{"id":325674,"date":"2026-03-06T22:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/325674\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:08:08","slug":"harry-styles-kiss-all-the-time-disco-occasionally-review-a-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/325674\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Styles’ ‘Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally’ review: A swing"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is one experience Harry Styles<\/a> will never get to have, though he\u2019s been asked about it ad infinitum: Communing in the crowd at a Harry Styles concert.<\/p>\n

On \u201cKiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,\u201d<\/a> the superstar\u2019s fourth solo album and first full-length project in four years, Styles aims to soundtrack the anonymous exhilaration of being in the audience. It\u2019s a bold choice, following 2022\u2019s synth-pop \u201cHarry\u2019s House,\u201d which earned him album of the year<\/a> at the 2023 Grammy Awards<\/a>, with bolder reference points.<\/p>\n

Styles started working on the 12-track album in early 2025 in Berlin, with his longtime producer Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson. The location proved to be a source of inspiration for him: Styles\u2019 listening habits became more electronic, in line with the German capital\u2019s reputation. His running playlists featured acts like Four Tet, Floating Points and Jamie xx as well as techno<\/a> DJs Ben Klock and Fadi Mohem. Repetitive, physical productions \u2014 synths that rumble with arpeggios and bass kicks \u2014 get very close to meditation. That\u2019s clear on \u201cKiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,\u201d a remarkably consistent album dead-set on evoking mood without sacrificing music.<\/p>\n

The first taste arrived in the form of \u201cAperture,\u201d a Styles\u2019 opening track if there ever was one, a five-minute slow-burn built of accelerating synths. He said the song was at least partially inspired by seeing LCD Soundsystem live<\/a> and listening to \u201880s English post-punks The Durutti Column. Freedom, he seemed to be teasing, comes from anonymity, a dance floor, and braking as music speeds.<\/p>\n

And it does, with some restraint. Spirited experimentation carries throughout the album, in particular, its stellar back half. The gamble pays off on the funky \u201cDance No More,\u201d a loose rush of dopamine. (It takes a strong party to press play and not come off wanting to join in the chant, \u201cGotta get your feet wet \/ Respect \/ Respect your mother!,\u201d recalling both Rick James\u2019 \u201cSuper Freak\u201d<\/a> and drag culture all in one.) Or the maximalist production and Spanish guitars of \u201cReady, Steady, Go!,\u201d or the suggestive \u201cPop,\u201d a lustful, electric good time. The 2010s dance-punk band Hot Chip feels like a direct source of inspiration.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Styles\u2019 voice is sacrificed, buried beneath his ambitious production, like on \u201cSeason 2 Weight Loss.\u201d In others, he\u2019s front and center, as on \u201cComing Up Roses,\u201d written by Styles alone and featuring a 39-piece orchestra arranged by conductor Jules Buckley.<\/p>\n

A familiar Styles, too, emerges in spurts, like in that song\u2019s romance, or the album\u2019s two lyrical references to Simon & Garfunkel<\/a> on the closer \u201cCarla\u2019s Song\u201d and \u201cDance No More.\u201d There\u2019s also the late-’60s, early-’70s channeling \u201cPaint By Numbers,\u201d his acoustic guitar, singer-songwriter, \u201cMatilda\u201d moment.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, what a gift it is to be noticed,\u201d he sings. The simple statement becomes an existential revelation, Styles\u2019 realizing his fame is a conduit for community, not its source: \u201cBut it\u2019s nothing to do with me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cKiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally\u201d takes big swings, but Styles\u2019 approach is often understated \u2014 like on \u201cAre You Listening Yet?,\u201d which never really resolves but satiates, or the midtempo \u201cAmerican Girls.\u201d <\/p>\n

The freedom Styles appears to have been chasing has built a subversive album, one that doesn\u2019t play into any contemporary pop star rule book. It\u2019ll prove to be divisive for his loyal listeners, or at the very least, unexpected. Still, risk doesn\u2019t mean \u201cKiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally\u201d is wholly unrestrained, which may be its central hope. Because at the end of the day, even in the early morning haze of a sweaty nightclub, strangers\u2019 bodies holding strangers\u2019 bodies, he is still Harry Styles. <\/p>\n

But the effort to unshackle himself from expectation? That sounds like elation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is one experience Harry Styles will never get to have, though he\u2019s been asked about it ad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[161178,13299,458,146,161177,52559,1851,85,46,99790,161179,135189,409,151541,161181,161180],"class_list":{"0":"post-325674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ben-klock","9":"tag-berlin","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-fadi-mohem","13":"tag-grammy-awards","14":"tag-harry-styles","15":"tag-il","16":"tag-israel","17":"tag-jamie-xx","18":"tag-jules-buckley","19":"tag-maria-sherman","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-music-reviews","22":"tag-rick-james","23":"tag-tyler-johnson"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}