According to Harry Styles, everything old is new again. The 30 year-old released his album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” after a three-year hiatus, unthinkable for such a big name artist. Styles continues to do the unexpected, which is reflected in the 1980s and 2000s hyperproduced, electronic, synth sounds and 2020s chill pop that make up his new album. It is both chill yet dance-ready, with both ballads and fast paced songs, and, an incredibly well-produced and quality album that is one of the best I have heard this year. While it does not necessarily hit my sweet spot, I do find it incredibly well-developed and an excellent comeback for Styles.
Styles has been a household name for a long time. As part of the massively popular group One Direction, he became a teen heartthrob, catapulted to stardom after the boy band started in 2010 on the British singing show, “The X.” Soon after, in 2017, a year after One Direction officially broke up, he released his first solo album, the self-titled “Harry Styles.” It received critical acclaim, but it was his next album, the award-winning “Fine Line,” that cemented his status as a pop icon. It soared to the top of the charts, with a host of viral songs like “Watermelon Sugar” and “Adore You.” Styles’ chill-pop 2022 album “Harry’s House” followed in its older siblings’ footsteps, eventually taking Album of the Year at the Grammys.
“Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” felt very different than any of his albums before, and the songs felt so unusual. He blends chill dance-pop with bits of electronic and maybe even a little bit of a romantic ballad in this weird concoction that definitely stands out. The perfect example of this is “Aperture.” This song melds dance-pop with electronic elements that remind me a bit of 1980s dance-pop music. It is like if 1980s dance and 2000s electronic got mixed together in a blender with 2020s chill pop and a bit of romantic pop ballads that are popular right now, like Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga’s “Die With a Smile.” Styles brings all these together to create something new, yet still feels nostalgic, and “Aperture” is in my opinion one of the best byproducts of that. This is a good song to do homework to, or to concentrate on a specific task, due to the chill synth vibes that somehow give me a certain sense of peace. I will definitely be listening to this song again and again.
Then there is “American Girls,” which is just such a catchy song. The beat is infectious and the lyrics are intriguing. The lyrics say things like “I’ve seen it in stages all over the world/my friends are in love with American girls,” which is just kind of interesting in an intriguing way that makes the listener want to keep listening. ‘What does he mean by this?’ the listener asks inside their head. It is perplexing in the best way, and not what I would expect from Styles or a singer-songwriter in general. It is a paradox of a song, upbeat yet looking through things with an intimate, vulnerable and reflective view. Also, the production is top notch. There is a piano in the background, a guitar, drums and electronic elements that appear random but blend into the song in an organic, original way. Styles truly is pushing the boundaries of pop with his new album.
One of my favorites on the album is the upbeat, energetic “Taste Back.” This song, both the lyrics and the production, reminds me of stepping out into somewhere or something new and holding on to the little bits of familiarity you have. The lyrics say things like, “Must be lonely out in Paris if you talk like that/it was tough with the time, but you called me back” and “is this you settling in/you starting again? handling it?” which further adds to the “I’m-scared-but-I’m-doing-it-anyways” vibe. I can see it as the background song for a scene where the main character steps into someplace new, scared and unsure, and I find that “Taste Back” also fits that role in my life as well. I think of it as a theme song for events like my first time at summer camp and going on vacation, as it reflects the anxieties of heading someplace new in an upbeat and exciting way.
My absolute favorite, however, is the ballad “Coming up Roses.” This song is undeniably different from the others on the album, leaning into a Laufey-esque style with violins playing in the background, making it much different from the rest of the album. Honestly, I have listened to this song on repeat many times, and I just cannot get over how beautiful it is. It reminds me of the ballet music I used to listen to as a kid. It sounds like something I could choreograph a ballet routine to, with lyrics like “there’s only me and you” and “but we’ll see out the night with your head on my chest,” which all blend perfectly to make a dreamy, gorgeous song that keeps replaying in my head. Sometimes, though, the lyrics do not match the enchanting tone of the song, as Styles sings, “Just say the word and we’ll take up the test/flirt with the bad ones and skip all the rest,” but the violins playing in the background makes up for the questionable lyrics.
The music I tend to listen to is not really what was produced in this album, but even still, I find it well developed and really unique in a sea of similar-sounding and similar-looking wannabe popstars who all blend together in my head. Styles finds a way, somehow, to blend both the old and the new together in a way that feels both nostalgic yet fresh, chill yet dance-ready and utterly unforgettable.
