Musician Harry Styles’ fourth studio album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” released Friday. Credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images via TNS
Harry Styles made his return to the music scene, releasing his fourth studio album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” Friday.?
Styles rose to fame in 2010 as a member of the hit boy band, One Direction. After the group’s split in 2015, Styles went on to launch his solo career with his self-titled debut album in 2017.?
Styles took the world by storm with the hit “Watermelon Sugar” off his sophomore album “Fine Line,” which peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in Aug. 2020. He released his third album, “Harry’s House” in 2022, taking home three Grammy awards — including Album of the Year — with what critics call his best work yet.?
Meaning, Styles’ fourth album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally,” had a lot to live up to.?
The Lantern’s Managing Design Editor, Audrey Coleman, and Managing Arts & Life Editor, Grayson Newbourn, had conflicting views on Styles’ latest album. Click the link below to read the other review.?
As a long-time Directioner and solo Styles fan, this album was at the top of my highly anticipated release list for 2026. But after multiple listens, the album falls flat. The album should really be named “Disco All the Time. Kiss, Occasionally.”?
It starts off strong with the lead single “Aperture,” an atmospheric, upbeat introduction to the album. The lyrics are also the slogan for the era, “We belong together.”
“It’s best you know what you don’t / Aperture lets the light in / It’s best you know what you don’t / Aperture lets the light in / We belong together / It finally appears it’s only love,” Styles sings, making it the most perfect, cliché, late-spring, windows-down driving song.?
“American Girls” follows, taking a less disco-forward approach in comparison to “Aperture.” Opening with a slow piano and building in a calm drum-based beat to back the lyrics, listeners can get more of a sense of Styles’ vocals, a characteristic that has historically been the shining star of his previous work.
For me, it’s the best track on the album. Between the dialed-back synth and highlighting of his vocals, it almost feels like a slower track from “Harry’s House,” even though the lyrics scream 2014 long-haired Harry.?
“Ready, Steady, Go!” is a stronger take on the “disco, occasionally” element. The synth is harder-hitting than in “Aperture” and is a bold departure from anything Styles has produced before — which is both exciting and a little upsetting, as we won’t see the return of the 2021 Love on Tour era that came before his last album.?
“Are You Listening Yet?” loops back to “Aperture,” truly following the same beat.?
With the chorus being sung on a very staccato beat, the song is definitely more beat-heavy than vocals. “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? / Oh, are you listening yet? Oh, are you listening yet?”?
For me, this is when the enjoyment stops. The first four songs are unique in their own ways, and from then on, everything sounds the same.?
“Taste Back” picks the heavy synth back up, making it almost hard to understand the lyrics. “The Waiting Game” seems fitting for a YouTube “LoFi Study Beats” playlist, which is fine, but when the standard is songs like “Grapejuice” and “Kiwi,” it falls flat. “Season 2 Weight Loss” is the most disco of the three, falling into the background when listening to the whole album in order.?
“Coming up Roses” is the first track with truly no synth, a refreshing break after three straight disco songs. It’s also the track that highlights Styles’ voice, something many were looking forward to after a four-year break of no music. The strings-based instrumental break at the end of the track is quite lovely and is almost reminiscent of “Matilda” from “Harry’s House.”?
The string of lyrics “Just for tonight, let’s go hangover chasing / And I’ll talk your ear off about why it’s safe / As I fumble my words and fall flat on my face through the truth / Just say the word and we’ll take up the test / Where we flirt with the bad ones and skip all the rest / But we see out the night with your head on my chest, me and you,” is one of the shining moments from the album as a whole.
As a tie back to “Harry’s House,” the most devastating song is naturally followed by one of the peppiest, giving listeners whiplash.?
In short, “Cinema” from “Harry’s House” walked so “Pop” could run. Out of the 12 tracks, this is the one that club DJ’s already have their hands on and are making club remixes as this is written. At the same time, though, the back track makes it a little difficult to understand the lyrics.?
“Dance No More” follows that same upbeat energy as “Pop,” if not a little more disco-heavy. While enjoyable, it follows the same pattern as earlier, with back-to-back heavy pop songs that sound similar and then turning immediately into an emotional ballad.?
Over the sound of everyone weeping, you might be able to hear “Paint by Numbers,” the slowest song on the album, almost falling into completely acoustic territory. Getting to hear Styles pull at heartstrings and slip into a vibe reminiscent of his self-titled album did a lot of heavy lifting for the second half of the album.?
Ending with “Carla’s Song,” the track is a nice cap off to the entire record, but unmemorable after standouts like “American Girls” and “Ready, Steady, Go!”
Overall, the album is fine. As singles spread apart in a playlist, they’ll be great, since they won’t be followed by songs that sound exactly the same. As a collection intended to be played in a sequence, it falls short of the same level of enjoyment Styles’ first three albums bring to the table.?
Rating: 2.5/5
