Confused Adults All The Time. Harry Styles, Occasionally.

Written by Natasha Santana

There is much to unpack.

Hearts were racing. The lights of the disco on the ceiling bounced off everyone’s sweat. Hands were being held. Drinks were spilled on the floor. Bodies were moved in sporadic directions, best described as dancing.

It all led to one thing. The countdown towards Harry Styles' new album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally, was a party. After four years, Harry Styles started a party all over the world.

On a smaller scale, in the middle of Wicked Willie’s in New York City, there was a collective effervescence of pure-bred excitement. It felt like New Year's. Instead of a fresh start, the fans finally got HS4 at midnight.

With Styles' first release of the album, Aperture, you can already tell that something will be different. Unlike his last two albums, we are reintroduced to an indie sound that we quite frankly haven’t heard from the global sensation since HS1. The reason why Aperture was the perfect single for the rest of the album is because it is clear what intention Harry had in making it THE single. He is allowing this new found light to capture the synth-funk infused essence that is accepting the unknown and running with the uncertainty. Much of that can be true in Aperture: “It’s best you know what you don’t, Aperture lets the light in.” Like the ode to camera terminology, life is all about what you capture and accept.

In past albums, Styles gave us hits like Watermelon Sugar, Golden, and Treat People with Kindness. His sounds were driving by the west coast beach with the perfect weather. They were the warm feelings you suppress when you hug a lover. These past two albums were the quirky parts of divulging oneself to the sweetest memory. To taste your lover, to love everyone, to love everything seductively passionate.

Now, with KATTDO, Harry is pushing everyone into a present filled with the nastiest synths and funk that nobody was expecting. In ‘Ready, Steady, Go’, the bass at the beginning made everyone in this little club in NOHO raise their hands and drop their bodies. This song is incredibly special for Styles' discography because it was meant to be heard in the club. It was meant to be heard with other people around you. The tech sounds that support the bass with his airy voice; god, you just want to scream at how fun it is. And, scream we did.

Words can not suffice for the reaction that ‘Are You Listening Yet’ received. The instant drums, as Pete Davidson's friends told him, “Sh*t was catchy, it's catchy.”  In true EDM fashion, at around 2 minutes and 16 seconds, we get that build-up with the chorus that ascends you. Pop your sunglasses on and get a drink because you will be needing it for this absolute banger. We also can not ignore the beginning lyrics about keeping your therapist well-fed. The urge that Styles tells you to scream back when you are out of choices - it creates such an ambiance of indie rage that makes you feel like you can actually run a marathon to get away from your problems. ‘Ready, Steady, Go” is a banger but 'Are You Listening yet?’ is a rager for the folks that need to just dance it all away.

Of course, on this new release, we simply can not ignore the Tumblr-esque intro that belongs to Taste Back. While listening to this in a club, or ‘clurb’ if you are as chronically online as I am, it reminded me of The Neighborhood's heydays. It had this angst of yearning that perfectly encapsulates 2014 angst. If someone told me this was The Neighborhood or early One Direction, I would kind of believe it. Specifically in the chorus.

“You found someone to put your arms around, playing the waiting game.”

Hold on. Give me a MASSIVE moment.

Either Harry was on an adrenaline come down or something because this song is what it feels like when the party is over. ‘The Waiting Game’ is truly a masterpiece for those not ready to go home. Not ready to accept the reality of things between a loved one and them. It tugs on the most inner parts of our jealousies, sort of. To watch someone do what you can’t do when you are a realist. To wait, to hope, and watch the DJ pack up their things and see the party get empty. To have this song after ‘Taste Back’ is an emotional whiplash from wishing to taunting. This song is just the epitome of being defeated and angry.

Not to be that person, but I screamed at my friends that ‘Season 2 Weight Loss’ is going to have the most vaporwave synth that the 80s were composed of. Boy, was I right. Immediately, you are gauged by the title, but the synth that reminds you of a time when the majority of us did not live in. The 80s with a sparkle of indie. It felt like a song by Passion Pit or DJO. This call back to such a nostalgic sound makes the lyrics of wanting to be loved so badly pungent. Then we have Styles' voice distorted with a breakdown of drums that you can’t help but cry in the club.

‘Coming Up Roses.’

That darn song….

Everyone in the club legitimately sat down the moment that the violins were heard. Wicked Willie’s has two stripper poles on an elevated surface, and when this song came on, people slid down to contemplate. This piece of work is up there with ‘Fine Line.’ It sounds as if Harry Styles plucked this from HS1. Thankfully, he waited because that would have been way too much for the teenage versions of us.

How bittersweet it is to want something so much but know deep down that it can’t last forever. So for the moment, for that beautiful moment, everything is roses. How sweet to be able to regret something so good you wanted it to be forever. That’s how this song felt, and the violin orchestra at the end is how it feels to reminisce on those memories. A paper can be written on the illicit emotion everyone felt at the end of ‘Coming Up Roses.’ Just like the ending of La La Land, it all felt so gorgeously bittersweet.

Once again, it is a whiplash. To go from life choices to feeling like crashing out mid make-out with ‘Pop’ is frankly, diabolical. Yet, this entire album has been a range of what it feels like to get hit with epiphanies. ‘Pop’ still had that electronic base that would send the main character in a coming-of-age movie into a dance on a crosswalk. It is the perfect amount of dance and seductive. It feels like the ending and beginning of a great night with huge speakers against your ears.

The crowd's favorite, ‘Dance No More,’ has to win something. It touches back to the groove that Styles always had. This is just more elevated now. This specific song is so Brooklyn-coded. As a native to the city, its a song you can hear at a hole in the wall. See people dancing through the fogged-up windows of this club. It makes you genuinely want to shake what your mama gave ya. It is the strongest song on this album in terms of production. I do wish it had a louder essence that “Kiwi” had. It deserves all the hype it will get. This is THE dance song of the spring. To be funky, to get dressed up (or not), to be a hot mess on the dance floor. That is who ‘Dance No More’ is.

The ending tracks of the album will send every Directioner (like myself) to their wits' end. After the year OG directioners had, ‘Paint By Numbers’ is a mutilation of how it has felt for the last two years. Harry has come to terms with something incredibly daunting, and you can lyrically see it. A lot of this song had what ‘Once in A Lifetime’ had. If you know what I could be egging on, then you know how deeply sorrowful this song may feel. To paint by numbers, watch it run, and have it all feel like a lifetime. Harry’s use of self compassion in this song can be felt as a journey of self-healing that has taken so long to come to fruition. Along with this song, Carla's song is placed as the last chapter of this journey.

We all have grown up with Harry in a way. We were all different versions of ourselves. This album feels like it was made for those who have been in the waiting game for a while. To end the album so hopefully after the turmoil we have all had to go through, like growing up, starting families, healing, and enjoying life through dance, this album deserves its roses. Truly, it has been meaningful to write about this masterpiece.