- Jarett Walker | Staff
- Mar 11, 2026 (DailyCal.org)
Grade: 3.5/5.0
On March 6, Harry Styles released his fourth studio album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. Styles has long maintained his footprint in the elusive sands of the pop culture world, responsible for the tears of hysterical teenage fan girls for nearly two decades now. Since branching off into a solo career, his creative direction has matured, becoming increasingly exploratory. The album nosedives into the diverse, electric sound of pop music, for the most part displaying seasoned expertise and confidence as he plays with sonic themes that aren’t necessarily what gained him his initial fame.
For the most part, KATTDO emphasizes its sound over its lyricism. Styles’ past solo work frequently focused on expressing emotional depth with vulnerable lyricism, tonally distancing himself from his previous boy band’s pop-hit-fishing reputation. Now that he is a decade past the end of his One Direction days, an embrace of pop isn’t an indicator of being a one-trick pony. If anything, this project denotes a true artistic appreciation for the genre in his own way.
The first single released for this project, “Aperture,” epitomizes the vibrant sound Styles wields. The song feels like the moments at a party where the lights ripple and the bass is felt beneath your feet on the beaten-down dance floor. Like locking eyes with someone you’ve never seen before and dancing in a free, momentous euphoria. His voice ascends as the song builds. Employing a quick tempo and laser beam like sound effects, the song annihilates inhibition and properly orients listeners into the vibe Styles is curating.
“American Girls” is timeless yet nostalgic — a classic pop hit. It’s the song blasting driving down the highway in a friend’s car with the roof down, hair blowing wildly in the wind on a hot summer day. It isn’t too adventurous, but therein lies its charm. Where some pop pundits may be inclined to bob some Billboard top 10 bait, Harry’s lighthearted addition feels authentic — quintessential pop while not feeling like a copout to be palatable.
While many of the songs are upbeat, Styles plays around with the pace of the album, occasionally pulling the listener off from the dancefloor. “Coming Up Roses” is an endearing track where Styles speaks more earnestly about his love life, finishing with a swelling orchestra — a welcome contrast to KATTDO’s electronic pervasion. However, a weaker moment, “Paint By Numbers,” lacks value in the album’s storytelling. It falls sonically flat aside other tracks with the lyricism not doing much to recover it. The track reveals the difficulty in balancing different levels of energy in one project, and ultimately didn’t feel like it earned its place. Both, however, are not as strong as other moments on the album.
“Dance No More” is a refreshing callback to the origins of blending synth and funk music with a Harry Styles twist. The bassline is David Bowie during his Young Americans era. It’s Rick James. It’s INXS. This track is nothing too lyrically insightful, but dance music doesn’t necessarily need to be. It speaks to its audience through how it makes people move and this song definitely has that transient capability.
The album is overall an expression of romance. Dance music is a romantic phenomenon; to release energy through the music and feel free enough to let loose is an act of art. As far as this album’s claim to disco, this work is not an attempt at a copycat revival of the genre, nor does it wish to upkeep the genre throughout, thus “occasionally” being specified in the title. Rather, it captures the genre’s spirit in a more modern take. The fluctuation between amped up synths and stripped back ballads was certainly a risk that felt choppy more often than not, leaving a desire to get back to the disco vibe. But that feeling in itself represents excelling in this new creative phase for Styles.