Harry Styles released his highly anticipated fourth album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally,” on Mar 6. The disco-inspired pop album comes after Styles’s four year hiatus from the music industry, four years Styles has spent expertly aiming strobe lights and hanging disco balls for this well-executed record.
“Kiss All The Time, Disco, Occasionally” succeeds with its lyrical content. The general relatability of songs like “Dance No More” and “Season 2 Weightloss” focus on topics of personal growth that allow for a wide audience to listen and feel connected to this album. Along with the relevance, Styles wrote complex lyrics and used extended metaphors that allowed the listener to look deeper than surface level. In his song “Aperture,” Styles uses the idea of a camera aperture being a setting for letting light in, to enhance the message of taking risks and putting oneself out there. Another song, “Are You Listening Yet?”, highlights Styles’ lyrical ability through his use of rhetorical questions throughout the song to connect listeners to. With a good blend of wide-reaching topics and depth, Styles created an album that is universal and meaningful at the same time.
Working with producers Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson, who have collaborated with Styles on his three previous albums, Styles is able to flawlessly orchestrate a record filled with dance-worthy beats, as well as incorporating electronic influences throughout songs. The strong and prominent bass line and emphasis on the down beats throughout the album add a hint of the Disco genre that does not overpower modern sounding elements and still provides, much like the album title’s suggestion, songs that audiences can dance to. The combination makes for something that is not old or new but entirely Harry Styles.
Other highlights of the album that haven’t been represented thus far can be seen in songs like “American Girls,” “Pop,” and “Paint By Numbers”. Styles’ latest record has taken new artistic direction, as the songs on his latest album contrast to previous ones through a different tone. In “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally”, the songs feature less of a lighthearted acoustic pop vibe, and shift more into experimental synth-techno. Each song more exciting than the next, all definite markers of just how impressive this album truly is.
Styles’s release has already charted at number one in the UK, and it is evident that there will be numerous more achievements for this new album in the future. Styles has shown himself worthy of all the praise for “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.” The album will continue to treat fans throughout Styles’s Tour, “Together, Together”, which will span from May 16 in Amsterdam to December 13 in Sydney.
