It might be a Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally kind of a week, but last night, Saturday Night Live took things all the way back to Harry Styles’s debut album.
Ryan Gosling, the host for the evening’s episode, was in the middle of his opening monologue, discussing his forthcoming film, Project Hail Mary, when he was joined by an unexpected guest. To the actor’s feigned confusion, the one-and-only Styles suddenly appeared on a split screen, sitting front row in the crowd.
“What’s going on? Just trying to understand why we’d be in a split screen,” Gosling questioned, interrupting himself as the audience cheered for the surprise cameo. “What’s going on with camera two?”
The shot then panned to a cameraman in an “I <3 Harry” T-shirt, before turning back to Styles himself—in a statement tee of his own.
The shirt in question, a faded dark-gray vintage piece, featured a cracked yellow smiley face and white writing below, reading “I hate you.” The cheeky number was a welcome addition to the musician’s ever-growing collection of vintage graphic T-shirts—including a handful of band tees, a shirt printed with “Pushing 50 Is Exercise Enough,” and a Xanax tee reading “Anxiety Has Many Faces,” to name a few.
Continuing with his monologue, Gosling announced that he was going to skip a big dance number, and get straight to a song he had prepared for the evening.
“In the movie, there’s this song,” he told the camera. “It’s a karaoke song. Sandra Hüller sings it. It’s very poignant and it’s the anthem of our generation, some have said. It’s called ‘Sign of the Times’—and oh my god, it’s by Harry Styles!”
The host then proceeded to serenade his special guest with a rendition of the 2017 single, Styles’s debut.
Next weekend, Styles will be back at SNL, as both the host and musical guest.