Stylers, it’s time to clock in and lock in. On Jan. 23, Harry Styles released a music video for his brand-new single “Aperture,” the first single on his upcoming album titled, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. The new album will be released in March 2026 and will be followed by a world tour, including a 30-day residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City. But until then, fans have plenty to hold them over as they analyze the chaotic and somewhat confusing (but vibey AF) music video for “Aperture.”
The new music video features Styles in a hotel, and as he leaves his room to talk to the receptionist downstairs, he is followed by a dark-haired stranger wearing sunglasses that conceal his face. Styles sees this stranger behind him in the elevator, in the hallway. The stranger then follows Styles until eventually he drops the to-go bag of food that he is holding and starts sprinting after Styles. They go on a race throughout the hotel, and when the stranger lunges at him, they both go tumbling down a long spiral staircase together.
But when this chase comes to a conclusion — as the stranger catches up to Styles — they two don’t start fighting like you might expect: they start dancing together instead, even doing the iconic Dirty Dancing move with Styles being held up by the stranger. Then the video goes into another montage of them racing throughout the hotel, but this time they are together and dancing, and doing a bunch of awesome flips and tumbles. Fun!
Finally, this montage ends with Styles walking back onto the elevator where he originally saw the stranger following him, and the stranger is once again behind him like nothing even happened. Styles then goes to talk to the receptionist like he originally intended, and the stranger walks right past him, without any acknowledgement of Styles. Finally, the video ends with Styles back in his room, humming and quietly singing some of the lyrics from “Aperture.”
The stranger is obviously a very prominent part of this music video, but who even is he? The video gives viewers very little clues about the identity of this person; you can’t really see his face and his clothes don’t give anything away. He and Styles also never exchange any words throughout their interactions, so viewers really know nothing about him at all.
There are a ton of different ways this music video could be interpreted and what the stranger might represent. The leading theory is that the stranger represents Styles and his love-hate relationship with fame, showing how he’s always being followed and trying to run away from it, but eventually accepting it and enjoying the bond he has with his fans and community. It also could be about running from the past, but eventually having to confront it and learn from it in order to get past it. Another meaning could even be about friendships or relationships, and how they can change your life, but when they end, you kind of just go right back to where you were before them.
Much less amorphous? The real-life person behind the stranger in the video! The guy who played the stranger is Danny Dolan, an actor and choreographer. There are also a couple of stunt performers credited for the stranger’s performance as well, Kyle Soderman and Pasha Petkun. So, while you may not know who the stranger is in the ~artistic~ sense, you can at least put a name to the (bespectacled) face!