Harry Styles breaks his three year silence with a declaration of mediocrity. From the get-go, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” is riddled with disappointment and underwhelms the listener with false expectations. Despite the title, the music leans heavily on dance pop and EDM elements, with minimal to no disco influence. Perhaps the worst of all, the lyrics attempt to convey meaning, yet fall flat when delivered without emotion. 

When adjusted to hear Styles’ voice, the volume of the bass lands hard against ear drums, meanwhile, overly repetitive high-hats beat your brain until it’s pulp, no longer able to discern the quality of the first single, “Aperture”. That monotonous rhythm plays for almost a full minute until Harry Styles graces us with his distorted lyrics. 

Instead of the falsely advertised disco orchestral background, like many modern songs, layers upon layers of voices replace harmonic strings throughout the chorus. Reiterated lines repeat without depth throughout the outro, as the last two minutes trail on endlessly until the song reaches its close. 

The theme of the album is most prominent in this run’s most catchy single, “American Girls”’s music video. Throughout the video Styles moves between sets as he films a fake music video. While stunt doubles stumble, clothes and bodies covered in dirt between filming shots, assistants rush to give Styles his beverages and lint rollers to keep the celebrity on his high horse. The contrast between their treatment accentuates the false shine of a celebrity’s life compared to the reality of the working class.

The lyrical journey, however, follows a different path entirely. As an outsider, Harry Styles observes his friends as they fall in love. In an interview with Elle, Styles said “American Girls” is about his growth as he observed the magic of his closest friends as they fell in love and got married. Despite the fact that he believed his single status meant he should experience greater moments of entertainment, Styles steadily became increasingly tempted to follow in their footsteps. 

Long after the story and sound has been established, Harry Styles decides to alter his tune with “Coming Up Roses”, the eighth on the record out of twelve. What began as a Christmas song starts with discordant strings and plucked violins which sound like an orchestra as they tune their instruments. 

With lines such as, “Just for tonight, let’s go hangover chasing, And I’ll talk your ear off about why it’s safe”, Styles argues the value of short-term relationships opposed to long-term relationships. Instead of going slow in order to carefully progress their relationship, he asserts short-term relationships are just as worthwhile and special as long-term, more traditionally successful relationships. 

The rest of the record continues with a similar atmosphere as the first tracks, too-heavy beats and occasional catchy hooks secure their positions as trademarks of his new sound. Contrary to critic predictions, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” has been exposed as a major flop, with not an inkling of disco to be found in the wasteful minutes which consist of the release. 

While often considered one of the greatest of his generation, Harry Styles habitually releases lackluster records. His canon contains enough gems to collect as souvenirs that satisfy the Harries and the critics. But his latest release only cements his legacy–an overrated solo career riding the coattails of One Direction.