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Apr 04, 2022 By Caleb Campbell Photography by Shervin Lainez

New England indie folk duo The Ballroom Thieves have been drawing inspiration from a variety of sources for their upcoming album, Clouds. Lately, this has found Calin Peters and Martin Earley crafting intimate confessions from the turbulent landscape of their mental health struggles, reflecting on the pains of touring, heartbreak, and oncoming climate disaster.

But, the duo also have been writing about that which they love, be it the thrill of the open road or a certain former teen heartthrob turned rockstar. Like millions of other music fans, The Ballroom Thieves love Harry Styles. In fact, they love him so much that they’ve penned a tribute to him with their latest single, “Harry Styles,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Though The Ballroom Thieves never mention Harry Styles by name, the pair’s starry-eyed devotion to him is instantly evident. The track finds the pair lost in a romantic haze, with floating guitar lines and fluttering melodies tracing a gentle path through their lush vocal harmonies. “Harry Styles” is both an alluring spring-time daydream, and a confession for all the things the duo love about Styles. Martin and Calin trade vocals, both dreaming of Styles and tributing him as an inspiration. Martin sings, “So if I sing in his voice now / And if I dress in his pearls / I pretend to be fearless / And then I’ll be fearless / And I’ll turn into light.”

The Ballroom Thieves say of the track, “We write about the things we think most about, and this year, amongst tougher musings like climate disasters, detangling our mental health, and aching to be back on stage, there was Harry, an absolute beacon of inclusivity and non toxic masculinity. We truly love him and the ways in which he pushes back against the normative bro archetype we’re all conditioned to believe is masculine. This is our love song to him, and the many beautiful non-conforming icons that came before him who offer a safe place for those of us whose identities are not loved and celebrated the way they should be.”

Check out the song below. Clouds is due out July 15th via Nettwerk.