Pop radio welcomed back its favorite male megastar to the charts March 6 with Harry Styles’ long-awaited release of his fourth studio album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.”
After a roughly two year long hiatus, Styles’ album drop has been a gift to his fans who have been patiently waiting for their favorite singer’s revival ever since his “Love On Tour” wrapped in 2023.
“Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” is an album that has certainly steered away from expectations, with Styles’ experimenting on a completely new electric disco sound. The album follows themes of self-reflection, the search for freedom, introspective romance and playful curiosity, all while portraying the feeling of being in a club surrounded by friends, dancing away all of one’s problems.
This album is a tasteful depiction of Styles’ transition into his early 30s, with it being a clearly mature turn in his music career after closing himself off to the public eye, reflective through the 12-track’s sonic style.
“Aperture,” released as a single, gave listeners a hint as to what the album’s new sound entailed. Accompanied by a music video, the track was the perfect introduction to the synth-driven elements that fuel this album.
Styles explained that some of his inspiration for “Aperture,” as well as the rest of the album, came from seeing a live performance by LCD Soundsystem. The excitement and joy he felt in the audience resonated deeply with him, inspiring him to develop this new sound for his own fans to experience the same. The album is all about dancing and letting loose, and “Aperture” certainly delivers on that promise, generating a highly anticipated energy around the album’s release.
“American Girls” has a dreamy upbeat melody that has resonated deeply with listeners, helping it reach No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200. Probably the most One Direction-esque song of the album, “American Girls” produces this feel-good energy that contrasts with the song’s deeper meanings.
This song reflects Styles’ admiration for his friends’ marriages as he navigates his early 30s and contemplates the beauty of love and commitment. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Styles reflects that the track is actually “quite a lonely song in a lot of ways.”
“American Girls” as a title and term is not necessarily specific to all American girls, but rather a playful metaphor for representing his friends’ lovers. The lyrics express the magic of falling in love, while also recognizing that true love and marriage don’t come without uncertainty.
The album slowly builds to the dancing vibe fans were promised. “Ready, Steady, Go!” sets the running pace for the rest of the disco album; this track gives listeners an introduction to the upbeat, synth-filled experience. Even though this track serves the purpose of the album well, it falls short compared to the rest in a lyrical sense.
“Ready, Steady, Go!” could be described as your typical pop song, with an energetic, electronic listening experience. This track gives a nod to love bombing, when two people are so enthralled with each other that time feels like it is moving at the speed of light. In the track, they can’t determine if they are right for one another. The lyrics explicitly capture this: “You touched me goodnight / Butterflied both our bellies / You and me are skipping sleep with dirty feet / Ready, steady, go.” The track ends with a chaotic piano break, making it one of the more playful songs on the album.
“Are You Listening Yet?” has a punk-disco vibe, but his lyrics in this track are where he truly shines. A strong, energizing drum pattern plays in the background as Styles stresses the importance of listening to yourself. He begs the question to himself, “are you listening yet?” as a reminder to trust your own intuition.
Styles sings, “Now you’re all out of choices, are you listening yet? / Between your hеad and heart and somewherе else instead / Oh, can you hear the voice, the one inside your head?” Styles could not be more frank in this track. The point he is driving home is his confession to ignoring his own intuition, and he realizes he cannot make a change in his life if he is not the one to do it.
“Taste Back” captures the exact feeling of having a conversation with an ex-lover after being left heartbroken. Many fans have drawn connections between this track and “Cherry” from his second album, “Fine Line,” noting the reference to being called “baby” post-breakup. The ex-lover calls Styles’ looking for attention, leaving him wondering whether they’ve finally recognized what they lost, or if they simply “just need a little love.”
The track has a vibrant feel to it, opening with a twinkly synth that blends into Styles’ sweet vocals. “Taste Back” may be a post-breakup love song, but it carries a bubbly, lighthearted energy that makes it catchy and playful.
After dancing throughout the first half of the album, “The Waiting Game” envelops listeners into a melancholic daydream, slowing things down into a dreamlike escape that showcases some of the most authentic lyricism on the entire tracklist.
This song feels like a knife to the heart — one inflicted not by a lover, but by oneself. Romantic self-sabotage is the main critique, reflecting the tendency to hold out for a better connection, hence, “playing the waiting game.” It captures the cycle of moving through relationships, or justifying staying single, while hoping and longing for the perfect match, all while ignoring the self-sabotage that prevents love from unfolding naturally.
“The Waiting Game” is one of the most honest and brutally self-aware tracks on the album, exploring the performative anxieties Styles feels about writing love songs, focusing on romanticizing his flaws rather than taking the time to truly understand his emotions. The track is a beautiful reflection of romantic frustrations, complemented by its bouncy synths.
“Season 2 Weight Loss” is reminiscent of Imogen Heap’s melodramatic synths blended with a Twenty One Pilots-style drumline, creating a funky melody that makes it a standout on the album. The harmonized backing vocals in the chorus give the sensation of levitating in a swarm of addicting echoes.
