Harry Styles respects young fans' opinions on his new music

Harry Styles was careful not to "write off" opinions of his female fans when launching his solo career.

The 23-year-old singer released his debut solo offering, Sign of the Times, last month (Apr17), with a generally positive response from his followers.

Harry formerly found fame with boyband One Direction, who counted screaming teenage girls among their most devoted fans, and has now shared that he didn't want to dismiss this group when creating his self-titled solo record.

"When people have fans that are younger girls, people assume that their opinion on the music is tainted by desires that aren't based around music," he told The New York Times. "When, in fact, I believe that fans that I've had in the past, if anything, expect and demand more. Fans are usually the first people to tell you when stuff's not good enough.

"And I just think it's a little naive to just write off younger female fans, in particular, in the way people do. Like I've said, young girls were massive fans of The Beatles. It's crazy to think that they're not intelligent."

However, Harry also stated that he did not want to censor himself in his lyrics. The result is an album with themes that fans have taken to be referring to everything from relationships to masturbation.

And the star's reference to The Beatles in his latest interview was somewhat ironic, considering his new tune Sweet Creature has been compared to the iconic group's hit Blackbird.

"The beginning of Sweet Creature sounds like Black Bird, and Harry Styles is trying to destroy us all," one person wrote on Twitter, while another added, "Sweet creature by harry styles is like a chord off from Blackbird by the Beatles. I thought it was gonna be a cover for the first 3 seconds."