Harry Styles’ fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally., is finally in our headphones and on our record players, after months of waiting and agonizing over what could possibly be in store for us. But if there is one thing that he has always demonstrated in his career, it’s that he is not defined by any genre, or label, or expectation. KISSCO comes out swinging into the pop and dance music scene, and it is brilliantly experimental and unique. It will surely fill arenas and stadiums with joyous and sweaty dancing fans starting this summer. But as someone who knows Styles’ music inside and out, it still feels so inherently Harry. Like a natural progression from Harry’s House in 2022 and Fine Line before that, the core of each track is so recognizable but somehow also a version of Styles that is more grounded and sure of how he wants to be understood.
The first single on the album, “Aperture,” threw us for quite a loop looking back in retrospect. It is sonically the most unique track compared to the rest of the album and falls best under the electronic dance genre. It is such a great choice for his homecoming back to music as the message is clear: “we belong together,” and everything makes sense when we embrace one another under a shared musical experience. It’s a message Styles has empowered for many albums and all through the many years of “Love on Tour” as well. In the two live performances we have seen so far, the House Gospel Choir has joined him, and it is beyond magical. We are in church, baby! The choir appears many times throughout the album, particularly on songs with a heavy driving beat. They help the listening experience feel vast, like the music is echoing around every corner of a massive space.
While past projects have focused mainly on heartbreak and romantic relationships, lyrically much of the album feels like Styles grappling with change in all its forms, both in the public eye and personally. “American Girls” reflects on watching friends settling down with families and partners while he remains in an uninhibited lifestyle that is much different. “Are You Listening Yet?” repeats the titular refrain again and again over a driving beat. Have you stopped to listen to your inner voice, or are you simply choosing to ignore them for the same self-destructive patterns? A change needs to take place, from this perspective.
“Season 2 Weight Loss,” with its peculiar title, tackles the emotional aftermath of doing that internal hard work. The refrain and chorus repeats, “You’ve got to sit yourself down sometimes — holding, holding out, hoping you will love me now. Do you love me now? Do you? Do you? Do I let you down?” In his most recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Styles describes the song as the uncertainty that comes when you disappear for a while and do so much work on your inner self. Will the people in his life still love him, whether it’s family, friends, or the public — or is the new version letting them down? Styles said, “if I go away, and grow, and change my relationship with this idea of, like, feeling like I have to show up as this version of myself – will you take me as that? Or are you taking me because I show up as this version of myself that you’ve – kind of desired from me, in some way?” Knowing this album is coming off of an almost 4 year break, that fear feels so genuine.
Of course, as promised, we are discoing occasionally. “Pop” and “Dance No More” are jovial and exciting tracks that make me excited to listen outside in the world this summer. “Pop” takes on a more rock-influenced pop beat and instrumental, heavy drums and synth fill the background. “Dance No More” is by far the most disco pop we get on the whole album, prime for singing along in the club. The bass is nasty, and the gospel choir echoes Styles’ vocal track like a mantra: “we want to dance with all our friends!” calling back to the microcosm he’s built on “Aperture.”
If the rest of the album is grappling with all of these experiences and changing feelings, then “Carla’s Song” answers them. Styles explained the inspiration for this song as being an experience he had watching his friend Carla listen to “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon and Garfunkel for the first time. Before playing the song at the “One Night Only” concert in Manchester, Styles said, “Watching her discover something, and watching music come into her life and cross the barriers of time and culture. I watched as she discovered something magical, and it reminded me why I wanted to touch music and be a part of music in some way in the first place.” In many ways this seems to be Styles’ purpose that he has been searching for during the whole experience of the album and beyond.
Music transcends the human experience and gives context to specific times in our lives — sometimes not even the other way around. How many times have you listened to a song and been transported back to a memory? Or like Carla, how many times has an artist or piece of music entered our lives at just the right time, just when we needed to hear the message the most? That is what makes it so powerful, and Styles knows that now. He understands his influence as an artist in a new way, in this current era of his life. The beauty of music is that there is always more to be discovered, as Styles sings, “It’s all waiting there for you.”
This song culminates my personal experience as a longtime fan into a few words, as Styles often accomplishes. The first article I ever wrote as a member of Her Campus at Pace was titled “Freshman Year and the Comfort of ‘Love on Tour.’” In so many words, it is about my experience moving across the country to college and how attending multiple of Styles’ concerts got me through immense anxiety and fear at the time. It was the scariest thing I’d ever done, but Styles’ music and the environment he facilitates at his live shows helped me through those changes.
As I enter my last few months of college and Her Campus, I am feeling so many of these things again. Fear, uncertainty — I am unsure what the future holds for me, even more so than I did as a freshman. But I again have something to turn to that brings me joy and connection when these changes can feel so isolating. Styles has informed each stage of my life since I was 10 years old, and now he does the same as I head into my 23rd year of life. It does not matter what music you listen to or who your favorite artist is, this experience is a universal one.
When I need comfort, I just need to close my eyes and listen: “It’s all waiting there for you.”