| ⭐⭐✨ |
Harry Styles is nothing if not curious. His artistic acumen to date speaks volumes about his desire to remove himself as much as possible from the boyband leader image. The now disbanded One Direction put him on the map, and was over almost as quickly as it started (as can be the case with boybands, especially in the modern era). To this point, Harry has mostly been dwelling on alternative pop tendencies, sometimes dipping his toes into what you could consider to be dance music. His biggest hits though have tended towards the saccharine: “Watermelon Sugar” being the buzzing, hi-fi rush that it was, and “As It Was” trending towards 80’s new wave aesthetics. It becomes increasingly obvious that each album is not necessarily going to be the same Styles (no pun intended) as was previously heard. I will say though, given that disco is the only genre explicitly implied in the title, that the lack of its presence here is somewhat disappointing. To be fair to Harry, he did follow that up with the qualifier *occasionally*. It’s clear he’s merely dabbling in dancier music, as for the most part across the album, Harry seems unfortunately allergic to the idea of fully committing to the grooves.
The best moments are punctuated by a tangible pulse; “Ready, Steady, Go!” for example. From its hints of some Two Door Cinema Club style bump, to its whole aesthetic being a rare moment that actually reflects disco at all (shout out to “Dance No More”), it’s nice to at least hear that the music is capable of picking things up. Elsewhere though, the cracks in this album’s veneer are noticeable. Whether we’re getting a glimpse into an alternate universe where LCD Soundsystem were really lame, like on “Season 2 Weight Loss”. Or we’re being subjected to an over-indulgent alternative dance/house cut like the lead single “Aperture”. It gives Tame Impala’s largely unsuccessful forays into this realm an unseasoned run for its money. Whatever Harry goes for on this project, it generally ends up being a pale imitation of the genres he’s aiming for. This is not an altogether new problem for his music either. His prior works have always been plagued by a case of lukewarm-itis. What ultimately ends up working is the stuff that simply sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the malaise.
It isn’t a total disaster, but it does leave me personally wondering whether Harry is actually trying anymore. If what keeps arriving is already practically dead in the water, do we even really need Harry Styles in the pop sphere to keep things moving? At what point do you become dead weight as an artist? The point of being a supposed boundary-pusher, a genre-defier, is that you care even just a fraction about moving the needle in a forward direction. The continual stagnation in both his ambitions and his execution leave too much to be desired for this to just be a blip. I hope like hell that Harry doesn’t think this is some hail Mary for his reputation. That would be the real tragedy. One of the biggest artists of the modern day, known for shifting his sound with each release, presenting stale copies of already history-rich genres, and fastening his eyes shut. Waiting eagerly for the consumer to lose their brain matter through their ear canals… It just isn’t that exciting, I’m sorry to say. Continuing the trend of clichés, all I can say is: you’ll get ‘em next time, buddy.
Dan Will Review 