We're living in a very different world now than we were when Harry Styles won Album of the Year for Harry's House at the 2023 Grammy Awards — and yet, don't you have an eerie sense of déja vu? The former boybander is back and no longer bald, ushering in a new era with an instructive new album: Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.

As evidenced by the artwork and the press photos accompanying the album campaign, Styles is doing what the pop machine demands by reinventing himself once more. Gone are the flowy blouses, baggy jeans and sequin-laden shoulder pad numbers; he's now dressing like a substitute teacher might in the peak era of indie sleaze. Don't be surprised if people are wearing T-shirts over blazers and skinny jeans to his tour.

This fixation on the aesthetics of the pop star's fourth solo album is the only fitting way to introduce some Exclaim! staffers' hot takes while listening to Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. — wherein Styles is dedicated in his pursuit to reheating James Murphy's nachos with no toppings. Below, find our Slack conversation with our reactions to the record's depiction of realizing you should be at the club.

That's What Makes You Dutiful

Karlie: I can probably speak for the majority of us when I say that I was introduced to Harry Styles because of One Direction. I was a late-to-the-party 1D fan — as in, I got into them the month they broke up (RIP). I would say Harry's solo career was the one I followed the closest after the split. It wasn't really because he was my favourite 1D member or anything, but because he seemed to be taking off the most, and it was impossible to escape him.

Megan: I had many friends who were, but I was never a One Direction person myself. I enjoyed some of their songs — and stand firm that "Stockholm Syndrome" is the best in their catalogue, I will hear no arguments otherwise — but couldn't really get into the Directioner sauce. However, I've been a casual fan of Styles's solo music. There have reliably been songs on each project he's put out that I've liked! I'm not sure if I could say any have stuck with me in life-changing ways, but he's got three pretty solid records to his name coming into Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Karlie: "Stockholm Syndrome" is peak. I've recently re-added "No Control" and "Fireproof" to my spring 2026 playlist again from that same album.

Megan: Oh yeah, those ones were fun! Looking back, I think I probably listened to cuts from Styles's self-titled the most in the years following that release, but "As It Was" from Harry's House was a decent single that I certainly didn't mind hearing every time I walked into a mall or something for a couple years there.

Karlie: I thought his self-titled solo album was good! His second album, Fine Line, was okay, but I feel bad for every retail worker who was subjected to "Watermelon Sugar" all the time. I was at karaoke last night and someone did a very moving cover of "Falling" — I hope they can get through whatever they're going through.

Megan: Speaking of decent singles, "Aperture" continues the "As It Was" legacy. While it's notably LCD Soundsystem-lite, I think it at least commits to that sound quite wholeheartedly. As for the rest of the album... I don't think I can say the same!

Karlie: I didn't really care for Harry's House, aside from the singles I didn't find it memorable at all. I remember listening through it once when it came out and deciding that that was enough. I thought "Aperture" was okay, but I honestly wished I was just listening to LCD Soundsystem instead. Which is how I felt while listening to the entire album today.

Megan: Yeah, "Aperture" isn't anything revelatory, but it signalled an organic evolution of his sound to be had on the record. Like, who can say they're surprised that Harry Styles followed-up the synth-heavy Harry's House by leaning deeper into electronica? The results, however, make it feel like that maybe wasn't the most fruitful path for him to take. 

Megan: Either that, or he just really has found his true passion in being marathon runner and music has fallen to the wayside. Our 30s can take a turn.

Karlie: Agreed. It just doesn't feel like his heart's really in it. 

Predictable All the Time. Enjoyable, Occasionally. 

Karlie: I can only think of a couple of tracks on Kiss All the Time that I thought were standouts on the first couple listens, and even then they felt very safe. I want him to surprise me!

Karlie: I liked the synth work on "Taste Back," and I thought "Carla's Song" was a decent closer. I felt like there was a bit more urgency on that last one.

