Harry Styles Perfects the Romanticism of Impermanence and Nostalgia on 'Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.': Album Review
- Abby Anderson
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Stand-out tracks: "Aperture" "Ready, Steady, Go!" "Pop" "Coming Up Roses"
Our favorites: "American Girls" "Season 2 Weight Loss" "Taste Back" "Carla's Song"
Release date: March 6, 2026
Label: Columbia Records
For fans of: The 1975, Ed Sheeran, ZAYN
Wherever the name Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. came from, there is simply no better title that Harry Styles could have chosen for his highly anticipated fourth studio project. Almost four years after his last colossally successful album, Harry it makes it clear that he hasn't just spent that time running marathons and globe-trotting, he's been perfecting the balance of sleek electronic textures and supple instrumentation, all while dancing through disarming thoughts of the impermanence of life and love and reflecting on the humanizing romanticism that is all but synonymous with Harry Styles.
“Aperture” served as a subtle introduction to the world of KISSCO, as fans are so lovingly abbreviating the album, marking Styles’ return completely on his own terms. A pulsing electro bass line anchors the track as it stretches confidently past the five-minute mark, luxuriating in its own atmosphere while Styles adamantly repeats the refrain, “We belong together,” effectively closing the doors forever on Harry’s House and entrancing us towards his existential, romantic disco. A composition masterclass, “American Girls” opens that world and cruises forward like a love-driven quest, propelled by a steadfastly intent bass/synth pattern and heady, glittering piano. Styles’ voice climbs into his upper register as he delivers popping declarations of devotion to “those American Girls,” his phrasing breezy yet deliberate, hesitant yet filled with hope.
Tapping into his bag of guitar tricks, clap tracks, and plunky piano, Styles disco-ifies the tumultuous addiction of the love that just won’t quit on “Ready, Steady, Go!” The track injects a jolt of funk into the project, its grooves elastic and flirtatious before the record’s disco glow begins to tilt slightly darker. That shift crystallizes on “Are You Listening Yet?” where Styles becomes the voice reverberating inside his own mind, interrogating the meaning of a life lived without romance. With lines like “God knows your life is on the brink and your therapist’s well-fed / The fix of all fixes, unintimate sex / You like the way she talks, but never what she says,” he drifts into self-awareness that can only be coped with by dancing through it.
The disco also seems to have coaxed nostalgia out of Harry Styles, who turns toward the comfort and confusion of loves past on “Taste Back.” The song lingers like a ghost kiss, glimmering with naivety through airy dance-pop production. There’s a bittersweet familiarity and inevitable humanity to the memory he sings about: “Talk in tongues, no common sense / Like two old friends / Where’d you find the confidence to call me baby?” But when it comes to love songs destined to stand the test of time, “Coming Up Roses” feels almost immediately canonical. A tear-inducing composition of stunning, angelic strings, the track waltzes gracefully across the classic side of Styles’ vocal range. There’s a simplicity to its emotional core that makes it all the more affecting, as he offers the gentle promise: “If we stay the course, we could get it right.”
The truest romanticism of KISSCO reveals itself in the blistering humanity of Styles’ artistic choices. On “The Waiting Game,” his soothing mid-range vocals glide over a synth-string combination that breaks hearts with quiet precision, particularly when he resolves, “You try and you always justify / Playing the waiting game / When it all adds up to nothing.” The lilting acoustics and backing chorus of “Paint By Numbers” give voice to the anxious fear that your legacy may exist only within the perception of others. And perhaps the most underratedly genius moment arrives with “Season 2 Weight Loss,” with soul-deep, atmospheric synth-rock sonically illustrating the evolution through eras of life and love that twist your sense of identity alone, force over-analysis of your every move, and only bring freedom once "you gotta sit yourself down sometimes."
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Harry Styles project without at least one shock-factor moment, and KISSCO’s is undoubtedly “Pop.” The funkiest, most psychedelic (and honestly downright freakiest) entry on the tracklist, the song traps Styles inside something like the growling rock equivalent of ABBA’s “Voulez-Vous.” It’s dizzyingly desirous and dazzlingly danceable all at once, a kaleidoscopic explosion that proves Styles is just as interested in chaos as he is in romance.
And much like falling in love itself, like the parts of life that quietly fill our souls, like a disco-flecked loss of control in pursuit of joy, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. settles into its final reflection: “Through your eyes, in awe / Melodies like the tide / It’s all waitin’ there for you." Pulsing with hope, "Carla's Song" is Harry's conclusion that whether it's music, adventure, love, nostalgia, heartbreak, or simply the quest to romanticize it all that you seek, life is only lived once, so you might as well kiss all the time. And of course, disco, occasionally.
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