After almost four years, Harry Styles is back — but not quite better than ever. Styles’ fourth studio album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” dropped March 6 and promised to amp up the groove previewed on “Harry’s House.”
Did it accomplish that? In sound, maybe, but not in substance.
With a kinetic beat and coursing electronic build, the lead single, “Aperture,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, sticking the landing with the refrain “We belong together” backed by House Gospel Choir vocals. Though less immediately infectious than previous albums’ singles “Watermelon Sugar” and “As it Was,” “Aperture” set “Kiss All the Time” up to be an experimental work with synth pop and genre‐blurring soundscapes.
Unfortunately, by tracks three and four — “American Girls” aside — that atmospheric quality doesn’t do enough heavy lifting to sustain a full‐length studio album. “Kiss All the Time” is, ultimately, a passive listening experience with repetitive production and a distinct lack of true hooks. Gratification isn’t just delayed in favor of the so‐called avant‐garde — it never really comes.
Track five, “Taste Back,” which harkens back to sounds on “Harry’s House,” stands out as one of the only tracks with a memorable chorus. “The Waiting Game” is a bedroom pop track that inarguably has a refrain, but without the buildup to support it, it falls flat. “Season 2 Weight Loss” is pleasant enough but diagnoses the album’s overarching issue: pre-chorus purgatory. “Kiss All the Time” attempts to build sonic anticipation, but never resolves it, and the buildup itself isn’t dynamic enough to be interesting on its own. Styles perhaps sought for this very tension to be at the heart of the album, but with homogenous production, that lack of resolve doesn’t feel like deliberate experimentation.
Track eight, “Coming Up Roses,” seems to be the emotional centerpiece of “Kiss All the Time,” but is the kind of sweeping orchestral ballad listeners have heard before. The classical strings to contrast the pop vocals and level up on emotion feel like a played‐out production gimmick circa 2019.
“Pop,” which follows, is the second song with a notable chorus, featuring dynamic shifts palpable enough to pack some punch. After that comes “Dance No More,” which, while danceable, is hollow in a way that could soundtrack a Target back‐to‐school commercial.
Lyrically, “Kiss All the Time” is shrouded in emotional distance, with language too vague and coded to discern any clear meaning beyond “disco.” After lamenting that “DJs don’t dance no more,” Styles sings, “You gotta get your feet wet / Respect, respect your mother / Be a good girl, go get it, Fox.” These verses aren’t artfully abstract so much as they are gesturing toward meaning without weight. “Kiss All the Time” holds its cards too close to its chest, not giving listeners the slightest indication of where Styles could’ve found muse or pulled real‐life lyrical inspiration.
“Paint By Numbers” follows with a clearer message than “Dance No More” but relies on cliche allusions to coming of age. With lyrics like “It’s a lifetime of learning to paint by numbers / And watching the colors run” and “It’s a lifetime of picking from one or the other / Kids with water guns, watch them run,” “Paint By Numbers” is unremarkable.
On top of the middling lyricism, “Kiss All the Time” is mixed in such a way that the synth and effects often overpower the vocals, leaving listeners straining to hear what Styles is singing, particularly in “Ready, Steady, Go!,” “Are You Listening Yet?” and “Season 2 Weight Loss.”
“Kiss All the Time” closes on “Carla’s Song,” which does manage to end the album on a more triumphant experimental note than the other tracks, but isn’t necessarily a standout in Styles’ discography.
While sure to be groovy on Styles’ upcoming “Together, Together” tour, at the end of the day, “Kiss All the Time” is disco without substance. Perhaps it should be titled “Kiss All the Time. Bop Your Head Along Occasionally.”