The track is a metaphor of gaining confidence in one’s self-perception, especially after being in the public eye. It is not literally about “weight loss” or any specific body image, but rather reflects personal growth and evolving into a better version of oneself after achieving success and the uncertainty of acceptance after this change.
Track eight serves as one of the ballads on the pop-filled album. “Coming Up Roses” spins the entire listening experience around and may leave fans speechless, accompanied by many tears. This track reminds listeners that time is fleeting, but to experience love is a gift in itself, no matter the time constraints.
Styles is fighting to repair a broken relationship throughout this track. He starts with, “Tell me your fears / I’ve turned back the clocks, it’s that time of year / If we stay the course, we could get it right.” He takes listeners on an emotional ride, showing the sweet, yet heartbreaking aspects of a relationship. However, in an interview with Lowe for Apple Music, Styles says that relationships should not be based on longevity. He says not everything has to last forever, and that is okay. Relationships don’t have to last in order to be special, because even if the love is lost, at least the love was shared, maybe even for a brief period of time.
Styles does a quick turnaround from “Coming Up Roses” to bring listeners a vibrant track about desire. “Pop” is a stark contrast to its predecessor on the album, he sings, “It’s just me, on my knees / Squeaky clean fantasy / It’s meant to be pop.” The instrumentals are chaotic, yet fit the lyricism perfectly. Styles explains how he cannot behave, and his love interest is addictive.
The innocent Styles fans might hear in other songs is not shown in this track. Rather, Styles opens up about his more rebellious side. The desires run wild in this song, while also paying tribute to his song “Cinema” on his last album, “Harry’s House.” Styles sings in that track, “You got, you got the cinema / I bring the pop to the cinema, you pop.”
Track 10 on the album, Styles implores people to “respect your mother” on his most danceable song, “Dance No More.” This song is almost a trigger to start dancing in the train, in class or wherever listeners find themselves tuning in. The bass guitar in the beginning opened the track perfectly, with a beat that is rhythmically great to dance to.
In the pre-chorus, Styles sings, “Move it side to side with your hands up high / Keep your customer satisfied and live your life,” and hands are definitely held up high. This track feels like it should be heard inside a disco club in Europe, dancing with your friends without a care in the world.
However, the song is not just a ploy to get fans dancing, the lyrics serve a fair purpose. Throughout the song, Styles sings, “DJs don’t dance no more,” but he believes they should be dancing along too. Styles takes himself out of this perspective and begs everyone, even performers, to dance all together. The cherry on top for this track would be hearing it live, where Styles can fulfill his dream of dancing together.
“Paint By Numbers” opens as a slow, intimate track, starting with romantic guitar strums, followed by gentle synths and Styles’ soft vocals. The song offers a sensitive reflection on his career after being shoved into the public eye during his One Direction years as a teenager.
The line, “Holding the weight of the American children whose hearts you break,” reflects Styles’ awareness of how his public persona impacts his fans, even as he continues to learn and understand who he is as a person.
The track feels like a self-hug from Styles, as he learns to forgive himself for past mistakes and comes to understand the complexities of fame with the immense weight of living up to both his own expectations and those of others.
In an interview with Tom Power for CBC, Styles reveals his intentions behind the lyrics, “It’s a lifetime of learning to paint by numbers/ And watching the colours run,” stating, “you can try and paint inside the lines, but life just doesn’t work that way.”
To finish the album, “Carla’s Song” is intimate, yet a gorgeous closing track to an already wonderful album. After first listening, fans might feel hopeful for the next stage in life that awaits them. After some heartbreaking ballads and disco-filled pop songs, this track celebrates life in a way that not only shows listeners the light at the end of the tunnel, but takes them there.
The song opens with a tribute to Simone & Garfunkel’s song, “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Styles sings, “There is a bridge that leads to troubled waters / If you know, then you know / If you don’t, then you don’t, that’s heavenly.” He immediately hints that everything happens for a reason, and everyone is truly on their own path as he sings, “It’s all waiting there for you.”
“Carla’s Song” is a simple reminder that what’s meant for you will come, so why not celebrate the beauty of life while we can? He ends the album with a celebration of joy, love, experiences and the hidden beauty in everyday life. We may not recognize what is coming for us, but that is okay; it will find us.
In simple terms, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” is an example of Styles breaking from his pop-star persona and feels like a love letter to his 30s. His new era is not a rebrand, rather it shows his growth as a person and a performer. He is able to sing more passionately about the things he loves. From relationships to his genuine love for life, Styles put his whole heart into this album.
In support of the album release, Styles is going on his “Together, Together” tour starting May 16 in Amsterdam. He is also doing a 30-night residency in New York City at Madison Square Garden between August and October, which is the only stop he makes in the United States.
