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Who Is Carla? Harry Styles’s “Carla’s Song” Has A Special Meaning

Harry Styles fans, rejoice. Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally finally dropped on March 6, and fans can’t stop raving about it (and raving to it). There’s one song on the new Harry Styles album, though, that has listeners wondering, who is Carla? Styles released a song called “Carla’s Song,” and it has a special meaning.

“Carla’s Song,” which is the final track on the album, is about his friend, Carla. He told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about the meaning behind the song, and how it became “the most important part of the record to me.”

“Carla is a friend of mine in this group of friends who, we were at a friend’s house waiting to go to this after-party. She kind of mentioned that she’d just discovered Paul Simon… it was on a playlist. And she was listening to ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,’” Styles said. As a longtime fan, Styles went on to introduce her to more Simon & Garfunkel songs. 

“I was like, ‘Oh, I really want to play you something,’ So I played her ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ and watching her listen to it, having never heard that song, I felt like I was just watching someone see something or something in like technicolor discover magic. There was something in that moment that reminded me of like what by making music what you’re investing in,” Harry said. Even the title “Carla’s Song” is inspired by the Simon & Garfunkel song “Kathy’s Song.”

This experience infiltrates the whole song, with lyrics like, “I know what you like” and, “You’ve been a baby sleeping on a candy bar.”

“You see a baby try ice cream for the first time, and the sweetness or something, but it’s always been there,” Styles told Lowe. “It’s always been around. It’s always existed and it always will exist. Hasn’t been in your life, and the baby eats the ice cream for the first time, their eyes just light up,” Styles said.

The release of KISSDO marks Style’s fourth studio album, and finally, the end of his musical sabbatical. Styles announced on Instagram on Jan. 15 that new music was on the way. He gave fans a taste of what the album entailed with the release of the synth-pop lead single “Aperture” on Jan. 22. The action-packed, whimsical music video was just the beginning of this new fun-filled era. 

Of course, with a new album also comes a tour announcement. Styles’s upcoming tour will include 50 stops in total — with residencies in Amsterdam, London, São Paulo, Mexico City, New York, Melbourne, and Sydney — from May through to December 2026. Styles will reclaim his historic title of most consecutive nights at New York’s Madison Square Garden with 30 shows — his only shows in the United States — and a six-night run at Wembley Stadium. 

Styles also had the pleasure of being a royal guest on Brittany Broski’s Royal Court podcast on Feb. 27. As a token of his appreciation, he let Broski listen to a sample of one of the album’s 12 tracks. Her response, along with her shock and gratitude, was, “I wanna leave the show sweating.” 

This reaction, along with the album title, signifies just what fans can expect on the brand new album — and just like Carla’s Song, it’s all good.

My name is Isabelle Farina, I am a senior Journalism student at the University of Georgia receiving a minor in Law, Ethics and Philosophy and a certificate in Film and Media Scoring. While I’ve been having my fun in the south, I’m definitely a Jersey Girl at heart. I'm from a small town in New Jersey, so I love splitting my time between the beach and New York City. Because of my proximity to such a vivacious city,I love all things pop culture; books, movies, TV, music, you name it, I am definitely interested in it.

The most important goal of mine is to be able to channel my passions for media and storytelling into a lifelong career. My dream job would be to be an entertainment reporter for a culture magazine or write for the arts and culture columns of a newspaper. I have always been fascinated by celebrity culture and how audiences get so attached to people they don't even know just because of the art they create or are involved in.

To pursue my passion thus far, I have gotten involved with fashion magazines on campus and written culture articles for local publications. The power of the media is so intriguing to me and I realize how important it is to society. I want to be a part of the action.