Harry Styles Toasts Thom Yorke at 2026 Ivors

Harry Styles’ – At the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards in central London on May 21, Harry Styles delivered a five-minute speech introducing Thom Yorke and honoring his work with a fellowship prize. Styles mixed charm and comedy with personal memories of Radiohead—down to how he says

Harry Styles walked on stage with the kind of nerves everyone recognizes—then made sure the room felt them with him.

“It’s always nerve-wracking stepping onto a stage,” he said at the 2026 Ivor Novello Awards, held at the Grosvenor House in central London on Thursday (May 21). But he added that knowing he was about to speak to the man he’d spent years listening to “is a truly terrifying honor.”

Styles introduced Thom Yorke as the recipient of a fellowship prize at the Ivors, and his five-minute speech moved like a conversation that kept landing new details—personal, funny, and plainly emotional.

Styles opened by tying Yorke’s craft to the feelings in his own life. “Thom Yorke has always had a way with words,” he said. Over “almost 35 years of releasing music. ” Styles continued. Yorke had taken “feelings of anxiety and alienation” and turned them into “atmospheres. anthems and art. ” from “guitars to glitches. ” showing “what the future sounds like.” Styles said Yorke never compromises. calling him “a restless creative” and “an artist in its truest form. ” and said “There are no two songs that sound alike.”.

Then came a moment that broke the room open. Styles noted he was born the year after Radiohead’s debut album. Pablo Honey. was released—an observation he said “drew laughter at the idea of a young man calling attention to the age difference.” “Just going to let that sink. ” he said. drawing even more laughter.

He followed it with a childhood memory of where Radiohead found him: “So. I discovered their songs over time growing up inhaling the secondhand teenage angst from up the stairs separating my sister’s bedroom from where I sat below doing my homework.” Styles thanked his uncle Michael for trying to win his sister over by burning “numerous CDs” to convince her of “some of the weirdest stuff.”.

In his telling, Radiohead didn’t just sit in a collection—it showed up again “at parties [and] in treasured moments alone.” And when Styles reached the story that made the speech feel both playful and personal, he made sure people understood the punchline wasn’t the part he initially thought it was.

“I lost my virginity to ‘Talk Show Host.’” he said, prompting laughter. He then corrected himself after a pause: “I lost my virginity to the intro of ‘Talk Show Host.’”

As the humor landed, the focus stayed on Yorke’s work. Styles said “Thom’s work is music that is felt,” describing it as “somewhat of a religious experience” to him—“religious in the sense that understanding seemed to go both ways.”

He said he always felt he could “uniquely understand the writer of these songs,” and that at last someone was capturing “what it feels like at times to be human.” Styles named the feeling Yorke captured for him: “That alien, that prowling ghost, that angry prophet, Thom Yorke.”

Styles also connected Yorke’s influence directly to his own world. “I cannot overstate how his work has influenced my belief in the purpose of the arts in our world today. ” he said. adding: “and I cannot overstate how much his work continues to influence me.” He pointed to a specific musical chain—“Without ‘Exit Music. ’ there would be no ‘Watermelon Sugar.’ Imagine that.”.

The speech shifted again when Styles described meeting Yorke for the first time. “Now, it’s always nerve-wracking stepping onto a stage,” he repeated, then turned it toward the moment he was describing. “But to know that a man I’ve spent so much of my life listening to is now listening to me talk to you about him is a truly terrifying honor.”.

He said the first time he met Thom. he was “walking in the street in Rome.” The previous evening at dinner. Styles recalled. a friend had asked whether he’d ever met him. and Styles said “I hadn’t.” He added that “Maybe it was better that way. ” confessing he’d been worried Yorke “might be mean to me and emotionally I would never recover.”.

The next day, Styles said, “’A Moon Shaped Pool’” played in his headphones—then he found himself alone with Yorke on “a quiet cobbled street.”

Styles told the story the way he said it happened. “Hello, Mr. Yorke,” he said. “Oh, it’s you. Hello,” Yorke replied.

“I was overwhelmed during our conversations,” Styles continued. “Our time with giants is not to be squandered.” He said “The weight of the moments with the men who have made us is to be noticed,” and described Yorke as “light,” “friendly,” and “kind.”

Styles brought those feelings back to the room: in a world where “outside noise tends to leak into our awareness without permission. ” among “resented desire to please. ” he said “a small kindness extended to you by a hero can be enough to release you.” He said he beamed—and “I’ve been beaming ever since.”.

The speech also insisted that the “wizard” was still human. When Styles said Thom’s friends were asked to describe him in three words. he listed what they said: “compassionate. sensitive. devoted. bold. unique. untouchable. challenging. true punk. Not For Sale. ” along with “or as his wife shared me. holidays with synthesizer.”.

He then brought in Yorke’s own words, quoting: “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Your mouth moves only with someone’s hand up your ass. Has the light cut out for you?. Because the light’s gone out for me.” Styles said “It is the 21st century. ” and then pointed the message toward emotion and humor: “Commit to your humor and your heartbreak. Only cowards meet our complicated, beautiful world with distance.”.

Styles ended by returning to the meaning of the night. “It’s an honor to be here tonight to present Thom with this recognition of his enduring influence on British music,” he said. He called “Radiohead” his favorite band, and finished with thanks: “Thank you Thom forever.”

Yorke’s fellowship recognition, delivered through Styles’ mix of warmth, wit, and lived-in admiration, landed as more than a tribute. It sounded like a reminder—spoken on the floor of the Grosvenor House—that the art people grow up with can keep shaping who they become.

Harry Styles Thom Yorke 2026 Ivor Novello Awards Ivors Grosvenor House Radiohead fellowship prize talk show host Watermelon Sugar Exit Music A Moon Shaped Pool