Though he may have started out as a young teenager auditioning on the hit music competition show “The X Factor” in 2010, Harry Styles has since become one of the most influential solo pop artists of the current generation. With his new single “Aperture” that came out Thursday evening and his highly anticipated album soon to follow, Styles’ outreach will only continue to grow.
Harry Styles’ rise to fame began during his teenage years when he was grouped with other young “The X Factor” contestants Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan to form the hit boy band One Direction. While the band was only active for around five years, they released five studio albums and over 15 singles. In fact, many of the band’s top hit songs including “Perfect,” “Night Changes,” and “Story of My Life” were reportedly co-written by Harry Styles.
After One Direction called it quits, Styles went on to begin his solo career releasing his self-titled album in 2017. The album debuted at number one in both the United States and United Kingdom and placed in the top ten best selling albums in 2017. Since then, Styles has released two more albums – “Fine Line” in 2019, and “Harry’s House” in 2022 (which earned him album of the year at the 2022 Grammy Awards).
Since 2022, fans have mourned Styles’ almost yearly release of music, and rumors about a fourth album have circulated the internet time and time again. Fans even came up with sayings like “HS4 at midnight” (meaning Harry Styles fourth album release at midnight). However, in late December of 2025, the speculative and playful online rumors gained real precedence when the official Harry Styles youtube channel uploaded a cryptic video of the final performance of Styles’ Love on Tour World Tour in 2023 with a caption boasting “We belong together”.
Around January 11th 2026, billboards including that same caption began popping up in major cities around the world such as New York City, London, São Paulo, Rome, Toronto, Amsterdam, and Sydney. Hingham High sophomore Amelia Byrne shared initial excitement and confusion to the billboard ads asserting that it was “fascinating to see the ads appear in new cities so frequently.”
Among the speculation and confusion, a website titled “webelongtogether.co” was launched which directed fans to sign up for direct texts from HSHQ (Harry Styles Headquarters). Despite the seeming validity of the messages, many fans were still apprehensive to sign up for direct messaging as neither Harry Styles nor his team had directly confirmed he was behind the initiative as the direct messaging program prompted entering sensitive information such as a user’s home address.
Finally, on January 16th 2026, after a four year hiatus, Styles announced that his brand new album “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” is set to release in early March. Soon after, he announced the release of his newest single “Aperture” which expertly combines a revival of the classic soft rock – dancey songs Styles has been known for for the last decade, with a new electronic, synth pop style not previously featured. Not only does the song feature a captivating house music-type beat, but it truly embodies a typical techno dance-pop vibe with repetitive language including the lyrics that have been plastered around the world “we belong together.”
The song has been incredibly well received by fans around the world facing little criticism other than the idea that Aperture is an apparent radical departure from the previous genre of music that allowed Styles to cultivate a prominent fan base in the first place and become one of the most recognizable male pop stars of his generation. Hingham High junior and Harry Styles fan Coco Berube shares the worldwide enthusiasm and anticipation for the March release stating that “I am really excited to hear Harry Styles’ newest album. I think it’s going to be really good.”
With Aperture, Styles once again reminds fans of his daring versatility that allows him to remain as one of pop music’s most influential and timeless voices. In fact, if Aperture is any indication of what’s to come, Harry Styles’ newest era promises to be as bold as ever, and even leaves an open door to new creative possibilities setting a preemptive energy for his album “Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally” to potentially become one of his most compelling ones yet.
