[Source: BBC]

After 1,336 days, the wait is over for Harry Styles fans – he has announced his return to music.

The pop star has been teasing fans since December with cryptic messages, mysterious websites and voice notes, all carrying the same message: “We belong together.”

He’s now confirmed a new album, the intriguingly titled Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.

Due for release on 6 March, it is the follow-up to 2022’s Harry’s House, which sold more than four million copies worldwide and won best album at both the Grammys and the Brit Awards.

The star announced his fourth album on social media by posting a picture of the cover, which shows him standing under a disco ball in an open field, while wearing a pair of swimming goggles.

A press release said the 12-track album has been executive produced by his long-term collaborator Kid Harpoon.

However, the star has yet to reveal any music from the project aside from a brief voice note sent to his fans on Wednesday.

Nonetheless, pre-orders for the album have already begun, with the usual array of vinyl and CD editions, and a box set containing a limited edition film camera.

Styles has been one of the UK’s most recognisable musicians since he was 16, when his mum convinced him to audition for The X Factor.

There, he was corralled into the boyband One Direction with fellow wannabes Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayn Malik.

They only came third in that year’s contest, but it didn’t matter.

With fresh-faced looks and equally fresh pop anthems, they became the biggest group on the planet.

As they pumped out hits such as What Makes You Beautiful, Story of My Life and Best Song Ever, the size (and volume) of their audience grew ever bigger, powered by an early version of the internet fandoms that have become so prevalent today.

Styles was by far the group’s most famous member – even before he seemingly inspired a bunch of break-up songs on Taylor Swift’s blockbuster pop album 1989 – creating high expectations for his eventual solo career.

He waited more than a year after One Direction went on hiatus before striking out on his own.

First impressions weren’t favourable. His debut single, Sign Of The Times, was a ponderous and needlessly long ballad that entered the charts at number one purely on the basis of Styles’ celebrity.

But it was his second album, Fine Line, that really established him as musical force – with catchy, sophisticated songs such as Adore You and Watermelon Sugar selling more than a million copies in the UK alone.

Harry’s House, released in 2022, cemented his reputation.

A dreamy conflation of 1970s soft rock and 80s new wave hooks, it was heralded by the smash hit As It Was, and was showered with awards.

Styles set off on a 22-month, 179-date world tour, dubbed Love On Tour, which drew attention for the supportive and accepting nature of the star’s audience.

It drew to a close in July 2023 at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, Italy – where the singer played to more than 100,000 people.

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