By Christina Murphy
After the much anticipated Harry Styles fourth studio album, ticket prices spark outrage amongst fans in the midst of his new release.
Four years after the release of Harry Styles’ album Harry’s House, the pop star is finally back in the studio and pumping out a whole new album which released yesterday. The album titled, Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally, includes 12 tracks, one of which is his latest single, “Aperture”.
The new song differs from the musicians usual style of soft-rock and pop, instead straying more towards a techno vibe, containing a mix of electronic-pop and indie-pop. However, this did not mean that the song was unsuccessful. It reached 13.2 million streams within its first twenty four hours being released on Spotify.
The song brought Styles back up to first place on the Official Streaming Roster, the U.K. ‘s list of most successful songs on streaming platforms such as Spotify. This is the second time in his career that Mr. Styles has held this place, although it might be the last.
The song has been described by fans as a “frat boy” song, speculating that it may become the popular soundtrack of many house parties in the future, the mild techno influence would certainly make it fitting, but nothing more.
Many fans are disappointed that Styles is departing from his usual sound of pop and rock music, claiming that the new song doesn’t fit his “vibe” or “aesthetic”, and speculating that it won’t stay in the charts for long. The internet has been tense, waiting for the drop of the other 11 tracks to see if they will hold up to the reputation Styles has curated for himself, or not.
After the album’s release yesterday, fans have come out with mixed reactions.
The title “Aperture” references an opening or gap, usually a space through which light passes in a camera. The rhythm and backing track of the song follow in suite to the title, creating an upbeat and optimistic sensation when listening, alluding to Styles’ popular songs such as “Watermelon Sugar” and “Keep Driving”, which have a similar positive sound to them. The song “Watermelon Sugar” also faced a lot of backlash upon its release, so all may not be lost for the disappointed fans, as minds can change very quickly when it comes to popular music.
However, as well as being angry about the single, fans worldwide are even more frustrated about Styles’s upcoming tour, Together Together. The so-called “World Tour” is only covering the major cities Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, São Paulo, Melbourne, Sydney, and to top it all off, an entire month of shows in New York City. To say that his international fans are a little upset would be an understatement.
The lack of countries that Styles will be travelling to doesn’t even begin to rival the outrage over the cost of tickets for the tour. Starting at approximately £44 for U.K. dates and $55 for the US, tickets quickly climbed to over £700 and $1000, for each country respectively.
These figures are not taking into account resell prices, which some fans have reported seeing tickets being sold for nearly $3000 in some cases. Fans are unimpressed with these prices, shaming the musician on social media and demanding he lower the cost.
Harry Styles’s Together, Together tour has certainly succeeded in bringing fans together in annoyance over the price of tickets and lack of tour dates, but no reduction in prices have been made so far.
Come back to Oxygen.ie next week for a full review of Kiss All The Time. Disco Occasionally.