• Harry explained the song's meaning:
"Most of the stuff that hurts me about what's going on at the moment is not politics,
it's fundamentals. Equal rights. For everyone, all races, sexes, everything."
"'Sign of the Times' came from 'This isn't the first time we've been in a hard time, and it's not going
to be the last time,' The song is written from a point of view as if a mother was giving birth to a
child and there's a complication. The mother is told, 'The child is fine, but you're not going to make it.'
The mother has five minutes to tell the child, 'Go forth and conquer.'"
• According to a Billboard writer, it "folds
in psychedelic soul, indie rock and spacey pop." The power ballad shows influences from British
rock from the early 1970s.
Harry said:
"I think it's hard to not have influences from what you grew up listening.
I think everyone reacts differently to different types of music. I was with the guys who
I was writing it with and we just wanted to make what we wanted to listen to and tha
t has been the most fun part for me about making the whole album."
• Harry Styles first announced the title the song on Instagram on March 31, 2017.
Prince's
album Sign O' the Times was released almost exactly 30 years
previously on March 30, 1987.
Alex Salibian, Jeff Bhasker, Harry Styles, Tyler Johnson, Ryan Nasci, Mitch Rowland