Melissa Kacar

"Carla's Song" by Harry Styles Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally  is here and it is such an incredible return to one of the defining artists of our time. One undeniable career highlight for Harry is the album's final track, "Carla's Song" . It's hard to even put into words how special this song is. It feels like a celebration of the music that shapes us and the people who enter our lives and change the way we listen, share, and connect. There's something so moving about the way he captures that exchange; how you show someone the songs you love, and they show you theirs, and suddenly your world is bigger because of it. It also feels like a beautiful reflection of the relationship between artist and listener, and the way he understands what his music represents to so many people right now in the moment, and also the ways in which this art will outlive all of us. As a closing track, it's powerful, emotional, and unlike anything I've hear...

"Aperture" by Harry Styles He's baaaaack! The lead single off of Harry Styles ' long-awaited new album,  Kiss All The Time, Disco Occasionally ,  introduces a new sound and direction for him. It leans into a more electronic house sound than ever before, a clear vantage point for "Aperture" being Robyn's "Dancing On My Own" , with hints of LCD Soundsystem as well. It is a long and sprawling five minute confessional, almost feeling like a status update for where he's been for the past few years. He always writes from his own distinct perspective, shaping a narrative built around living in the moment, loving and embracing togetherness. There are so many ways for this song to be interpreted, it largely connects to "Lights Up" in the way it is a thesis statement for who he is as an artist and the encouraging environment he creates with his music, inviting the listener to just let the light in and spread love. The repeated phrase of ...

As the lead single off Harry’s House in 2022, "As It Was" completely set the tone for the rest of the project. On this track, Harry Styles perfectly soundtracks the feeling of opening yourself up to the next chapter and embracing the idea that nothing is the same as it was, and maybe that's a good thing. The inevitability of change, and the willingness to let go and allow yourself to move forward, sits at the heart of everything this song represents. He repeatedly sings, "in this world, it's just us, you know it's not the same as it was", which at its core sums up the meaning of Harry's House so perfectly. It's a song rooted in dealing with a transitional period of life, which everyone will interpret differently in their own lives, but the emotional truth of it remains universal. It's an incredibly powerful song because it fully owns the fact that change is always going to come and instead of wallowing in what could have been or the fear of...

Harry Styles embarked on the creation of  Fine Line   with a new state of mind, wanting to push himself a little further than he ever has before. It is deeply honest and reflective; he fully embraced his creative freedom and lets it fully shine through in the music. It's fun, fresh and modern, while also incorporating elements of the rockstars that came before him. In an interview with  NPR , he talked about the way his mindset changed going into the creation of his sophomore album, especially following the positive reception of his debut solo album released two and a half years prior.  He said, "I think I had a lot of fear — whether it was conscious or subconsciously — just about getting it wrong. When I listen back to the first album now, although I still love it so much, I feel like I was almost bowling with the bumpers up a little bit. I can hear places where I was playing it safe." With  Fine Line , he fully leaned into some of the weirder psychedelic in...