Harry Styles has thanked Billie Eilish for helping him break “the spell” and help him come to terms with getting older in the music industry.

In a new interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Styles opened up about his incoming third album Harry’s Houseas well as his thoughts on maturing as an artist.

“I definitely had a really big moment, I think, when Billie Eilish kind of first blew up. I think being in the band, I’d always felt like… it was fun and exciting because we were young,” Styles told Lowe. “And I had a moment, seeing her do this at such a young age, where I felt like, ‘I’m not that young anymore.’”

“And for a while it was, ‘How do you play that game of remaining exciting?’ And I just had a moment where I felt like… ‘You’re not always going to be the young thing,’ I was like, ‘Okay. I would like to really think about who I would like to be as a musician.'”

While Harry said he’s only met the fellow muso “a couple of times”, he hasn’t yet expressed to her how “incredibly thankful” he is to her for the epiphany.

“She’s a lot younger than me and there’s no point in me going like, ‘Okay, how do I get back in?'” he said.

“She totally broke the spell for me in a way that I’m very grateful for that,” he continued. “It just let me go. This is so unbelievably liberating to go, ‘I just want to make good music.’ That’s it. That’s what I want to do. And everything else is what it will be. And that’s kind of it.”

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Harry recently announced that he’s also set to head Down Under next year for his upcoming Love on Tour 2023 global tour.

The additional shows will be held at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on February 25 and at Accor Stadium in Sydney on March 4.

The highly anticipated tour will begin in Perth on February 20th, Styles will then head to Melbourne, Gold Coast, and Sydney, before concluding in Auckland on March 7th. He’ll be joined on the tour by acclaimed British indie rock duo Wet Leg, whose self-titled debut album just topped the charts in the UK and Australia.

News of the tour – which is an extension of his current tour Love on Tour 2022 – comes just months after Styles confirmed that he wouldn’t be able to tour the two countries in 2022. “To everyone in Australia and New Zealand, I can’t believe it’s been four years,” he shared in a statement released via Live Nation at the time. “I can’t wait to see you again, but unfortunately it is just not possible at this time. I will be sharing news soon about new shows, I love you all so much – I miss you, and I can’t wait to see you.”

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