Harry Styles' 'Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally' Lyrics Explained

Harry Styles‘ album Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally is finally here, giving fans 11 tracks’ worth of new lyrics to pore over while bopping along to his first plunge into the world of electronic dance music. Featuring a dozen songs total — with lead single “Aperture” dropping in January and topping the Billboard Hot 100 — the pop star’s fourth studio album finds him in a contemplative state, searching for human connection and reflecting on the complexities of his existence. But while the sound of Styles’ new music is discernibly different from his past albums (2022’s Harry’s House, 2019’s Fine Line and 2017’s Harry Styles), Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally builds on the One Direction alum’s signature lyrical style, through which he’s become known for describing scenes and emotions that are both vivid and ambiguous, allowing listeners to interpret them in endless ways. That can make it more difficult, however, for people to know what Styles’ songs truly mean to him — but luckily, he opened up in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1 about his inspirations for nearly all of the songs on the new LP, shedding new light on his creative process. From feeling transformed by the nightlife in Rome and Berlin — where he spent extended periods of time while creating Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally — to honing in on the “mission statement” of the project, Styles told Lowe in the March 4 interview that the through-line was allowing himself to be his most honest version of himself yet. “The record for me is about how do I still have my experience while I’m playing it?” he said. “It was like, what music do I have to make for me to be on stage feeling like I’m in the middle of the dance floor?” Check out Styles’ explanations for many of the songs on Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally below. “Aperture” Styles told Lowe of “Aperture,” “Being able to just acknowledge when I’ve been at fault for things has freed also my writing in such a way … it’s why I think ‘Aperture’ felt like a perfect start [to the album]. ‘Aperture’ was so about the moment of realizing, like, ‘No, I was in the wrong for something, and you can move forward when you acknowledge the things you don’t know and therefore give yourself the space to let light come in.'” Key lyric: “It’s best you know what you don’t/ Aperture lets the light in/ We belong together/ It finally appears it’s only love.” “American Girls” “It’s actually quite a lonely song in a lot of ways,” Styles said of “American Girls.” “I watched my three closest friends get married, and actually seeing them trust in something and risk something to find something truly fulfilling in a way that isn’t as like shiny and on paper as exciting. “Watching them get married, I was like, ‘I’m single, so I’m having all the fun.’ And ‘American Girls’ is actually about watching them get married, and there just is a magic when you find the right person that you want to be with. I think watching them do that and seeing that it doesn’t come without any uncertainty, it doesn’t come without any risk.” Key lyric: “A face that knows her perfect lighting/ ‘Cause time will show that you should try it/ Those American girls you spend your life with.” “Are You Listening Yet?” “That was kind of at a time I was doing shows in New York,” Styles described “Are You Listening Yet?” “I was so in it and felt kind of thrashy,” he continued. “That song felt like a reaction to that. I like that the end refrain of, ‘Are you listening yet?’ over and over again — it’s like, by the time you are listening, it’s finished.” Key lyric: “Now you’re all out of choices, are you listening yet?/ Between your hеad and heart and somewherе else instead/ Oh, can you hear the voice, the one inside your head?/ Oh, are you listening yet?” “The Waiting Game” “That was the first song that I wrote once I’d kind of settled in Italy for a while, and I was right in that zone of reflection and what we’re talking about of the cycle of behaving the same way, writing songs about it, getting rewarded for that,” Styles explained of “The Waiting Game.” “I just liked being that honest with myself about what I was doing and what I was doing with music and what I was doing with my life and what I was doing with my relationships and what I was doing with cycles that I’d gone into.” Key lyric: “You found someone to put your arms around/ Playing the waiting game/ But it all adds up to nothing/ You try and you always justify/ Playing the waiting game/ When it all adds up to nothing.” “Season 2 Weight Loss” “It’s the mission statement of the record in a lot of ways,” Styles mused about “Season 2 Weight Loss.” “You know when there’s a Netflix show, and it blows up, and everyone comes back in the second season, everyone’s got a nutritionist, and everyone’s got a trainer, and everyone suddenly looks amazing. It’s like this idea of coming back as returning as, like, ‘This is the same character, but suddenly he has cheekbones.’ I felt like I was coming back as a stronger version of myself.” Key lyric: “You could’ve been here in my arms/ But we’re nothing at all/ You want a piece or nothing at all/ Do you love me now?” “Coming Up Roses” “It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done,” Styles said of “Coming Up Roses.” “The writing of it was really something that just happened, like that was one of those that felt like it just fell out. “I wrote it in December, and it started ’cause I was trying to write a Christmas song — that lasted two lines. It is a love song about how special something can be, and not everything has to last forever in order for it to be special. Some of the greatest relationships in your life that teach you something don’t last forever. “Anytime a relationship ends, it’s not like a wonderful thing, you know? But I think what comes from those relationships can be really wonderful.” Key lyric: “Now I see your tears on account of my wants/ And now it appears that I’m feeling guilty and worried, dear/ That you think that I might not want you here/ Does all of this seem to be bringing us closer/ Or am I backseating your life/ Judgin’ while you drive?” “Dance No More” Of “Dance No More,” Styles told Lowe, “I remember going out the first time in Berlin and standing in the middle of the dance floor and feeling so unbelievably free and safe, that I kind of just had my hands in the air and my eyes closed that I felt these tears streaming down my face. It was this moment of, like, ‘I feel so alive right now.'” Key lyric: “It’s feeling like the music has been heaven sent/ And that there’s no difference in between the tears and the sweat.” “Paint by Numbers” “I was just married to the idea of coming off the last record and coming back and the first thing I say being, ‘Oh, what a gift it is to be noticed, but it’s nothing to do with me,’” Styles remarked about “Paint by Numbers.” “I just loved that. Some of my favorite moments of artists I love is when I feel like I’m listening to them discover themselves.” Key lyric: “Oh, what a gift it is to be noticed/ But it’s nothin’ to do with me/ You’ve got to wonder if there’s a reason to believe/ It’s a lifetime of learnin’ to paint by numbers/ And watchin’ the colors run.” “Carla’s Song” “Carla kind of just became, in so many ways, the most important part of the record to me,” said Styles. “It’s a song that answered so many questions. All of that questioning of why and who do I want to be and what am I giving by doing this and making sure that I love this enough and being at a show and going, ‘Oh, this is why I do this.’ I think having a moment of reminding you of like, there was a time when you heard a song for the first time that made you want to like touch music in some way. “And Carla is a friend of mine in this group of friends … she’d kind of mentioned in the room that she’d just discovered Paul Simon. So she was kind of asking everyone like, ‘Oh, have you heard Paul Simon?’ I played her ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ and watching her listen to it, having never heard that song, felt like I was just watching someone see or something or discover magic. There was something in that moment that reminded me of like what by making music what you’re investing in, and it’s songs that go so beyond our lifetime.” Key lyric: “Through your eyes, in awe/ Melodies like the tide/ It’s all waitin’ there for you.” Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up Leave a Comment Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Name * Email * Website Post Comment Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about? Get in the know on Visit Billboard Pro for music business news