Megan: In so many ways, I think he's become an utterly unsurprising artist. When you start out in the world's biggest boy band, going solo is an opportunity to kind of do whatever you want. His debut felt genuine, like it was a reflection of the type of guitar-forward rock music he was likely listening to at the time. When he rebranded for Fine Line, it all of a sudden kind of became about him wearing some ridiculous outfit or another? But there was still some fun Laurel Canyon-y stuff and funk touchstones on that record, I remember "Sunflower, Vol. 6" being a bit of a hyper-fixation song for me at one point. I think what I'm getting at is he kind of just got flattened into following the trends for Harry's House, and Kiss All the Time feels like more of the same (same but different).

Megan: "Aperture" kind of made me think it would be way more house, and could potentially aspire to giving me the feeling of listening to the Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers" on repeat, as per my indie sleaze wont. But it's so emotionally and dynamically flat! For example, I don't hate the simplistic bedrock of "American Girls," but it feels like such a mood-killer after the opener. The synth pads kind of pick up the second verse, but overall this is just a slightly bouncier version of chill lo-fi beats to study/relax to with listless vocals.

Karlie: I agree. Like, I know what Harry Styles's next record is going to sound like already. I think this is my biggest gripe with him personally is that he's one of the biggest pop stars in the world, he's touring nonstop and selling out these massive residencies, but I just find him boring! Both his artistic persona and his music are just very predictable to me, so I really don't understand the hype around him. His fans have an almost Taylor Swift-like mentality, and it just doesn't make sense in my brain — what's there to be so excited about? That 1D nostalgia is working overtime.

Megan: That's the thing that bothers me too, because this man should know that he can literally do whatever he wants and be fully embraced, no matter how out-there it was. There's a cult-like devotion to him and he seems to have no desire to take artistic risks despite that huge safety net.

Karlie: Yeah, unfortunately I feel like the feather boas have overstayed their welcome.

The Nights Are Changing Too Fast (or Not Fast Enough?)

Karlie: I would love to rearrange the tracklist for this album. The way the upbeat songs are kind of sprinkled throughout in a seemingly arbitrary way didn't work for me.

Megan: I totally agree about the sequencing! What the actual fuck, this feels like a playlist made by someone with no sense of flow or the most mid-tempo DJ set ever.

Megan: "Ready, Steady, Go!" should be the second track. I like the bass on that one, and it would carry the momentum worked up on "Aperture" over instead of just killing it immediately with "American Girls."

Karlie: Agreed! I liked the bass on that one. I will say, I do appreciate that this album wasn't super ballad-heavy, I found that really tiring on Harry's House and on a lot of recent pop records in general. However, that does make the lack of gusto on the "disco" tracks on Kiss All the Time even more disappointing to me.

Megan: "Season 2 Weight Loss" is so weird to me, because 1) what on earth is this title? And 2) it kind of feels like an interlude with how drifty and far away his voice is in the mix. I think there's actual potential here, but the chorus is so lacklustre until that little pseudo-beat drop.

Karlie: I kept waiting for something to happen on "Season 2 Weight Loss." I'm reading the lyrics to try and see what he means by that title and I'm not getting anything.

Megan: Not to sound like Exclaim! Editor-in-Chief Alex Hudson, but I feel like a few of these BPMs being bumped up might make a difference. [Editor's note: every song in the world should be sped up by 20 bpm. Not just on this album, but across the board.] Like the "Pop" chorus isn't bad — I like the guitar — but the verses just slump away into nowhere.

Megan: "Dance No More" sounds like it would be a Fine Line B-side, and that's maybe because he actually seems to be having fun on this one. It matches the weird outfits and the weird photos of him in the weird outfits.

Megan: Did you see the Twitter discourse about that one song people think is about Olivia Wilde? It was a whole thing a day or two ago; I think The Guardian's review referred to "Paint by Numbers" as being about their breakup.

Karlie: Interesting! I fear that song kind of blew over me during my first listen.

Megan: I'm not sure I interpret the lyrics the same way as that reviewer, because "Holdin' the weight of the American children whose hearts you break" could certainly be about the pressure he probably feels from his fan base. The line about him not even being 33 seems more likely.

Megan: Considering this "lore" feels very Swiftian so I apologize for that, but it also does reflect the remarkable similarity between their respective stans — many of whom I'm sure overlap. At least this isn't as bad as The Life of a Showgirl?

Karlie: The bar is in HELL!

Karlie: Compared to Showgirl, this just won a Pulitzer Prize.

Megan: I can't wait until somebody asks James Murphy what he thinks of it.

For Modern Pop Heartthrobs, Style > Substance

Karlie: It's interesting listening to this one after we did those Bruno Mars Hot Takes last week. We both have very similar takeaways from both albums and their artistry, and how we both find them to be unchallenging and predictable.

Megan: You're right and you should say it! I think the main difference is I feel like there is that spark of promise in Harry where he could do something unexpected. I don't feel that with Bruno, and his albums are less frustrating for it (and I like less songs on them)!

Karlie: That's a really good point re: the spark of promise. I literally just said earlier that I think I know what the next HS album will sound like, but I will still probably tune in when that happens in the hopes that it will be different.

Megan: The other thing that Harry and Bruno have in common is that, when they're able to lock in, they can churn out a hell of a pop hit! That's what brings us back, time and time again, even when we're not surprised. Because a good pop song doesn't have to be surprising, although one might convincingly argue that it's best when it is.

Karlie: I think what people really like about HS is that everything about him feels like an "event." Similarly Swift, there's incentive to dress up, to fit his branding, to spread the good word to poor unsuspecting people. I think that's pretty rare for a lot of modern pop stars who are men.

Karlie: Like, Benson Boone is a joke to most people, but Harry somehow still gets this response.

Megan: He's like a fun bisexual guy who isn't actually bi but will still kiki with you!

Megan: Right? There's always another world out there — existing within the same one that we inhabit, somehow — where some people actually do like Benson Boone.

Karlie: Sorry to any genuine Benson Booneheads reading this.

Megan: You matter.

We Can't Afford to Belong Together, Actually

Megan: I feel like we can't not talk about the outcry over the ticket prices, and the hypocrisy of the "Aperture" refrain literally being "We belong together" — there's one of those posters a couple of blocks from my place despite the fact that he's not coming to Toronto!

Karlie: Wasn't it announced that he was supposed to not use dynamic pricing for his tour this time? That must've been a nasty surprise for his fans trying to get seats.

Megan: Yeah, I'm still not sure what happened there. Ticketmaster said he had opted out of dynamic pricing, but it was still used! And the prices were so out of control — but it's all cool and fine because he's donating $1 per ticket to charity, guys.

Karlie: We need to de-normalize having to sell your kidney and both arms to get concert tickets, man.

Megan: The thing is, people will do it! Repeatedly! I think we should start boycotting.

Megan: I also think his angle of doing these residencies instead of a typical tour is interesting... and I'd think it'd be cheaper without having to have the stage sets be put up and taken down as much, or paying for shorter hotel stays, etc.

Karlie: He's always been a residency guy, which is interesting. He's been recently quoted saying that he thinks it makes for a better live show, since he doesn't have to travel.

Megan: I think it would be much easier on both the artist and the crew. But it's probably worse for the fans! A lot more instances of having to travel themselves, etc.

Karlie: Which is interesting, because he's fine charging his fans 10 billion US dollars to attend his shows. Sure, it's their choice to travel out, but it just doesn't seem sustainable.

Megan: It's not! The whole thing seems very artist-first, which I appreciate to an extent but like... the fans should come first at some point, right?

Karlie: Especially if his whole schtick is belonging together and treating people with kindness.

Disco Doesn't Happen to People Like Me Very Often

Megan: Okay, what would you rate Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. out of 10?

Karlie I think I'd give this album a 5/10. I didn't hate my time with it, but I think I'll totally forget about it by tomorrow.

Megan: It's interesting comparing this to the Bruno Mars album, because I didn't really like a single song on it but I think I had a more enjoyable, less-frustrating time with it than Kiss All the Time? Even though I like "Aperture" and elements of songs like "Ready, Steady, Go!" and "Pop"? Yeah, I'd probably have to go with a 5 too.

Megan: If the Olivia Wilde lyrical inspiration is true, it seems like he had a somewhat-belated awakening that he shouldn't have been trying to co-parent her kids in his 20s, he should've been at the club! Unfortunately, the club he's crafted here kind of sucks, and I can't afford the cover anyway.

Karlie: I think this album's biggest crime is how muddied and overall monotone it all is. I didn't feel the urge to kiss any time, or go discoing once.

Megan: I feel like it's a gross misuse of the term "disco," honestly.

Karlie: This is the most disco he can take before getting scared.

Megan: As an infamous strobe hater, I can kind of respect that! But also no, no I can't.

Karlie: Disco occasionally? More like disc-no, not at all.

Megan: I'm going to listen to "Dance Yrself Clean" now.

https://exclaim.ca/music/article/morrissey-make-is-was-a-lie-album-review 2026-03-06T18:41:30.080Z

We assumed this day would never come: after many years of warring with the press over his toxic political takes, complaining about record labels and scrapping an LP called Bonfire of Teenagers, once-great Smiths singer Morrissey has released a new solo album, Make-Up Is a Lie.

While it's almost impossible to separate the baggage of his public persona from his music, we Exclaim! staffers did our best to give the album a fair shake. It's decidedly a mixed bag, with some parts that confirm our worst fears, and others that allow his backing band to shine.

Our staffers exchanged some hot takes while listening to Make-Up Is a Lie this morning; below is our Slack conversation with our reactions, as we try to reconcile our love of The Queen Is Dead with the Morrissey of today, the stale conspiracy theories that taint the album's best instrumental, and the song that could almost pass for a Smiths track.

We'll Never Grow Out of the Smiths

Alex: Obviously we're all on the same page about current-day Morrissey, his politics, and his general public persona. But where are you at about his back catalogue and your ability to still listen to and enjoy the Smiths?

Sydney: My Slack profile pic is not an endorsement.

Allie: I love the Smiths, but I don't give them royalties. I would totally rip some Value Village vinyl if I ever came across it. The day the queen is dead (Moz), I will be streaming non-stop. The day the actual queen died, I did. 

Sydney: The Smiths got me at a young and impressionable age, and unfortunately, I think they might be the greatest indie rock band of all time, but mostly because of Johnny Marr.

Allie: Every young indie child's rite of passage.

Sydney: The Queen Is Dead is an all-timer, and probably responsible for me thinking I was different from all the other, less-indie anxious kids at my high school. Thank god I grew out of it, some people (read: modern Moz stans) never have!

Alex: The first time I ever listened to The Queen Is Dead, there was a big snowstorm, which was very unusual in Vancouver. So now I have a deep animal urge to listen to The Queen Is Dead every time it snows, and it cannot be resisted for my health. I also love their self-titled album and listen occasionally.

Sydney: I couldn't really care less about Moz's solo work, though. There are a few bangers (i.e. "Suedehead"), but they're few and far between.

Allie: Yeah no, I don't listen to his solo stuff at all.

Alex: I had a brief phase with Moz's solo work, but nothing that stuck with me.

Sydney: It's been really hard to separate a band that's so seminal to me from the obvious, but hating Morrissey is part of the fun? Especially since I never give him money lmao.

Alex: The irony is that, because his public persona has been toxic and the build-up to this album has been so fraught, I'm actually paying more attention to him than I have in ages. I had to gawk at the album, whereas I would likely have ignored it if it were just another solo album from some '80s guy who peaked 40 years ago.

Allie: I'll never grow out of liking The Queen Is Dead (or Meat Is Murder), unfortunately, but I've survived not listening to it post-Morrissey-crashout. Hating Morrissey is very fun.

Sydney: I still listen, I just listen to records (my partner has a whole bunch of OG pressings his uncle got in the '80s).

Wait... Is This Album Actually Not That Bad?

Alex: This review format we're doing here is called Hot Takes, so I'm gonna come in with my scorching hot take: this album is Not That Bad. I thought it would be way worse.

Sydney: I agree it's not that bad, but the worst part of this Morrissey album is Morrissey.

Allie: Okay, my hot take is that it is mostly neutral–bad. I ranked the songs, actually:

Good:
"Headache"
"The Monsters of Pig Alley"
"Notre-Dame"

Neutral:
"Lester Bangs"
"Many Icebergs Ago"
"You're Right It's Time"

Bad:
"Amazona"
"The Night Pop Dropped"
"Kerching Kerching"

Ugly:
"Make-Up Is a Lie"
"Boulevard"
"Zoom Zoom the Little Boy"

Sydney: The credits make it kind of cryptic as to whether or not he did any of the instrumental arrangements. He's listed as a vocalist and a songwriter, and all of the album's high points are in its instrumentation. Can Morrissey even play guitar?

Allie: I honestly don't know, but my guess is no. Or at least not well.

Alex: The very first lyric on the album is, "I wanna move away from those who stare at screens all day / I want to speak up and not be trapped by censorship." And holy shit, that's a terrible line. The most boomer-ass "phone is bad" cliché. It's everything I thought the album would be. But then I ended up thinking there were some highs.

Sydney: "Boulevard" is SO bad! Kieran was mocking his vocals on it before leaving for work.

Allie: Godawful.

Sydney: Also "Notre-Dame" being about some conspiracy that the burning in 2019 was arson is so insane. Very r/Conspiracy of him.

Allie: Why does it sorta bang though?

Sydney: It bangs because of the instrumentals!

Allie: It's got dance floor energy.

Alex: I agree, Sydney. The instrumentation on "Notre-Dame" is excellent, his vocal performance is terrible (what's going on with the glitchy processing?), and the lyrics are brutal. It has the best instrumental and worst lyrics on the album. Log off, dude.

Sydney: Same reason why "Make-Up Is a Lie" kind of sounds like boneless "Human Behaviour" by Björk in the verses.

Allie: I was hearing him rip a lot of Bowie on this album.

Sydney: It's funny how the instrumentals of "The Night Pop Dropped" are so '70s porno, but Morrissey is celibate. Speaks to my point that he perhaps didn't have much to do with the music itself. I'm only kind of joking.

Allie: I really liked the instrumentals on "Amazona" but HATED the vocals.

Alex: Why do a bad Roxy Music cover that just sounds like a stripped-down, boring, badly sung version of the very good original?

The Artwork Says It All

Allie: Has there been discourse on the album artwork?

Sydney: Not sure, but there's some smoothing filter that makes it look like AI even if it's not. Sort of like those early AI memes of Moz being mad because he found meat in his curry.

Allie: It's very uncanny valley. The cross in the background is the cherry on top.

Alex: It's in my "worst album covers of the year" folder that I keep in anticipation of our year-end list. To me, it just looks like an unlit iPhone photo (which automatically has various AI processing on it, because phones are bad, as Moz likes to remind us). Boomers love to post photos like that on Facebook.

Allie: Totally. It's like that one Eric Clapton cover.

Sydney: Morrissey /would/ be the uncle who rants about immigrants on Facebook, so it tracks.

Alex: For me, I came into this album with a lot of preconceptions about how it was going to be terrible and full of toxic rants about ThE MeDiA and censorship. And the first few songs seemed to confirm that. But then it really took a turn for me in the second half. "The Night Pop Dropped" is fun, "Kerching Kerching" has some good lines that made me laugh, and "The Monsters of Pig Alley" sounds like a pretty classic Moz song. It could almost be a Smiths song if the lead guitar playing were a bit better.

Allie: Agree "Pig Alley" sounded like the Smiths, which is why I ranked it so high lol.

Sydney: "Pig Alley" totally sounds like a Smiths song.

Sydney: Marr must be mad that Moz is reheating his nachos.

Alex: Morrissey would NEVER eat nachos.

Sydney: Hey, vegan cheese has come a long way. It would probably upset his tummy. I bet he survives on mushy peas.

Allie: He would like an onion-forward plate, though. Cuz crying, or something.

Alex: lol

Allie: Speaking of veganism — "Zoom Zoom the Little Boy"? Why did it give me Wiggles?

Sydney: If it weren't for the vocals, I wouldn't mind it.

Alex: I see you hated that one, but I didn't mind it. I thought listing the animals was kinda cute, and then following it with lines about how humanity is awful was funny. Coming right before "Pop Dropped," that was where the album started to turn around for me.

Allie: I was clappin' along like a toddler, but it's quite literally a nursery song. Not quite catchy though. That's kind of my whole issue with this album. Not enough hooks or melodies. Kinda boneless.

Alex: There's a joke with Morrissey where he always just sings the third. It's very, very true. The hooks always came from Johnny Marr. Morrissey croons one note.

Allie: So real.

Sydney: omg

Allie: You guys wanna start a Smiths cover band?

Sydney: Which one of us is gonna have to get good at guitar?

Allie: Burn, Alex. You gonna take that?

Alex: lol

Sydney: Hey, I suck at guitar! It was a self-burn. We're already annoying, so we have that going for us.

Allie: And I'm good at singing one note and complaining!

Alex: Dibs not being the one supporting terrible political parties.

Sydney: Our band name is the Woke Smiths.

Alex: I'm not kidding, that's a good idea.

Allie: Meet you at the cemetery gates, then.

Are We Reviewing the Album or the Person?

Alex: The album is obviously getting pretty bad reviews. Paste's headline is "Morrissey's Make-Up Is a Lie is worse than expected." I would never try to convince anyone to like Morrissey or to listen to Morrissey, for obvious reasons, but... REALLY? I simply cannot understand this album being worse than expected, when we all expected it to be awful, and it actually has redeeming moments. It seems like people aren't really reviewing the album, but are reviewing Morrissey the person. (Which, again, I get it.)

Allie: I would counter that it's exactly as bad as I expected. Which is not that bad, but also not worthwhile. I will not listen again.

Sydney: Yeah, same. Maybe I like the instrumentals slightly more than expected, but it's hard to like it when the main character of it is what weighs it down. I certainly won't be listening again. It definitely could've been worse, I guess, but we are comparing it to a lot of bad solo output from Morrissey.

Alex: No, it's not going into rotation. I didn't add any songs to my 2026 playlist. But it's absolutely not worse than expected.

Sydney: I'd give it 4/10 probably. Maybe 5 if someone else sang.

Allie: I really went into this trying to imagine a world in which Moz wasn't Forbidden, but even still. The lyrics and singing are grating; the instrumentals are cool sometimes but not consistently, and they feel pretty outdated if I'm being honest, though it's obvious his backing band are a talented bunch. It's a 4/10 for me too.

Alex: Not to be ageist, but I kind of expect solo albums from once-great '80s rockers to be bad, especially when they've fallen so much in the public eye. It's uneven, sometimes clumsy, and has flashes of why we used to like them — just a typical late-career album that's gonna please the old-time fans and be ignored by everyone else. I give it 6/10 because the highs were a pleasant surprise.

Sydney: It really is an aging new wave artist vibe.

Allie: Not everyone can be Bowie.

Alex: But also, it kinda is Bowie before his last couple of albums! I'm not sitting here listening to Reality or some other late-career Bowie album.

Allie: Yeah totally, and I think that's not accidental.

Sydney: All this talk of old people has reminded me to take my fibre supplement.

Alex: That's important.

Allie: Everyone double your fibre intake now!

Alex: Any other words before we sign off? Fuck this guy, but I'm begrudgingly acknowledging this as exceeding my expectations.

Sydney: The More-I-see him, the more-I-hate him.

Allie: Do you guys think Morrissey will ever retire? Or are we gonna meet back here next year?

Alex: If he didn't retire in the lead-up to this, he never will.

Sydney: He would say he's retiring on Morrissey Central, and then just not.

Allie: I will non-begrudgingly acknowledge that this album was not worse than I expected, despite that bar being very low. I kinda wish he'd put out another 1/10. It's more fun.

Sydney: This would've been a funnier read in that case.

Allie: Burn. You gonna take that Alex?

Sydney: He's gonna drink about it at 5 for $5 happy hour at Jack Astor's.

Alex: See you there. Let's Jack It Up.

Sydney: Morrissey is the ultimate jack-off.

]]> Allie Gregory @exclaim.ca https://exclaim.ca/contact Alex Hudson @exclaim.ca https://exclaim.ca/contact Sydney Brasil @exclaim.ca https://exclaim.ca/contact