Styles goes full disco

The wait is finally over as Harry Styles has officially released his fourth studio album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.” For months, fans have made predictions of Styles releasing new music, spreading the phrase “HS4 at Midnight” across all social media platforms. The rumors had been validated when Styles posted a 30-second video to social media titled “We Belong Together.” 

Styles is a singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 2010 through a boy band called One Direction. After many continuous hits the band had decided to part ways calling for a hiatus to work on their own solo careers. Since then Styles released three albums before calling for a break and made a comeback after four years with this new album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.” 

Before the album release, there was speculation that it would be a two-part album with one side referencing the songs to express the first half of the title, “Kiss All The Time,” and the other half, “Disco, Occasionally.” However, the album consists of 12 tracks with songs that are a blend of both titles, giving it a romantic and dance heavy vibe overall. Fans had a mixed reaction to the album, as some were excited to hear him explore new genres of music, while others were devastated that it wasn’t like his past albums.

“Aperture” was the first single that was released to promote the new album. The single gave a dance-pop energy, making fans describe it as a late night club track. The music video was set in a run-down hotel with Styles running away from a so-called ‘stalker’. The meaning behind the music video was to portray Styles’ life after fame, showing how he felt like he was constantly being watched and he was trying to escape the pressure of being in the public eye.

A closer look at the album reveals songs like “Coming Up Roses,” which is one of the songs solely written by Styles himself. The song captures the fear of losing a significant other in a relationship and having regrets that not much time has been spent, feeling like the relationship is coming to an end. The lyrics state: “Now I see your tears on account of my wants, and now it appears / That I’m feeling guilty and worried, dear / That you think that I might not want you here.” Throughout the song, he captures that not all relationships are meant to last forever and each relationship conveys a different lesson that is taught to both people.

“For me, it is a love song about how special something can be and not everything has to last forever in order for it to be special. And I think that the definition that we have of success if a relationship is like longevity and lasting for eternity and I think there’s like it just negates all of the beauty and so much positivity that can form a relationship where you learn something about yourself,” Styles said to Zane Lowe. 

On a different note, the song “Paint By Numbers” expresses the challenges of being in the spotlight at a very young age.  The lyrics: “Oh, what a gift it is to be noticed but it’s nothing to do with me” conveys his love and hate relationship over being a global star. He is happy to have a worldwide fanbase who love and enjoy his music but he struggles with the pressure of what the media has to say about him since he became famous. The lyrics “It’s a little bit complicated when they put an image in your head, and now you’re stuck with it” conveys how since the beginning of when he was in the band he had an image that had to describe him but as he grew up it wasn’t what he wanted to be known as and it was a battle of finding who he really was once he started his solo career.

Overall, the album was definitely a rollercoaster ride with songs like “Coming Up Roses” and “Paint by Number” which explored themes of managing relationship and personal struggles, with more upbeat energetic songs with songs like “Aperture,” that expresses meaningful music videos with poetic lyrics. The album itself is an unskippable album with it being number one on the Billboard Top 200 for two weeks after its release.