Video: Kids Review American Girls by Harry Styles

"I honestly think that One Direction was better when they were together and they should not have broken up at all. The song of the week is: American Girls by Harry Styles! It's very inappropriate! I'd rather listen to Wheels on the Bus than listen to this. I think he seems kind of like lonely. I think Harry Styles's name is really weird because it's, like, is his style hairy? Does he like hairy stuff? And also Harry Styles, like, acts like Timothee Chalamet every song. No cap. No cap!"

"The most recent Harry Styles single is called American Girls from the album that's called Kiss All the Time. Disco Occasionally. It like takes me back to 2022. It kind of reminds me of Back to Being Friends. Yeah, it definitely does seem like Sombr. First of all, Harry definitely walked so that Sombr could run. Yeah. It's hard to hear the words. Yeah, it is hard to hear the words."

"The thing that I kind of struggle with with Harry Styles songs sometimes is how reluctant the singing feels. I feel like there is a musical presence, and then he's trying to hide behind it a little bit, almost as if to say, don't focus on me too much. The words were a little hard to understand. Didn't make sense. It was too vague. The message isn't really clear. I like the beat."

"A lot of the music on this album is dance or dance music adjacent. The way that he mixes the words with the beat, I think is really good. I like how it, like, kind of, like, starts out slow and then it gets, like, faster and faster. It just, like, makes me feel calm, not happy or sad. Just, like ... Just calm? Relaxed. All it has to have is like"

American Girls is evaluated through kids’ reactions, focusing on tone, lyrics, and sound. The song is criticized as inappropriate by one listener and disliked compared with a children’s song by another. Several listeners describe Harry Styles as sounding lonely and note that the lyrics are difficult to hear and understand. The message is considered vague and not clear. Others praise the beat and the way words are mixed with the rhythm. The track is said to start slow and build faster, creating a calm, relaxed feeling rather than happiness or sadness. The sound is also linked to earlier styles and dance music.

Read at www.nytimes.com