At a time when the music industry desperately needs a new main pop boy, Harry Styles should be the total package. He was the frontman of one of the most successful boy bands of all time, he is capable of putting up consistent hits (even though the legitimacy of his most recent one is under question) and, most important, the ladies love him.

One major caveat, though: Styles seems completely uninterested in mainstream pop stardom. Too bad what we get instead is someone uninterested in being interesting.

Throughout his career, Styles has been perceived as somewhat subversive. He’s been compared to the likes of Prince and David Bowie due, mostly, to the glam-rock tinges of his early music.

His wardrobe isn’t beholden to gender expectations, often opting for dresses and more feminine silhouettes. He played into, and benefited from, assumptions of queerness despite exclusively dating women publicly – a can of worms I will NOT indulge in today. No ma’am. However, all this subversion is missing from the music, which is a pretty even split of inoffensive and pretty good. Perhaps we let fans’ generous perceptions of Styles skew our expectations. Maybe the ugly dresses just made him happy!

Styles has always reminded me of the one very unassuming coworker you exchange pleasantries with until one day you stalk his Instagram account on your burner and discover he raves on the weekend and does ketamine with gay boys. For a second, you’re quite gagged. You spend some time daydreaming about his double life until you talk with him the........

© USA TODAY