Harry Styles Said Running Taught Him He No Longer Has to Be a ‘Tortured Soul’

After reading author Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Harry Styles began to believe he could run a marathon. The book also taught him about his career as a musician. Styles said that for a long time, he believed he needed to be “tortured” to make good art. Reading about running made him view things differently.

Harry Styles spoke about how a book about running changed his perspective

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is Murakami’s book about his love of running and the way it impacts his creative process. Since finishing the book, Styles has completed two marathons. He said that it also taught him that he needed to reevaluate his relationship with his music career.

“One of the things I really loved in your book about running was that it freed me from the idea that music had to be an unhealthy profession and I had to be this tortured soul,” he told Murakami in a conversation for Runner’s World. “Your point is that being healthy makes you able to be an artist for a long time, that you can be a structured, healthy person and make great work. So I have a lot of gratitude to you for that.”

Murakami, a celebrated novelist, said he never wanted to be a tortured artist. 

“When I was in my teens, musicians died so young,” Murakami said. “Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix. I think they couldn’t wait — live fast, die young. But that is not a thing that I wanted.”

He believed he could live a normal, healthy life and still create compelling art.

“What I wanted to do was live a normal life because I’m just a normal guy — but then write abnormal books,” he said. “That’s the kind of ideal that I was pursuing.”

Harry Styles has started running marathons

Styles has been famous since he was a teenager. Because of his career, he said he has had to pass up opportunities to do normal things. When he turned 30, though, he decided to take time away from music to have new experiences. While he was glad to do this, he found himself craving stability. So, he started running.

“Because in some of those new experiences, there’s just so much stimulation, right? So many people, and it’s just so loud,” he said. “So then running also became my processing place for all of that. Really being by myself.”

He said his running helped inspire his latest album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. 

“When you’re training for a marathon, which is the loneliest part, you just kind of set out for a run, and three hours later you come back,” he said. “But there’s a real synergy between that and electronic music. It’s kind of hypnotic and becomes like a mantra almost.”

Styles has run the Tokyo marathon in an impressive 3:24, and Berlin in a staggering 2:59:13.