After four years hiding from the public eye and exploring Europe, Harry Styles’s new album leaves fans disappointed as he steps out of his comfort zone.
After a four year wait, some fans were left disappointed to hear what Harry Styles had been working on in the studio. In an attempt to reinvent himself, Styles has left behind the emotional pop-rock that is well loved, and has replaced it with synth lines, drums, and baselines that leave little room for any emotional depth to his songs.
Styles made the pilgrimage to Berlin when working on this album, like many other artists do when they are looking to reinvent themselves. This trip was originally inspired by David Bowie, the icon himself, who went to the frontline of the cold war in 1977 to record a lot of his music. There is obvious influence of Bowie's unique sound in this album, from the recurring synth lines, but Styles fails to create any depth to the songs he is pushing out, instead creating poor, empty, grasps at a new image for himself.
Occasionally he will illustrate a bit of self-reflection. In his song “Paint by Numbers,” he comments that “it's complicated”. Very profound, right? He then immediately turns back to being more preoccupied with the beat of the club, overlapping synth, drums and baselines and drowning out any other point of self reflection that there could have been. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as who doesn’t love a good song to dance to? But the songs get repetitive, blurring into one another, and they lack the originality that fans have come to expect from Mr. Styles.
There is a lack of drive to the album, which is unexpected considering the album's promotion and how long it took to produce. His first album, Harry Styles, was a step away from One Direction. He learnt to express himself individually with a mixture of rock with softer melancholic beats. This was also the case with his second album, Fine Line, which began to introduce Styles’ love for the pop genre. His third album, Harry’s House, leaned heavily into the pop side of things while still keeping that emotional intimacy that Styles writes into many of his songs, allowing the listener to feel connected to the artist. You can't expect to sell out 30 nights in New York City without having some kind of intimate relationship with your audience.
He talks about the club in his songs and finding emotional relief in the atmosphere of dancing and build up of emotions that are released, but he fails to portray this same feeling in his songs. Styles ends up leaving the listener feeling disappointed with the lack of substance. “Ready, Steady, Go!” and “Are You Listening Yet?” begin the album alongside his single “Aperture”, creating that shallow club atmosphere. Styles begins to lean into the more intimate atmosphere in the middle of the album with “Coming Up Roses” which offers a more melodic tune with softer piano sounds. The relief is short-lived, as what could have been a great song is drowned out by the club beats.
The album's popularity online after the initial release has also plummeted, with very little online presence on feeds like TikTok - especially compared to his other albums that seemed to dominate mainstream media upon their release. Overall, the album wasn’t what some fans hoped it would be. It lacks the level of expression through music that Styles always prided himself with. Instead, he seems more preoccupied with frat-boy flicking, and finding out what club to go to next.