This song (“Matilda”) deals with a more serious subject matter than your usual Harry Styles’ fare. As such, he has actually offered an explanation of the premise behind the subject of this track.

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And combining said explanation with the lyrics, what it reads like, most simply explained, is “Matilda” being someone who has grown accustomed to a toxic relationship with her family, who ‘never showed her love’. Or put differently, they have “hurt” her in a way that, based on Harry’s observation, has ‘left a piece or her dead inside’. Or perhaps a more simple way of putting it is that she has been the victim of some type of domestic abuse, the type which is so horrendous that it basically sticks with a person for a lifetime. But still, she remains loyal to the people who perpetrated these crimes of humanity against her.

So Harry’s disposition is sorta like, why? The way he perceives it, Matilda has the whole world in front of her. So instead of going back to her familial foundation and perpetually reliving the sorrow, the way he sees it is that she shouldn’t associate with those people. Or as he puts it, rather of going back to that toxic environment she can “throw a part full of” the people who actually bring her joy. But apparently Matilda herself doesn’t see things that way, thus this song.

“Matilda” is based on a real Person

According to Styles, the lyrics of this song are based on a true story. In an interview, he stated that he composed the song after listening to a disturbingly sad story of an acquaintance. Despite Matilda not being the person’s real name, the song was heavily inspired by that person (whose gender Harry purposely decides not to reveal).

Styles also revealed that when he first played this song to his friends, they all ended up crying. Such is how touching and sad the song is.

That said, it is worth mentioning that the name, “Matilda”, which Harry uses to represent this unnamed acquaintance was taken from a famous children’s book (also titled “Matilda“) by British writer and poet, Roald Dahl. The said children’s book centers around the life of a young girl with superpowers named Matilda.

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The book was later adapted into a very successful 1996 film. The said film, which is also titled “Matilda” starred American actress, Mara Wilson, playing the role of Matilda.

Despite this song being very personal to Harry, he isn’t credited as its sole writer. In creating “Matilda”, he received support from the following renowned songwriters:

FYI: Co-writers Harpoon and Johnson also ended up handling Matilda‘s production duties.

On the 20th of May, 2022, Harry and his management released “Matilda” as part of his “Harry’s House” project. This project is actually the singer’s third studio album. Before the album’s official release, two songs were released as its official singles.

“As It Was” was the first of these singles. The second is a song titled “Late Night Talking“. Both songs ended up being massive global hits.