After an almost four year hiatus from releasing music, Harry Styles released his new song titled Aperture on January 22, 2026. Aperture is the lead single for Styles’s fourth album of his solo career, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, which is set to release March 6, 2026. The song debuted with 12.478 million streams on Spotify globally. Additionally, it charted at the #1 spot on the US Spotify chart for three consecutive days after its debut. The single has taken listeners by storm, gaining a large amount of support. Aperture features a mixture of pop, house, and techno music styles. 

An aperture is defined as an opening that admits light within a camera. Styles utilizes the word as a metaphor for finding love, opportunity, and positivity. He references this symbolism in the lyrics, “Aperture lets the light in” followed by the chorus lyrics, “We belong together.” During the bridge of the song, Styles repeats the words “I won’t stray from it” and “Time won’t wait on me.” The inclusion of these lines provides a deeper meaning to the single. In an interview from Capital Breakfast, Styles spoke about the theme of the song, and of his album in general. Speaking on the long and unexpected break from music, Styles said,“I’d had a couple years away from work stuff and a lot of big realizations about generally opening up more to the world and allowing some more positive things to come into my life.” 

Following the release of the single, Styles also released an accompanying video, which has reached over 12 million views on Youtube in less than three weeks. This video took on an eclectic tone similar to the song. The video begins with Styles alone in a hotel room, with warm tones washing across the screen. However, the visuals quickly shift to be more cool and almost corporate in a sense, as Styles enters what looks like an office building. There, he sees a man in a dark wig, the stranger (Danny Dolan), who resembles John Lenonn in styling. Quickly, the two meet each other’s eyes, and begin a strange encounter that lasts throughout almost the entirety of the video. First, they fight pretty aggressively, throwing each other down a staircase. After that, they seem to reevaluate their relationship, and they start an elaborate choreography sequence that takes them throughout the whole building. After a couple lifts and throws of each other,  they then start to aggressively backflip and perform other acrobatic tricks back until they are at the escalator Styles started the events of the music video at. Both Styles and the stranger resume the positions they did at the beginning, this time completely ignoring each other. Styles then retreats back to his hotel, following the same routine he did at the beginning of the video and with the same warm tones returning as well. 

Although the video has a more imaginative and chaotic feel, Styles conveys an effective metaphor for waiting on a lover despite all of the hurdles they might face. The cycle element of the video also emphasizes the emotional aspect of the song, as Styles’ character made no real progress throughout the day, and just ended up in the same place he began. Overall, the video is thought provoking, well thought out, but still dynamic due to the dance and gymnastics elements. 

In 2010, Styles first appeared in the boy band, One Direction; a renowned group featuring stars such as Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne in addition to Harry Styles. The band swiftly grew to be one of the most popular bands of that era, especially amongst younger listeners. One Direction’s music primarily consisted of pop and pop-rock styles. However, the band broke up in August of 2015, later marking the beginning of Styles’s solo career. His first album, Harry Styles, was released in spring of 2017, featuring music styles such as pop and soft rock. His debut single, Sign of the Times gained praise from fans across the world. Styles went on to release Fine Line in 2019, which continued to include pop-rock style music. Styles’s most recent album was Harry’s House, released in May of 2022. Overall, Styles has maintained his dominance over the pop genre throughout his career. However, in Aperture and in Styles’s upcoming album, Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally, we will likely see Styles exploring techno and electronic influences. 

All in all, Aperture is worth a listen. The song was well-curated, and included a deep meaning which could be applied to listeners across the world. Even if you’re not a huge fan of Styles, this single on its own is not super reminiscent of his previous pop music, instead opting for a much more reflective tone.