Released: 2022
“Satellite” by Harry Styles is a poignant pop ballad, exploring themes of longing, distance and emotional disconnect. In a nutshell, it’s about Styles’ understanding of a relationship that is in turmoil due to physical and emotional distances, with him trying to bridge the gap whilst remaining a ‘satellite’ watching from afar.
Starting off, “You got a new life / Am I bothering you? / Do you wanna talk?” and “We share the last line / Then we drink the wall / ‘Til we wanna talk” suggest a conversation laden with unsettling questions and tension. Styles uses drinking as a metaphor to denote the act of letting guard down, revealing deeper thoughts and emotions.
But the core of “Satellite” lies in its chorus – “I go ’round and ’round / Satellite / Spinning out, waiting for ya to pull me in / I can see you’re lonely down there / Don’t you know that I am right here?” Here, Styles presents himself as a satellite, a passive observer circling the center of his emotional universe, the significant other, who is emotionally isolated (‘lonely down there’). The phrase ‘spinning out’ is idiomatic, referring to losing control or to be in a state of confusion, indicating his emotional tumult as he waits for his lover to draw him back into her world.
When Styles serenades “I’m in an L.A. mood / I don’t wanna talk to you / She said, “Give me a day or two””, it implies a temporary disconnect, a need for both parties to step back, take some time, before trying to have a conversation again.
The repeated phrases “I’m here, right here / Wishing I could be there for ya / Be there for ya / Be there for ya, for ya” in the bridge tell of Styles’ longing to be there for his lover through her loneliness, underlining his helpless situation as a distant observer.
With “Satellite”, Styles foregrounds an universal emotional experience of yearning, distance, and disconnection in relationships, creating a haunting melody that resonates with listeners, whether they are pop aficionados or not.
