For his first album in four years, Harry Styles has been locking lips and busting moves, celebrating his return to performing and recording after a rare break by embracing communal experience, particularly on the dancefloor. Debuting on Friday (Mar. 6), Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. marks the follow-up to Styles’ Grammy-winning 2022 blockbuster Harry’s House and serves as something of a pivot, taking him further into club and indie-dance territory than ever before, as the former boy-band breakout takes stock of his life and what’s important to him as he gets deeper into his 30s.
With this Rollout Report Card episode, host Andrew Unterberger is joined by Billboard staffers Danielle Pascual and Hannah Dailey as we look at everything surrounding Kiss All the Time — both in the four years that separated it and Harry’s House, and now the two months since its actual announcement. We attempt to grade all aspects of the rollout, the narrative that Harry established for his new era, and whether or not the album and its singles actually lived up to their billing.
Along the way, we answer all the most important questions about the last month or two of Harry’s return: Should we abbreviate Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. to KATTDO or Kissco? How do we feel the album art and title match the actual album? Did we find the BRITs performance of “Aperture” fun or cringey? Is it enough already with “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”? What’s the deal with that photo of him with the giant spoon? Is this all the prelude for Styles’ upcoming tour-not-quite-tour? And perhaps most importantly: Do we really understand what any of these songs are actually about just from the lyrics?
Check it out above — along with a YouTube playlist of some of the most important moments from this full-steam-ahead album campaign, all of which are discussed in the podcast — and subscribe to the Greatest Pop Stars podcast on Apple Music or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts) for weekly discussions every Thursday about all things related to pop stardom!
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