Harry Styles performs during the Brit Awards 2026 in Manchester, England, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (Photo by Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)

After British pop star Harry Styles concluded his 2023 world tour with a heartfelt piano ballad in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he disappeared from the public eye.

Except last May, when he attended Pope Leo XIV’s election in Rome. Or training for various marathons across Europe.

Nevertheless, Styles’ return to the stage on

March 6 with his fourth studio album, “Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally” was long-awaited by devoted fans and casual listeners alike.

Even my fiance enjoyed Styles’ song, “American Girls” for its catchy beat.

But the album title is misleading, much like everything that comes to public attention.

“Kiss All The Time, Disco

Occasionally” is barely a disco album, lacking the sounds incorporated in iconic Bee Gees and ABBA songs. Instead, it’s flooded with synth beats and dance-rock influences that channel a darker mood within listeners.

Produced by Kid Harpoon, the album contradicts Styles’ previous works, which included department store hits such as “Watermelon Sugar” and “As It Was.” Don’t get me wrong — fans can still dance to “Kiss,” but behind catchy beats lies Styles’ deeper self-journey.

Styles said “Aperture” is his freest song on the album during an interview with radio DJ Zane Lowe.

Thinking about his lyrics, “It’s best you know what you don’t / Aperture lets the light in,” Styles said those lyrics reflect his struggle in finding self-forgiveness.

“‘Aperture’ was so about the moment of realizing, ‘no, I was in the wrong for something,'” he said, “and you can move forward when you acknowledge the things that you don’t know and therefore give yourself the space to let light come in.”

He said the album originally started with a slower, more self-revealing melody titled “Paint By Numbers,” which now sits at track number 11.

Vulnerability coats the song’s opening lines, “Oh, what a gift it is to be noticed / But it’s nothing to do with me / You’ve got to wonder if there’s a reason to believe”

Lowe said “Paint By Numbers” stands out on the album despite its later placement, which I also noticed when first listening to it. The entire work is filled with upbeat rhythms until that song, which forces listeners to pause and hear what Styles is trying to say.

When listening to that song, I can’t help but hear moments and feelings about his late One Direction bandmate, Liam Payne, who died in 2024 from a drug overdose, seep through the lyrics.

Fans — including me — speculate that the line, “It’s a lifetime of picking from one or the other / Kids with waterguns, watch them run” references One Direction’s “Live While We’re Young” music video from 2011.

He told Lowe that he struggled with talking about Payne’s passing, as he noticed the strangeness of people wanting him to convey his grief while having his personal strong feelings about Payne’s death.

“It’s so difficult to lose a friend, to lose any friend,” he said, “but it’s so difficult to lose a friend that’s so like you in so many ways.”

Especially with songs like “Paint By Numbers” meant for interior work, he believed that vulnerable works become something important when choosing to let people see them,

too.

“I think writing it and keeping it on my hard drive, I don’t know what feels brave about that in any way,” he said.

And this vulnerability shines through “Kiss All The Time, Disco

Occasionally,” despite dance-rock melodies used during production, which is why I believe the upbeat undertones were intentionally used to convey that while Styles uncovers the most honest version of oneself, life continues.

This album is Styles’ most mature work yet as he continues his journey to self-discovery, teaching listeners that vulnerability isn’t weakness but rather a necessity.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414 and can be found on Facebook and Instagram @colettecostlow.