Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.

When Harry Styles’ massive Love On Tour wrapped in 2023 after nearly two years, the singer found himself suddenly existential. He’d released three wildly successful solo albums in five years, the latest of which (2022’s Harry’s House) had won Album of the Year at both the Grammys and the BRIT Awards. Still, on the cusp of turning 30, he felt the urge to reassess his relationship with his career. “It was just a time for me to look at the way that I’d done everything,” Styles tells Apple Music. “I think it’s a good thing to have moments, where you’ve done something for a long time, to kind of stop and check in with yourself: Do I do this because this is what I’ve been doing for a long time, or do I do this because I really love it?” Rather than speeding straight into a new record, the singer decamped to Italy, where he cooked lavish meals, lingered at coffee shops and took up long-distance running. Later he spent time in Berlin, where he ran his first marathon, often listening to his new demos as he trained. Those demos would evolve into the 12 tracks of Styles’ fourth solo album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally., inspired by his slower, more spontaneous way of living, which included concerts, new friends and lots of dancing. “What music do I have to make for me to be onstage feeling like I’m in the middle of the dance floor?” he asked himself, which explains the funky basslines and subtle four-on-the-floor beats. Laying down the tracks at Berlin’s Hansa Studios, Styles fell in love with making music all over again. “The key thing was, while I was away from it all, I missed it,” he says. “I missed it because I love it, and I still love it.” Below, Styles shares the stories behind some of Kiss All The Time’s key tracks. “Aperture” “‘Aperture’ felt like a perfect start to me, because it was about the moment of realising, like, no, I was in the wrong for something. You can move forward when you acknowledge the things that you don’t know, and therefore give your