Catchy All The Time. Disjointed, Occasionally.

He’s one of those artists almost everyone has heard. Maybe you once read Y/N One Direction fanfiction during middle school lunch periods. Maybe you learned how to play “Fine Line” on the guitar. Maybe you vividly remember that summer where you were so sick of hearing “Watermelon Sugar” on the radio, in the grocery store, or poorly sung by your little brother who didn’t (and still doesn’t) know the words. 

Love him or hate him, everyone knows Harry Styles; and for most, he’s best known not for who he is now, but for who he once was. With his fourth album as a solo artist, he faces the same struggle as many of his contemporaries – Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, and Conan Gray, to name a few – of whether to treat his new work as a complete 180 or to return to his roots. With Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, Styles attempts the latter. 

Though the album may be touted as an experimental, new sound for Styles, the foundation is the same. It’s still music for the radio, even if a new era. Though he leans into some less mainstream instrumentation on songs like “Season 2 Weight Loss,” Kiss All The Time’s shining moments aren’t pushing many boundaries of what’s possible within pop – but perhaps for the better. The most successful songs on this album work for the same reason as Styles’ most popular singles and fan favorites: they’re tracks you can play with the windows down, driving down through the mountains or along the coast as the sun sets, songs that seem to expand as dusk falls. Yes, you’ll hear them on the radio and in the grocery store, but maybe a little less this time around, and you’ll be happier to hum along. Even if you’re listening from the depths of midterm hell in a cinderblock-and-linoleum dorm room, Styles’s voice will take you to that summer.

The first six songs of the album mark a strong return for Styles. With “Aperture” as the lead single and first track, he sets the tone with a song that showcases Kiss All The Time at its best and most inventive. Upbeat, synth-focused, and almost spiraling, the album envelops listeners from its first moment. Styles’s music is nothing if not immersive, consuming. “American Girls” offers a bit of deeper lyricism. Styles compares his love life to that of his friends and speaks directly to himself, giving introspective advice. However, we’re soon enough thrust back into pop production (and title punctuation) with “Ready, Steady, Go!” and the fourth-wall-breaking “Are You Listening Yet?”

Whereas “Aperture” seems poised to kick off a new era for Styles, as the minutes pass, the album feels more and more like a “Best of Harry Styles” Spotify playlist. Each song feels like an echo of a previous work; “The Waiting Game” in particular is very reminiscent of “Grapejuice” off of Harry’s House (2022). In the latter half of the album, “Coming Up Roses” is a shining light. “Does all of this seem to be bringing us closer?” he sings. “Or am I back-seating your life / Judging while you drive?” A sweet, self-aware song with simpler production is just what the album needs at this point – but is it already too late? Should Kiss All The Time have provided its listeners with a breather from its “occasional” disco a bit earlier?

Where the album fails, particularly in comparison to Styles’s earlier works, is in development. The album doesn’t truly go anywhere; there are moments of thoughtful lyricism and interesting backing tracks, but they’re interspersed seemingly at random. As good as individual songs are, the album as a whole can’t be considered entirely successful. Ultimately, it’s unbalanced. For those who had been hoping for a cohesive project from Styles, Kiss All The Time is a little empty, a little unsatisfying. But for the average listener – the once-fanfic reader, the amateur guitarist, the “Watermelon Sugar” hater – these tracks have the individual potential to become a fixture in their lives as the weather warms.

Rating: INDY

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Lorelei Schwarz is a freshman in the College. She was never kidnapped by One Direction (and if she had been, she would have signed a very strict NDA).