Who do you become when you lose control?
For Harry Styles, he confesses he’s prone to falling in “love” and quickly losing control of himself–especially when under the influence. The opening lines of “Aperture” indicate Styles is well aware as he sings, “Drinks go straight to my knees/I’m sold. I’m going on clean.”
Where past Styles tracks stay comfortable in the lane of forlorn love songs, “Aperture” shifts to a different focus by trimming down the lyrics. This time he fills the space with pulsating synth and an open invitation to dance.
As the first single from his new album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, “Aperture” makes good on the latter promise. Disco abounds. And with it, the promise of exploring a different side of his signature romanticism.
The song’s name refers to the amount of light refracted through an opening or hole to allow an object to be clearly seen, usually featured in cameras or optical instruments. Don’t worry, Styles isn’t digging up nightmares of high school physics experiments or dusting off old film cameras.
Instead, “Aperture” hums with the regrets and hopes of an extremely famous and reflective rockstar who’s letting a little more light in.
Most of the song is simply the repeated phrase: “We belong together/It finally appears it’s only love.”
Styles sets the chanting rhythm against lyrics like, “Time won’t wait for me/I want to know what safe is.” This combination possibly shows a change in an artist whose previous work focuses on profane fruit metaphors and explicit content.
Forever cryptic, Styles never states who he claims to belong with. Is it him and a long-lost lover? Is it him and his fervent audience? Is it him and his harshest critics?
Even though Styles never answers definitively, it does seem he’s widening the lens on his life in hope of new personal discovery.
Styles’ reliance on, and use of, intoxicating substances is hardly a new trend. And he often admits how easily his grasp on reality slips when falling in and out of love. On “Aperture” he mentions drinking as well as being in “no good state to receive.”
Styles also shares a potentially troubling approach to life as he sings, “Go forth, ask questions later” in the context of parading through dance halls and navigating trap doors.
The track’s music video provides an oddly haunting take on his fame and the obsession of fandom. What begins as a hotel stalker situation morphs into a dance between Styles and his stalker throughout the lobby and stairs. Beyond being off-putting and borderline psychedelic, the music video features several brawls between Styles and his stalker.
“Aperture” arrives vaguely, perhaps intentionally so.
As his universal fame grows, Styles seems compelled to keep his mission of pleasure-seeking going. Styles has always seemed hungry for something or someone that will satisfy his cravings for attention, love, and value.
He’s getting older, and his desires are only deepening in their intensity. As he murmurs, “Time won’t wait on me” he desperately wants “to know what safe is.”
Styles’ reflection can be admirable. But it’s still lacking substance, so any potential growth remains hollow in a life stuck in party mode.
Jackson Greer is a High School English Teacher in the suburbs of Texas. He lives in Coppell, Texas with his wife, Clara. They love debating whether or not to get another cat and reading poetry together. Also, he is a former employee of Focus on the Family’s Parenting Department.
