Last week, Lucius released Second Nature, their first new album in six years. During that extended time in between albums, the indie pop duo’s Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe frequently popped up as featured guests on songs by artists like the War On Drugs and Brandi Carlile. They also contributed vocals to Harry Styles’ 2019 album Fine Line on the track “Treat People With Kindness,” though they’re only listed in the album’s liner notes under their own names.
In a new interview with The Los Angeles Times (as Vulture points out), Lucius said that they feel like they were unfairly denied a feature credit on the song, on which they sing they whole chorus and are the first voices a listener hears on the track.
Styles apparently asked them to sing the vocals for the track while they were working on a different song with him in the studio that was never completed. “We were like, ‘Yeah, of course,’” Wolfe recalled. “If it’s just ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs,’ it’s not a big deal. And it’s a good opportunity for us. But we started singing and we were singing the whole chorus.”
“We thought he was gonna add on top after and that we’d be in the background,” Laessig added.
“Two weeks later, they sent us the track. And it was literally us. We start the song, we sing every chorus, just us. We trade off the bridge. It is us and Harry Styles. Harry Styles and us,” Wolfe then said. “It just hurt. Here was an opportunity to spread the love a little bit, which he purports to do all the time. And it could’ve really helped us. I’ve been to Harry shows and he’s always been very charming and kind. We’ve sung live with him.” (They performed at his Fine Line album release show, where Styles introduced the song by saying “the fun part for me is that I don’t sing on the chorus.)
When asked if they would perform with Styles again, Wolfe said they would. “But I don’t know if that’s gonna happen,” she added.
Styles is getting ready to release a new album, Harry’s House, next month. Lucius just performed their single “Next To Normal” on Ellen earlier today:
