Steve Kornacki talks about his unexpected collaboration with Harry Styles
Steve Kornacki opened up about how his unexpected Harry Styles project came together during the announcement of the singer’s New York tour residency.
It was clear from the first song, “Aperture,” that Harry Styles’ new album wasn’t going to be the same as his previous one.
While his Grammy-winning “Harry’s House” danced around with taut melodies, inescapable hooks and blasts of brass (“We Still Love You,” “Music for a Sushi Restaurant”), Styles’ fourth solo album, “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally,” is as quirky and eyebrow-raising as its title.
This isn’t a criticism, just an acknowledgment that Styles’ first release in four years, due out on March 6th, marks a major shift towards electronic music with 80s dark wave influences.
Refreshing pop, this is different. But it is teeth It’s a showcase of artists who aren’t afraid to stretch and plunge into the deep end.
The thumping “Aperture” already debuted as a slow song that sounded like a remix, but its unconventionality propelled it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (along with the Global 200, Streaming Songs, and Digital Song Sales charts) in February.
Styles, 32, produced more than a dozen of the album’s songs with his trusted producer Kid Harpoon, and the pair happily experiment with blasting synths and take cues from artists such as British DJ/producer Jamie XX (who will perform with Styles at this summer’s Madison Square Garden show).
Many song titles – “Season 2 Weight Loss”, “Ready, Steady, Go!” and “Taste Back” among them will never be clear after hearing the lyrics, which an archaeologist would need to debunk. Styles tosses lyrics like “But you call me Leon/You only call it that in my head” on the Eurotrash disco banger “Ready, Steady, Go!” This leads to the call-and-response coda, “You gotta get your feet wet/Respect!/Respect your mother!” The funky “Dance No More” seems to convey a message: don’t worry about understanding, just feel.
That said, fans will likely search the internet for clues regarding the subject matter of the album’s final song, “Carla’s Song.” The song is driven by bright synths and throbbing bass, escalating into a rattlesnake sway as Styles yells, “Everything’s waiting for you out there.” Similarly, “American Girls,” with its slow groove and piano pulse, finds Styles blasting the song’s chorus, “I’ve known you for years/All I’ve heard/My friends are in love with American Girls.”
Throughout the album, Styles is admirably committed to progress, even if it’s not gift-wrapped radio fodder. But when these EDM-infused tracks are played live, they’re sure to cause a stir.
We would like to introduce some of the representative songs of “KATTDO”.
“Are you listening yet?”
Styles speaks and sings using cascading keyboards on the album’s most verbose song, but it’s also his most musically exciting. The crackling chorus goes, “I’m out of options/Are you listening yet?” It will soon take off. But then the electric guitar swoops in, the song detours into a drum-heavy break, and somehow everything still sounds coherent.
“Taste Back”
It’s a very ’80s moment, with obvious influences from the industrial synth-pop of Depeche Mode and Soft Cell, as Styles sings over a sweet, soothing chorus. “Paris must be lonely if you say that…Has your sense of taste returned?/Or do you need a little love?” Styles considers the question in real time and decides, “All you need is a little love.”
“Coming Up Rose”
This string-laced ballad is one of Styles’ most light-hearted songs, and includes the magical lyric, “Just for tonight, let’s chase the hangover.” Enchanting strings give this song an old-fashioned, rich feel. But what’s so interesting about KATTO’s eighth song is that its softness comes out of left field, like “Yesterday,” which appears between “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” on The Beatles’ “Help!” album.
‘pop’
If anything resembles Styles’ past, well, pop, this is it. Except this time, he weaves repetitive techno into the mix. As the song unfolds, you can hear Styles unraveling, but there’s no denying the emphasis on the title’s chorus: “Am I crazy?/This can go anywhere/I did it and I’ll do it again/It’s meant to be pop.” “It’s great to mix two flavors together,” Styles sings, once again offering mysterious lyrics that only he might understand. And once again, we remind ourselves that it’s okay to feel as well as think.
