There is little to say about Harry Styles without mentioning his iron grip on pop culture. Starting out under the tutelage of Simon Cowell on the X Factor, then as the charismatic leader of One Direction, finally as a successful soloist, Styles has had a cult-like following when it comes to his artistry. Now, some 20 years later, Styles is still making music. Whether his latest album is good or not, that all depends on your tolerance for electronic beats and experimental sounds.
The aptly titled “Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally.,” released on March 6, is somehow both a departure and a continuation of his previous albums, including “Harry’s House,” which won him three Grammys including Album of the Year in 2023. On the one hand, Styles does indeed depart from the chill vibe in lieu of funky disco. “Aperture,” his leading single, is full of synth-like beats and a lively bass line as he shouts, “We belong together/It finally appears it’s only love,” and “Ready, Steady, Go!” which is armed with a distinct and peppy drum-beat, even before Styles begins to sing. “Are You Listening Yet?” which is directly after “Ready, Steady, Go!” sounds like a marching song, each of the beats in the chorus being a single step in someone’s stride. Lively songs like these form the backbone of the album: while all of Styles’ songs in this album are paired with electronic melodies, the faster, disco songs are truly what distinguishes this album from his previous ones.
On the other hand, Styles returns to his roots with some softer, “coffee-shop” songs—ones that seem like a continuation of his older albums. In “Taste Back,” Styles sings into the microphone, “You just need a little love/Need a little love” with soothing lofi beats as accompaniment. “Paint by Numbers” featuring slow guitars, with disco elements noticeably absent, is the most stripped down song of the album, acting as a palate cleanser from all of the incessant electronic beats.
It leads into the final track, “Carla’s Song,” which is about one of his friends discovering Simon and Garfunkel, and, more broadly, about discovering the joy of music and life. It is softly sung, with admiration clear in Styles’ voice. The chorus feels nostalgic, as Styles sings that “It’s all waiting there for you.”
“The Waiting Game,” which marks the halfway point of the album, starts with playful beats that seem to bounce together and eventually shares the stage with more acoustic sounding music than the previous songs. It’s yearning and introspective as he regretfully laments waiting too long to admit he loves someone: “You found/Someone to put your arms around/Playing the waiting game/But it all adds up to nothing.” It’s soft, it’s somber, and it contrasts the faster and confident songs that made up the first half of the album. If there’s one song to listen to on this album, it would be this.
“Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally.” feels like Styles is finally happy, even if all of the songs themselves aren’t. After winning the Grammy for his previous album, Styles took the time to recover, to discover if he truly loved music, or if he was just doing it because he was expected to.
This dilemma is something that many can relate to: when one is good at something, and people become expectant of continuing said success, it can feel like the soul—the joy—is sucked out of it, whether it be music, sports, or academics. People sit with this uncertainty, wondering if they actually love their craft or simply do it because of the pressure from others and from themselves to continue.
Styles, in experiencing this, decided to take a break, traipsing across Europe before settling in Berlin, Germany. As he spent time there, running marathons and dancing in clubs, he realized he does, in fact, love music. “The key thing was, while I was away from it all, I missed it,” he told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. “I missed it because I love it, and I still love it.”
The Berlin nightclubs that he frequented inspired the booming beats that make its home throughout the album, none of which is more apparent than in “Dance No More,” which is about how free and alive he feels while in Berlin. There, he felt like anybody else, not the “star with an iron grip on pop culture Harry Styles” that people expect. Ultimately, it is this freedom, this happiness, that led Styles to create this album. Who knows what would have happened without this sabbatical—perhaps we would still be in a Harry Styles drought.
Overall, this album is a stunner. It’s experimental—definitely different from his previous albums—but it works. Styles is free, he’s happy, and his love for music is ultimately what drove this album to be loved by others.