Shiny and sincere, Styles’ new album pleases

By Libby D’Orvilliers

The time has come. Singer-songwriter Harry Styles has released his extremely anticipated fourth studio album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.” After releasing his chart-topping album “Harry’s House” in 2022, Styles has been relatively quiet for the last few years and fans were chomping at the bit for any sign of new music from the popstar. When Styles announced on Jan. 15 that his next album was to release only two months later, fans were very excited to not have to wait much longer, myself included.

I am not the biggest Styles fan, in fact I know several people who are definitely bigger fans than I. However, I appreciate mainstream pop music just as much as the next young adult. In fact, there was a whole summer that I listened to “Harry’s House” nearly every day on my drive to work. Now, whether that was because it was the only CD I had in my car at the time or that I just really liked the album is still to be determined. Regardless, this album gives off the same vibes — something I can listen to on my drive to work and bop my head along to.

To get into the album, the first track “Aperture,” which was also the first single from the album, sets the tone for the rest of the album. Upbeat lyrics about finding love infused with a steady dancehall-ready beat suck the listener right into the record. I must admit that I also appreciated this song expanding my vocabulary, because I had no idea what the word aperture meant prior to hearing this song and subsequently confirming the definition of the word on dictionary.com. 

Moving right along, the album keeps up the energetic vibes with “American Girls,” “Ready, Steady, Go!” and “Are You Listening Yet?” While these tracks do not necessarily have the deepest lyrics, they do their job for the album, giving it a sound perfect to dance to and forget your worries — for about three minutes. As the playful lyrics in “Are You Listening Yet?” state, just “make sure there’s dancing” as you listen to these few tracks.

I think Styles knew what he was doing with the upbeat tone of the album. The world needs some brevity and lightness and Styles provides us with just a few minutes worth of an escape with this album. Just enough time to press “reset” on our stress-o-meter for the day and let ourselves do a little dance to get the energy out. For this, I thank Styles.

To touch on Styles’ vocals, throughout the album, he punctuates and annunciates the lyrics of the songs effortlessly and clearly in a way that is not heard in too many current records. In parts of the album, I found that the tone of his voice mixed with the subtle reverb was reminiscent of his past solo albums. With his punchy lyrics and signature belty moments, Styles’ relatively unfiltered-sounding voice is up near the top of my list of pop vocalists.

On my list of stand-out songs from this album is “Season 2 Weightloss.” This song stuck with me due to its relatable lyrics reflecting yearning for someone to love you. Styles captured some of my personal feelings of what it is like to go out of your way and change yourself in hopes that someone “will love me now.” Much like Styles, I often recognize that going out of my way to please others is “kind of sad but it’s something I know.” However, again, like most of the songs on this album, if you do not pay attention to these more sodden lyrics, it is just a great song with a good beat.

The 10th song on the album, “Dance No More,” is the song that has the most “disco” vibes to it. For an album that has the word “disco” in the title, the lack of disco music in it is amusing, but one can definitely sense that it was at least inspired to some extent by disco music. I suppose this is true to the current trend of many popstar’s latest albums — sample music from other genres, but ultimately stick to the familiar pop sound you know will sell. Overall, this song is nothing to write home about, but definitely a song to nod your head along to.

Of course, what would a modern pop album be without at least one slow, genuine, heart-melting song to balance it all out? Styles fulfills this unspoken requirement with “Coming Up Roses.” A slower, more reflective song. It is nice to clearly hear some of the deeper lyrics on this album for a moment from Styles on this record, however, I am glad the song was only four minutes long because I was ready to get back to the catchy beats again.

The final track on the album, “Carla’s Song” is not the most exciting or memorable song on the album, which, to me, seems counterintuitive to how you would want to end an album. What this song does do, however,  is point out both sonically and lyrically, that the whole time you were listening to the album, you were hearing snippets of Styles’ personal life, musings and broodings alike, all intertwined with the assortment of unignorable synths and drums. So, while it is not the perfect closure to the album, it does the job.

Overall, the album flows together exceptionally well, mixing genuine lyrics and glam-pop beats to create the perfect playlist ready for a dance party … or at least a drive to work.

I give the album four out of five stars.

Libby D’Orvilliers is a senior psychology major