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Harry Styles admits he was ‘scared’ to meet Thom Yorke as pair share candid stories in new Rolling Stone interview
Harry Styles says he was terrified to meet Thom Yorke for the first time after idolising him for years.
Harry Styles told Thom Yorke he had been “scared” to meet him.
The Aperture singer, who earlier this year revealed he had lost his virginity to Radiohead's song Talk Show Host while onstage at the Ivor Novello Awards, has interviewed the frontman for a Musicians on Musicians issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
He began by telling Yorke he was nervous about meeting his idol. Styles told him: “You, to me, had always been that person that I was scared of meeting.” Yorke replied: “Oh, yeah. I’ve got a whole list.”
The pair first met in Rome in the summer of 2024, when Styles recognised Yorke on a quiet street. Styles said: “I noticed you because you were wearing a hat that said ‘Acid’ on it… I had A Moon Shaped Pool playing in my headphones, and I stopped it. ‘Oh, hello...’” Yorke corrected him: “‘Mr. Yorke.’” Styles continued: “‘Mr. Yorke, hello.’ You said, ‘Oh, hi.’” Yorke added: “No, I said, ‘What the f*** are you doing standing in the street?’”
Styles also told Yorke that learning to walk freely again changed his life after years of feeling unable to go out publicly. He said: “It kind of broke that thing. Now, it’s changed my life in such a big way, because it’s how you stay connected to the world.”
Yorke said walking had shaped his writing too, telling Styles: “I wrote A Wolf at the Door - I was going through a really bad moment and I walked for like two‑and‑a‑half days… I felt so much better at the end of it.”
The Creep hitmaker said walking past people is inspiring and recalled Michael Stipe "dragging" him out of the dressing room onto the street.
He went on: "But also it’s not just the walking - it’s the walking past people. The simple thing of people-watching, playing that game of imagining as someone walks by - where they’re going, what they’re doing, all that stuff. It brings you out of yourself, brings you out of your troubles. I mean, without it, see, it’s really easy to get lost.
"I remember when we were on tour with R.E.M. [in 1995] and Michael Stipe figuring out that I would just hide in the dressing room, and never went out anywhere. So he started dragging me out, and he gave me this trick. He said,'If you don’t care, they don’t care. If you’re not looking, they’re not looking.' And it works. I remember being in Stockholm going to some really busy club, and he said, 'Try it.' And it worked. Nobody bothered us.
"There are moments when you will feel vulnerable. There are moments when s*** will happen, or The Sun will be printing your picture one too many times. I’ve had that. So it’s not easy. It’s not an easy decision to make, but it’s better than the alternative. I know people who got death threats, and then wouldn’t leave the house and had security patrolling their house. You don’t want that."
The interview appears in Rolling Stone’s October 2026 issue.
