Since his last album, “Harry’s House,” Harry Styles has captivated fans around the world with an extremely successful album, even earning the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2023, hosting a historical tour run for “Love on Tour” with Eras Tour-level enthusiasm and a 15-night residency in Madison Square Garden. After all of this success, Styles decided to take a break from music by working on acting and attempting to live a normal life. But Styles could only stay away from music for so long, before finding his passion for it again and announcing a new album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” with the leading single “Aperture” coming out on Jan. 22, and the rest of the album following on March 6. Even with his previous album being a huge success, Styles was still able to meet the high expectations given to him.
The leading single and opening track “Aperture” was the perfect way to introduce the album. With synth instrumentals and an almost club music styled production, it was a sneak peak into what the vibe of the album was going to be. The upbeat music matched the upbeat lyrics about being open to new life experiences and the optimism that comes with trying new things. The song title refers to a camera setting that controls lighting, showing how Styles is open to letting more light in his life than before.
His second single, “American Girls,” is another track that was a great choice for an album single. With the song title being very straight to the point, the song is about Styles’ observations about how no matter where he and his friends are around the world, they seem to be drawn to women in America, which is also where a lot of Styles’ own fanbase is. It’s also about his experience watching his close friends around him fall in love and getting married. The song has some boy band undertones in production, with some even saying it sounds like a One Direction song, which could be on purpose considering he references his closest friends (who are likely from One Direction) in the song.
This album is also notably experimental for Styles. With his past three albums having very similar pop style production and similar lyric concepts, while still being able to be told apart. But there is only so much you can do with the style of music that he was using. In this most recent album it is noticeable how many risks and different ideas that Styles was able to include in the album while still keeping it cohesive. An example of this is the third track, “Ready, Steady, Go,” where he uses different tempos and instruments throughout the song, such as a light guitar segment right before the bridge, and an intercom like microphone to make the bridge sound more intense, to show the strong contrast between it and the lines right before it. His fourth track, “Are You Listening Yet?” also includes very echoey drums throughout the song, which is fairly new for his music.
Almost every song on this album also has a very 80s inspired synth sound and fast paced techno inspired instrumentals throughout the tracks. This was a clever thing to add, especially with a lot of recent pop music taking inspiration from 80s and 90s music. Seeing this revival of 80s-styled pop will be a very interesting thing to see grow and to see how it changes the mood of modern pop music.
Styles closed out the album with a song “Carla’s Song” that goes back to his original style of music. This song, which has been interpreted in many ways, can be seen as him reflecting on the album and the creative process, rediscovering his love for music and answering the question of who he wants to be and how he wants to be remembered.
Even if it seems like a difficult feat, Styles managed to come back even stronger than he was in 2022. Although this album has only been out for a short amount of time, it is already being hyped up as one of the best albums of the year, and a possible 2027 Grammy winner.
