kiss all the time. disco, occasionally (2026) // harry styles
ALBUMS★3.5/5
the truest rating for this album is a 3.75/5, which seems to be pretty consistent with critical reception as well.
the thing that tickles me the most is the overall aesthetics, both sonically and visually. it invokes a very specific feeling; its 5am, the sun is finally coming up over the berlin skyline. the MDMA is finally wearing off but the hard liquor on your breath is still making the world feel a little bit wobbly. you're standing with your foot kicked back against the wall of the outside of the club with a cigarette in your hand, the last in the pack you'd bought that night.
i read that harry was living in berlin while putting this album together, and it really shows. the electro-pop dance sound really stimulates my producer brain, especially track 3: ready, steady, go!, which was one of my favs on the album. the other honorable mention goes to track 10: dance no more. if you know me, or even if you've so much as viewed this blog, it doesn't take a detective to figure out how much i love disco, and i really think this song is the piece de resistance in the titular disco, occasionally. it feels well-studied, but with a truly modern approach. the disco elements are nuanced and detailed, like the synths, midi horns, BGVs, gang vox, even lyrical content. to me, this song really is the stand out on the album.
now you might be wondering why i didn't rate this album higher, considering the high praise and personal connection to the content. the truth is i really liked this album, but i think it doesn't fit harry at his current career point. it feels like a late career album, where he's finally dropped off of the need to appease the one direction girlies and the post-breakup girlies that fell in love with him after dropping a song about touching eachother during covid. i don't mean to penalize an artist for making a bold or unthematic move, but for someone with as well-paid a PR and marketing team as harry's, it feels uncalculated to put out an album this... how do i put it... un-pop as this one. harry's house, his previous album, was already a bold swing in a more personal and singer-songwriter direction that panned out really well for him, landing album of the year at the grammys. harry's been getting some slack from his fans for not delivering at his live shows vis a vis ticket prices and VIP packages, so i would think that it would be his moment to really give his devout followers what they want: a bubblegum, bombastic, sexy, and... predictable album (which would subsequently probably not land well with my own taste, but thats not the point). as the one direction alum finding the most palpable solo success, i'd think it would be only fair to the fans that really made him to give them something accessible and evergreen for them to latch on to. my critique then, overall, is not of the musical content itself but the timing of its release. had harry sat on this one for a couple years, i think it would really add value to it. theres a begrudging jadedness that, as it stands, make him seem looming and distant from his current fans. within a late career context beginning a trend downward in the charts, though, i believe it could be perceived as a reclamation of oneself, a pastiche of the party life. i don't know if this makes sense, really, i just think harry should've let this one marinate a little bit to bring out the smoky flavour that lies within the shrouded synth and spotlight.
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