Mick Jagger Sure Seems Jealous of Harry Styles

For years now, fans have been floating Harry Styles’s name around as a possible actor to portray Mick Jagger should there ever be a biopic about the Rolling Stones frontman. It makes sense, to a certain degree. After all, they’re both British musicians with — in their respective heydays — rabid fanbases that consist(ed) largely of young women. Styles bears a certain physical resemblance to a young Jagger, and he’s spoken previously about the influence the “Satisfaction” singer has had on his personal style. He even once impersonated Jagger on Saturday Night Live.

But in a recent interview with The Sunday Times, Jagger downplayed the similarities between the two, insisting the former One Direction singer “doesn’t have a voice like mine.”

“I like Harry — we have an easy relationship,” Jagger told the publication. “I mean, I used to wear a lot more eye make-up than him. Come on, I was much more androgynous.”

“And he doesn’t have a voice like mine or move on stage like me; he just has a superficial resemblance to my younger self, which is fine — he can’t help that,” he added.

It’s tough to read this without thinking a 78-year-old man is lashing out at a 28-year-old who looks a little bit like him back when he was young and hot because he’s jealous. No one’s claiming that Styles is an exact copy of Jagger; obviously the two have different musical styles, and pointing out that he doesn’t have moves like Jagger just feels like a sad attempt to tear him down. (And since when is androgyny a competition? Shouldn’t it just be about playing with gender expression in a way that feels authentic to you rather than doing it to shock or earn cool points?)

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” is perhaps an overused cliche, but it’s one whose message Jagger should have certainly heeded if he wanted to avoid sounding like an aging frontman taking unnecessary shots at a young, popular artist.