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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nSteve Kornacki explains his unexpected Harry Styles collab<\/p>\n
Steve Kornacki shares how his unexpected Harry Styles project came together during the singer\u2019s NYC tour residency announcement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It was evident from the first strains of \u201cAperture<\/a>\u201d that Harry Styles\u2019<\/a> new album would not be the same as it was.<\/p>\n Where his Grammy-winning \u201cHarry\u2019s House\u201d danced with taut melodies, inescapable hooks and blasts of brass (we still love you, \u201cMusic for a Sushi Restaurant\u201d<\/a>), Styles\u2019 fourth solo album, \u201cKiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally<\/a>,\u201d is as quirky and brow-furrowing as its title.<\/p>\n That isn\u2019t a criticism, just the acknowledgement that Styles\u2019 first release in four years<\/a>, out March 6, takes a hard turn into electronic music meshed with Dark Wave \u201880s influences.<\/p>\n Breezy pop, this is not. But it is<\/em> a showcase for an artist unafraid to stretch and plunge into the deep end.<\/p>\n The thumping \u201cAperture\u201d<\/a> arrived as a slow-burn song that already sounded like a remix, yet its unconventionality didn\u2019t prevent it from racing to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in February (along with the Global 200, Streaming Songs and Digital Song Sales chart).<\/p>\n Styles, 32, crafted the album\u2019s dozen tracks with trusted producer Kid Harpoon<\/a>, the pair gleefully experimenting with roiling synths and taking cues from artists such as British DJ\/producer Jamie xx<\/a> (who will join Styles at his Madison Square Garden shows <\/a>this summer).<\/p>\n The titles to many songs \u2013 \u201cSeason 2 Weight Loss,\u201d \u201cReady, Steady, Go!\u201d and \u201cTaste Back\u201d among them \u2013 aren\u2019t better clarified after listening to lyrics that require an archeologist to expose. When Styles tosses out lines<\/a> like \u201cBut you call Leon\/you call it only in my head\u201d on the Eurotrash disco banger \u201cReady, Steady, Go!\u201d and leads the call and response coda \u201cGotta get your feet wet\/Respect!\/Respect your mother!\u201d on the funky \u201cDance No More,\u201d the message seems to be, don\u2019t worry about understanding it, just feel it.<\/p>\n That said, fans will likely scour the internet for clues about the subject of album closer \u201cCarla\u2019s Song,\u201d which is driven by bright synths and throbbing bass that escalates into rattlesnake shakes as Styles intones \u201cIt\u2019s all waiting there for you.\u201d Likewise the slow grooving, piano pulsing \u201cAmerican Girls,\u201d which finds Styles skipping through a singsong chorus of \u201cI\u2019ve known you for ages\/it\u2019s all that I\u2019ve heard\/my friends are in love with American Girls.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the album, Styles admirably dedicates himself to progressing, even if it doesn\u2019t mean gift wrapped radio fodder. But no doubt these EDM-imbued tracks will land with a wallop when performed live<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some of the standout tracks on \u201cKATTDO.\u201d<\/p>\n