrome=1
9. ↑ https://listen.tidal.com/album/73489549/track/73489550
10. ↑ https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/harry-styles-solo-album-finds-more-than-one-direction-20170512-gw3h0v.html
11. ↑ https://www.wsj.com/articles/harry-styles-review-going-off-in-a-new-direction-1494969016
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 https://www.spin.com/2017/05/harry-styles-sweet-creature-review/
13. ↑ https://www.insider.com/harry-styles-songs-ranked
14. ↑ https://mtv.com/news/3008468/harry-styles-sweet-creature/
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 https://www.digitalspy.com/music/a827341/harry-styles-new-song-sweet-creature-debuts-listen-now/
16. ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/music/harry-styles-album-review-a-selfconsciously-serious-and-grownup-effort-a3537171.html
17. ↑ https://variety.com/2017/music/news/harry-styles-solo-album-track-breakdown-1202424544/
18. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7784812/harry-styles-sweet-creature-about-someone
19. ↑ https://www.nme.com/news/music/harry-styles-discusses-new-single-sweet-creature-2066057
20. ↑ https://ew.com/music/2017/05/12/harry-styles-review/
21. ↑ https://www.avclub.com/harry-styles-takes-a-bold-step-forward-by-leaning-on-th-1798191350
22. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/arts/music/harry-styles-self-titled-album-review.html
23. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/rock/7777148/harry-styles-sweet-creature-new-song-listen
24. ↑ https://ew.com/music/2017/05/12/harry-styles-review/
25. ↑ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-harry-styles-review-20170512-story.html
26. ↑ https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/harry-styles-harry-styles-album-review-nme
27. ↑ http://exclaim.ca/music/article/harry\_styles-harry\_styles
28. ↑ http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/soft-rock-with-an-edge
29. ↑ https://variety.com/2017/music/news/harry-styles-solo-album-track-breakdown-1202424544/
30. ↑ https://www.standard.co.uk/stayingin/music/harry-styles-album-review-a-selfconsciously-serious-and-grownup-effort-a3537171.html
31. ↑ https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-music-harry-styles-one-direction-ent-0515-20170512-column.html

## Navigation

"Sign Of The Times"
"Carolina"
"Two Ghosts"

"Only Angel"
"Kiwi"
"Ever Since New York"

"From The Dining Table"