Harry Styles’ Everybody Wants to Rule the World Tears for Fears Cover

Everybody wants to rule the world, and everybody wants to cover Tears for Fears, including Harry Styles. The singer took breaks from both kissing and disco recently when he made an appearance at BBC Radio1 Live Lounge to perform one of Tears for Fears‘ Songs From the Big Chair.

Styles rendition is reverent to the original, first released in 1985. It opens with the opening guitar ostinato before the groove kicks in and Styles, dressed in a variety of neutrals, starts dancing in a circle of synthesizers. Styles struggles to stay on pitch a little in the middle, but hey, it’s a hard song to sing and the nifty trumpet embellishments, skittery jazz-fusion guitar solo, and Styles’ own charisma bring it all home.

Styles’ Live Lounge appearance also found him performing four songs from his fourth solo album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally: “Aperture,” “American Girls,” “Dance No More,” and “Carla’s Song.” Styles fans should expect to hear all of those on his upcoming residency tour. At a recent performance in Manchester, filmed for Netflix, Styles performed the full album but no cover songs.

“Everybody Wants to Rule the World” arrived late during the making of Tears for Fears’ Songs From the Big Chair. “We were really discussing the Cold War,” the band’s Curt Smith has said of the song. They had to argue with their record label to get the company to make it a single. The song placed at Number 319 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, but it’s been a favorite for many artists. Lorde, Gloria Gaynor, Weezer, Patti Smith, and even the cast of Glee have covered it since its release.