Harry Styles addressed fans' fears that he plans to retire, using the ninth night of his Madison Square Garden residency in New York on Saturday to explain a cryptic email he had sent earlier in the week.
The 32-year-old singer told the crowd he wanted to "be honest about who I am and where I am in my life," adding that he did not want to reach the end of the tour and simply say "until next time" as he has done before.
What Harry Styles told the crowd
"I think, since I was 16 and I've been working in music, everything in my life has sort of taught me that everything in this world is about getting more and achieving more and more shows and bigger things and bigger... everything," Styles said.
"I think a lot of things have happened to me in the last few years of my life, different things, that have sort of just changed my perspective, and I'm working on learning to be content with what is enough."
He told fans he never wants the shows to "feel less special" once they are over, calling the residency "the joy of my life" and thanking the audience for their support over the years.
"I'm not saying anything dramatic; I'm not trying to be dramatic; I'm just saying... don't worry," he said. "I love you, and I wanted to speak to you like I would speak to my friends about this." He then dedicated the next song, Carla's Song, to the crowd.
The email that started the speculation
The remarks followed an email Styles sent fans in the early hours of Thursday under the heading "message from Harry," announcing that he will add more cities to his run once his current shows finish.
Styles is in the middle of a 30-night Madison Square Garden residency that began on August 26 and is scheduled to run until October 31. He will then travel to Australia for four nights in Melbourne before closing the tour with two shows in Sydney. The run supports his latest album, Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally.
Fans had believed the Australian dates would mark the end of the tour, but Styles used the email to reveal it will continue into 2027. "When we decided to do the 2026 tour I knew it would be special but what you turned it into was far beyond what I could have imagined," he wrote, adding that news of the 2027 dates was something he "at first found daunting."
"Being an artist is the only life I've ever known really, I have been doing this since I was 16 years old, and I feel like the luckiest person in the world to still be sharing these moments with you," he wrote, saying the final cities of the tour, called Together, Together, would be announced the following day.
It was the next line that unsettled some fans. "After that, I don't know what comes next for me, but I know that I'm excited to find out," Styles wrote. "I can't wait for us all to keep dancing with our friends. I hope to see you there."
Fans react online
The email prompted an outpouring on social media, with one fan writing: "Sorry I can't my close personal best friend Harry Styles emailed me that he's releasing more tour dates tomorrow." Another posted: "Okay after that email my Harry Styles budget for 2027 is unlimited. I should apply for another credit card while we're at it."
Others fixated on the "I don't know what comes next" line, reading it as a hint he could step away from music once the tour ends. "Harry Styles your email simultaneously ruined and made my day, thanks for that," one fan wrote, while another said: "Just woken up and Harry Styles has broken up with me over email." A third asked: "How did Harry manage to make an announcement for extra tour dates sound sad."
Harry Styles jokes about Taylor Swift's wedding
During one of his recent New York shows, Styles made light of his ex-girlfriend Taylor Swift's wedding to Travis at Madison Square Garden. "We're at Madison Square Garden, home of the world champion New York Knicks," he told the crowd in fan-filmed footage. "And they also do weddings," he added.
The joke followed reports that Styles had been invited to the July 3 wedding but declined because he had a show in London that night as part of his tour. His fiancee, the actress Zoe Kravitz, attended the wedding; Kravitz and Swift have been friends for years.
Styles and Swift dated from late 2012 to January 2013. Around 13 years on from their brief relationship, the pair now appear to be on friendly terms.
