Harry Styles Lets the World Back in With His New Single “Aperture”
The year is 2021. You have finally gotten used to wearing a mask, and the world is starting to trickle back towards normalcy. Harry Styles announces “Love on Tour,” and you, the Ticketmaster bots and the whole world are fighting for a chance to feel the joy of live music again. It has been almost five years since the beginning of “Love On Tour,” and, more shockingly, about two and a half years since the end of “Love On Tour.” After his last show in 2023, Styles had taken a step back from music to take a well-deserved break, but now in 2026, his new track “Aperture” tells the world that Harry Styles is back and ready to sing for us once more.
After weeks of online teasers, Styles announced that his new single, “Aperture,” was set to be released on January 23. The song starts with a light Jersey-Club-inspired beat before Styles enters with the soft, smooth vocals that we have been so patiently waiting for. While the vocals in this track may not be as much of an exposition as those in songs like “Sign Of The Times” or “Fine Line,” they serve as a mellow guide through the dance-pop-esque instrumentals, allowing the dynamics of the backing track to be the listener’s primary conjuror of sensation and feelings.
The musical progression of this song evokes in me the same desire to dance and sing that “Ribs” by Lorde brings up in me. Both songs utilize a fun and light dance beat joined with repetitive and relatable lyrics. The soft fades in and out of verses and choruses that occur in both tracks guide the listener’s feelings and actions throughout the entire experience; the makeup of the songs lets you know when to jump around and dance while also opening your mind up to reflection. Styles provides his listeners with a simple yet efficacious hook. He repeats, “We belong together / It finally appears it’s only love.”
In my opinion, a song with this type of verbiage is the perfect comeback track; Styles uses a basic phrase as a way to evoke some sort of personal perception of closeness in each and every fan who listens to it. People strive for a sense of belonging, and, for most, music has such a major role in placing that sense of belonging; he uses this track as some sort of Bat Signal, beckoning his fans back into his world to help them find where it is that they belong.
“Aperture” is serving as the lead single off Styles’ upcoming album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.,which is set to release on March 6. The single was accompanied by a tour announcement that has kicked off yet another round of the never-ending battle of Ticketmaster versus the rest of the world. If “Aperture” is just a taste of what is next for Harry Styles, I am hopeful that the album to follow will be nothing short of marvelous.