By: Abigale Paterniti, Co-Editor-in-Chief
Harry Styles has always been mainstream. His album, Harry’s House, won the Grammy for Album of the Year, embracing city pop and R&B. From running marathons to entering the club scene, Styles has arrived with the album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
“It was very different then everything he’s ever released from his first to now, they have become more pop and dance which is a lot different from the indie pop that he was going for,” said longtime listener, senior Sharvi Wankade.
Styles revealed that the album was largely inspired by LCD Soundsystem. The album opens with four standouts: Aperture, American Girls; Ready, Steady, Go!, And Are You Listening Yet?
“My personal favorite is American Girls for its catchy theme and nostalgic connection to Harry’s One Direction days,” said senior Samara Winrose.
As the title promises, the disco is only occasional. More often, it’s a record about the push and pull of romance, the forming and dissolving of relationships, and a search for something Styles can’t name.
The tracklist feels occasionally disjointed, and some of the album’s mid-section blurs together. Styles’ voice gets lost within the shuffle of the production, but there are moments where he struggles to have an identity outside of the bass. Slower songs like “Coming Up Roses” and “Paint by Numbers” are undeniably pretty but feel as though they belong to a different record entirely.
“I agree that ‘Paint by Numbers’ and ‘Coming Up Roses’ stuck out but I don’t think that was necessarily a bad thing, it offers the album balance,” says Sharvi.
More than anything, Styles is trying to figure out his own sound as this is his third decade as an entertainer. It’s an album that one will love or hate on first listen, a clear reinvention of what music Styles wants to put forward after a period of searching, shifts and documenting his life in and out of the limelight.