T

here aren’t many pop superstars left, at least

not many interesting ones, and almost none

who have recently escaped from boy bands,

historically a fertile pop-star breeding

ground. When British boy band One Direction,

assembled on British talent show “The X Factor” in

2010, disassembled in early 2016, many assumed that

beautiful, broody Zayn Malik would be the group’s

breakout star. But it was former band mate Harry

Styles who stepped into the breach.

That Styles’s first solo album, 2017’s “Harry Styles,”

was a nostalgic exercise in folk pop, ’80s new wave

and classic rock made sense. 1D, who often experi-

mented with those same textures, were closer to Dad

BY ALLISON STEWART

KLMNO

Style

TUESDAY, MAY 24 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/STYLE EZ SU C

BY KIMBERLY HARRINGTON

After you’ve decided to get a divorce is
probably not the ideal time to start
reading books about marriage. But
that’s what I did, initially as an attempt
to understand what had happened in my
marriage but also to survey the land-
scape as I began to write my own book.
Of the many in this genre, one felt like
a gut punch, filling me with both
knowledge and regret. It wasn’t a pop-
psych bestseller but a 500-plus-page
cultural study. It was first published in
1992, so I could have read it three years
before I got engaged, five years before
our wedding. I now wish I had.
“The Way We Never Were: American
Families and the Nostalgia Trap,” by
Stephanie Coontz, changed not only
how I think about my own marriage and
experience of parenting but also how I
think about marriage and parenting in
general. No one wants to be the weirdo
who gifts a historical analysis of societal
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BOOK WORLD

I wish I’d read

this before

I got married

BY EMILY YAHR

As the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard
defamation trial entered its sixth week in
Fairfax County, the jury was greeted
Monday morning by gruesome photos of
Depp’s bloody, severed finger during tes-
timony from an orthopedic surgeon who
disputed Depp’s version of events that led
to his much-discussed injury.
Depp, 58, is suing his ex-wife Amber
Heard, 36, for $50 million for defamation
after a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in
which she referred to herself as a public
figure representing domestic abuse, two
years after she filed for a divorce and a
restraining order. Depp, who has denied
all allegations of abuse, said the op-ed
(which did not name him) ruined his
reputation and career. Heard counter-
sued the actor for $100 million for
defamation after his lawyer told the
media that her claims were a hoax.
Depp has alleged that Heard abused
him, and during his testimony last
month, said that when he was filming the
fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie in
Australia in March 2015, he and Heard
got in an argument and she threw a bottle
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Doctor doubts

Depp’s story

about finger

BY EMILY YAHR

During the Season 20 premiere of
“American Idol” in February, 23-year-old
country singer HunterGirl impressed
the judges — so much that they awarded
her with a “platinum ticket,” a new
gimmick that allowed three standout
contestants to skip a round of the
competition to give them a better shot at
getting to the top 24, when viewers can
vote.
“This is my fifth year doing this, and
that is my favorite female country voice
I’ve heard in five years,” Luke Bryan
announced after HunterGirl’s first audi-
tion, asking, “This is the year of the girl
country singer, right?”
Fellow judges Lionel Richie and Katy
Perry also lavished praise on HunterGirl
throughout the season, repeatedly tell-
ing her that she was a star. On Sunday
night’s finale, HunterGirl indeed was
one of the final two contestants — but at
the end of the telecast, host Ryan
Seacrest announced the winner was
20-year-old country singer Noah
Thompson.
And yet, even with HunterGirl (real
name: Hunter Wolkonowski) as an obvi-
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‘Idol’ winner

is no surprise.

Here’s why.

CAROLYN HAX

His constant bellyaching

about his job is giving his

spouse a bad case of

heartburn. C2

KIDSPOST

Counting American eels,

which are endangered in

part by habitat loss and

dams, on the Hudson. C8

MUSIC REVIEW

‘Harry’s House’ i s partly

furnished with S tyles

The pop heartthrob’s new album is pleasant, mild and unadventurous

KEVIN MAZUR/GETTY IMAGES FOR ABA

Harry Styles, performing at Coachella last month, has released an album that sounds

a s if it were meant to be background music at a barbecue or pool party.

Rock than any other boy band ever got. Styles’s

second release, 2019’s “Fine Line,” was his break-

through — a jubilantly sad extension of those same

revivalist impulses, with funk and modified psych-

pop thrown in besides.

“Harry’s House,” released Friday, is a mild-man-

nered, slightly less vivid continuation of same. “Fine

Line” was a sexy breakup album, Styles has said, while

“Harry’s House” is a sexy new-relationship album.

(Styles is dating actress Olivia Wilde, his director on

the upcoming film “Don’t Worry Darling.”) Like its

predecessors, “Harry’s House” is a lyrically vague

offering that sticks to you-know-I-love-you-babe plati-

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BASIC BOOKS