This past Friday, British singer-songwriter Harry Styles released his much-anticipated fourth studio album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. The album has a 12-track run of exciting and varied moments — every song has a unique soundscape that transcends the pop genre the album is classified into. There are hints of disco, classical, folk, psychedelic and, of course, the classic pop sound Styles’ fans have grown to love. His third album, Harry’s House, secured him an Album of the Year award at the Grammys in 2023 and his smash-hit single “As It Was,” spent 19 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts.
All this to say, expectations were high for Styles’ return to the music scene after three years of silence. He broke his silence on Dec. 27, 2025 by uploading a heartfelt mini-documentary titled “Forever, Forever,” a love letter to his fans on his Love On Tour performances; the concluding message of the video included a title screen that read: “We belong together.” This alone got fans excited and ready for his return, as it seemed that he was hinting at an upcoming tour. The lead single “Aperture,” was released on Jan. 23; quickly after the song came out, fans put the pieces together and concluded that the “Forever, Forever” video was a teaser for the “Aperture” hook, a blaring EDM beat to Styles singing “We belong together.”
“Aperture” is Styles’ third single to debut No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100; however, so far, it has proven to not be a very successful or sustainable hit. I believe this is due to the length of the song, coming in at five minutes and 11 seconds. It’s his second-longest song ever and the longest on the new album. Regardless of the length or ‘hit status’ of the song, I loved “Aperture.” I think it was a great way to start his new ‘disco’ era and set the tone for what he wants to accomplish with his music. The EDM beats and message of camaraderie that it captures lets us know that Styles wants everyone up on their feet and dancing. Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally achieves this goal with songs that preach messages of “getting up on your feet,” falling in love, reflecting on old friends and celebrating togetherness in a time of global disarray.
Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally is at its best when it comes to production and sound. Explosive, funky beats unfold throughout each of the tracks — with the exception of an acoustic song, “Paint by Numbers,” and “Coming Up Roses,” an orchestral song. This is an album best listened to as background music, and I don’t mean that in a shady way, just that it functions better as a film score than a soundtrack … if that makes any sense. It exists in a surrealist world where lyrics are modernist in nature and subliminal in messaging. The soundscapes and lyrics feel more like music you’d come up with in a dream — still hazy, still half-asleep, nonsensical but all-in-all, enjoyable. I’m yet to really sit down with the lyrics of this album because they’re confusing and unclear at first — for example, “You’ve had your tummy tickled / Are you listening yet?” on “Are You Listening Yet?” — but I’d like to give Styles the benefit of the doubt and hope that these lyrics just require a closer reading and added perspective.
That isn’t to say all of the album's lyrics fall into this confusing category; there are some great, vulnerable, introspective lyrics that reveal a confessional nature amongst the bright lights and synths of Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. In “The Waiting Game,” he sings, “You can romanticize your shortcomings / ignore your agency to stop / write a ballad with the details, while skimming off the top.” A cutting lyric that describes his indulgent need to profit off his life experiences for the sake of art. Throughout some of the songs he also seems to be grappling with the idea of fame and how it affects/warps his perception of himself. In “Paint By Numbers,” he sings, “Oh what a gift it is to be noticed / but it’s nothing to do with me,” and “You’re the luckiest / oh, the irony / holding the weight of the American children whose hearts you break.” There’s an underlying message of identity and separation of who you are versus who people want you to be that invades the album’s lyrics — yet, ironically, this message gets lost into oblivion by distracting instrumentals and an urge to get up and dance.
Styles is at his most vulnerable, but he’s not asking you to read into anything; he’s simply here to entertain and get you up on your feet. Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally doesn’t ask anything from the listener except to feel and enjoy yourself as much as possible. Some notable highlights include “Dance No More,” “Pop” and “Taste Back” — all excellent songs with an all-encompassing rhythm. My favorite off the album is “Coming Up Roses,” a gorgeous love song described by Styles himself as a “song about how special something can be and that not everything has to last forever for it to be special.”
The album can be enjoyed in full via a live performance that’s available on Netflix starting March 8 — a recording of Styles’ inaugural concert in Manchester. If you’re considering getting into Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, I highly recommend watching the performance as an introduction to the album, especially since Styles is such a great entertainer. It adds a level of interaction that was needed to make this album come together and make sense — it’s a body of work meant to be enjoyed in unity. After all, its thesis is, “We belong together.”
Paulina Delgado-Umpierre is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a staff writer for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at pdelgadoumpierre@cornellsun.com.
