Harry Styles made a surprise appearance at the Ivors 2026 to introduce Academy Fellowship winner Thom Yorke last night (Thursday May 21). Read on for his full speech, where he revealed that he lost his virginity to Radiohead‘s ‘Talk Show Host’.
Yorke picked up the prize at the 71st Ivor Novello Awards, which took place at Grosvenor House in London. The prestigious ceremony celebrated the craft, cultural impact and enduring importance of songs and screen compositions.
The Radiohead frontman, soloist, and The Smile member received the Academy Fellowship alongside George Michael, who was posthumously awarded the statue. They follow in the footsteps of previous winners Bruce Springsteen, U2, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney and more.
Taking time out of his huge ‘Together, Together’ tour, Styles turned up to pay tribute to Yorke, and called Radiohead his “favourite band”. He shared that he “lost [his] virginity to the intro to ‘Talk Show Host’” – the fan-favourite B-side to ‘The Bends’ single ‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’ (1996).
The pop star told those in the room that it was “a truly terrifying honour” to be speaking about Yorke in front of him. Check out the full speech from Styles below.
Harry Styles, Ivor Novello Awards 2026 speech:
“Thom Yorke has always had a way with words.
“Over his almost 35 years of releasing music, he has taken feelings of anxiety and alienation, and turned them into atmospheres, anthems and art. From guitars to glitches, he has time and time again shown us what the future sounds like. Never compromising, a restless creative, an artist in its truest form. There are no two songs that sound alike.
“For so many of us, he lives atop this magical music mountain that we’re all attempting to climb.
“Some of you had Radiohead albums at the time they were released. Their debut album came out the year before I was born. I’m gonna let that sink in. 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.
“Thank you to my uncle Michael for burning her numerous CDs as he tried to convince her of some of what he referred to as ‘some of the weirder stuff’.
“I found them again at parties [and] in treasured moments alone.
“I lost my virginity to ‘Talk Show Host’. I lost my virginity to the intro of ‘Talk Show Host’.
“Thom’s work is music that is felt. It’s always been somewhat of a religious experience to me. Religious in the sense that understanding seemed to go both ways.
“I always felt I could uniquely understand the writer of these songs, and at last someone was capturing what it feels like at times to be human. ‘Thank God, someone would think that’, I used to think. That alien, that prowling ghost, that angry prophet, Thom Yorke.
“I cannot overstate how his work has influenced my belief in the purpose of the arts in our world today, and I cannot overstate how much his work continues to influence me.
“Without ‘Exit Music’ there would be no ‘Watermelon Sugar’. Imagine that. A world without that song. It doesn’t bear thinking about.
“Now, it’s always nerve-wracking stepping onto a stage, 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 honour.
“The first time I met Thom, I was walking in the street in Rome. The previous evening at dinner, listening to The Smiles’ ‘Bending Hectic’, my friend had asked me if I’d ever met him, and I said that I hadn’t. Maybe it was better that way. I’d always been worried that he might be mean to me, and emotionally, I would never recover.
“The next day, ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ playing in my headphones, I found myself alone with him on a quiet cobbled street.
“‘Hello, Mr Yorke’, I said. ‘Oh, it’s you. Hello’, he replied. I was overwhelmed during our conversations. Our time with giants is not to be squandered. The weight of the moments with the men who have made us is to be noticed. He was light, he was friendly and he was kind.
“In a world where outside noise tends to leak into our awareness without permission, among our resented desire to please, a small kindness extended to you by a hero can be enough to release you. I beamed, and I’ve been beaming ever since.
“The wizard was also a human.
“When asking Thom’s friends to describe him in three words, they said he was compassionate, sensitive, devoted, bold, unique, untouchable, challenging, true, punk, Not For Sale. Or, as his wife shared with me, holidays with synthesiser.
“To quote Thom, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about. Your mouth moves only with someone’s hand up your arse. Has the light cut out for you? Because the light’s gone out for me. It is the 21st century’.
“The message is clear. Commit to your humour and your heartbreak. Only cowards meet our complicated, beautiful world with distance.
“It’s an honour to be here tonight to present Thom with this recognition of his enduring influence on British music. Radiohead is my favourite band. Thank you, Thom, forever.”
Other winners at last night’s Ivors included Sam Fender, Rosalía, CMAT, Lily Allen, Jacob Alon, Lola Young and Kano. Check out the full list here.
The likes of Wolf Alice, Olivia Dean, Coldplay, Little Simz and Florence Welch were among the nominees.
Styles is set to bring his ‘Together, Together’ tour to London next month, when he’ll play a record-breaking 12 nights at Wembley Stadium. He is out on the road in support of his fourth album, ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’. The singer launched the record with his ‘One Night Only’ show in Manchester earlier this year, filming the performance for a Netflix special.
Check back at NME for interviews and more from the Ivors 2026.
