This Thing Upon Me [Order The eBook] [Harry Styles]

Chapter 3

Published March 29, 2020

(DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. It's important to remember this is all totally fabricated, embellished, and exaggerated for entertainment purposes.)

Built an opera house for you in the deepest jungle.

And I walked across its stage singing with my eyes closed

Opera House | Cigarettes After Sex

I arrived to Clive's gala a little after nine on the 14th—set to honor Irving Azoff (Jeff's father) with a merit for achieving icon status. I was extremely proud to reenter the industry on terms I had negotiated for myself, and stoked to see him receive the honor firsthand. That night felt like a movie. Like I was finally in the big leagues and rubbing elbows with the right people to ensure my status as a major player when the time arrived.

Meeting the Azoffs in 2013 was like a dream come true, the pot of which only sweetened over time. They were at the forefront of everything happening in culture and entertainment, and I knew they would be ideal allies for whenever I was set to venture off on my own, away from the other boys and away from the dictates of Modest.

Every aspect of music as a soloist was intimidating, be it the people who made it, the people who sold it, or the people who consumed it. But I was up for the challenge. I couldn't imagine spending another year in the band, as nothing more than a shiny spoke in a big wheel that kept rolling no matter how badly I wanted it to slow down.

As quiet as it's kept, since 2013 everything had been carefully set in place for me to go solo down the line—if I had been inclined in any way. And admittedly, some nights when I felt fed up on the road I had toyed with the idea in the back of my mind, but always put it off with a sense of loyalty towards the other boys and the fanbase that had come to depend on us as a unit.

I had no idea 2016 would be the year, though. Either way, I was primed to make my debut in an industry I had been flirting with and studying for years. I was ready to redefine what people thought of when they heard the name Harry Styles, and eager to establish my legacy in a vertical that had the potential to make me a living legend.

As it stood, there was already a lot expected of me. I needed considerable mentoring to even dream of hitting the precedents established by the band's outrageous success in the years prior, and joining the Azoff's proved to be a solution of divine caliber. As far as tonight's award was concerned, I was convinced there was no recipient more worthy. The Azoff work ethic was unparalleled; and there wasn't much that took place in entertainment without them in some capacity. They were the Weinsteins of the music industry, and this had all been founded and sustained on the back of the patriarch himself.

Irving was behind the success of many massive names in music and Hollywood, and I was convinced that if this were the dark ages, he'd be a kingmaker of the same formidable magnitude, (probably with even more blood on his hands than he boasted now). To many, he was God and an unfaltering means to success. But to me, he was like a father.

In 2013, under the advice of my dad (Desmond), I made it my mission to become acquainted with any Azoff that would have me, and was thrilled when Jeff approached me with mutual interest. He provided careful oversight of my profile apart from the band, coaching me to brand myself as individual entirely. That was the move, he'd always say. Before long, the name Harry Styles wasn't just synonymous with One Direction. I became the most diversified member, well-known and well-connected apart from the 1D establishment. A cosmopolitan powerhouse in the making.