Harry Styles teamed up with director Aube Pierre once again to create a cosmic music video experience for “Satellite,” the latest single from his Grammy-winning album Harry’s House. The song, which has quickly become a fan favorite, feels like an out-of-body experience, with the heavenly combination of spacey synths and Styles’ dreamy vocals. Heart-wrenching lyrics like “Spinnin’ out, waitin’ for ya to pull me in” perfectly describe the loneliness and isolation of pining for someone who doesn’t know you’re still waiting on them.
The music video begins backstage at a “Love On Tour” residency show in Los Angeles, where audiences are introduced to Stomper, the lonely rover, affectionately named after the fan-named “Satellite stomps” that are a part of Styles’ performance of the song on tour. Stomper slowly awakens to the sound of a documentary on the Curiosity space rover on Mars playing on one of the monitors backstage. The documentary, narrated by Brian Cox, discusses that the Curiosity rover has “spent over ten lonely years roaming the surface of the red planet.”
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Stomper then begins its journey to potentially join Curiosity on Mars, navigating its way backstage, passing Styles and the rest of his band during their pre-show huddle. Stomper finds its way onstage, with Styles performing the song to thousands of fans, before being taken away by security. Once the show ends, Stomper continues to venture out through the sea of boa feathers, through The Forum parking lot and LA traffic, and eventually ends up at a beat-up diner.
Many of the music videos in the Harry’s House era have included subtle references to famous art pieces that set the tone of each song and the “Satellite” music video is no different. One fan on Twitter pointed out that the scene at the diner draws an eerie parallel to Edward Hawke’s famous painting “Nighthawks,” which represents loneliness and alienation in a big city. Emphasizes the theme of loneliness that the video and song both describe.
the scene he’s in is reminiscent of edward hopper’s “nighthawks” (thanks for pointing it out @daylightlvrs!), a famous painting that depicts a sense of alienation of living in a large city, existentialism. loneliness. A DISCONNECT.
like a certain song from harry’s house… 🪐!! pic.twitter.com/vu8i5XZUyQ
— rach! 🌷🛰🪐 (@musicforapoet) April 29, 2023
Stomper then drives through the elements and eventually ends up in a field with a large satellite, which could potentially connect Stomper to Curiosity. Stomper slows down and finds Styles next to it, and they both gaze up at the sky together. The video ends with Stomper’s battery running out and it shuts down in front of NASA, a literal representation of the lyrics, “don’t you know that I am right here.”
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The “Satellite” music video is a poignant reminder of just how beautiful life’s journey can be, even when things get treacherous. At the end of the day, even when you don’t realize it, there is someone out there rooting for you and will help you get to your final destination.