Harry Styles' records are a lot like Harry Styles, the pop star: charming, clever, a little bit mysterious and deeper than they appear at first blush.

Never has this been more apparent than on Harry's House. The pop album to beat in 2022 -- after Taylor Swift's Midnights, of course -- Styles's third solo outing is far better than it needs to be. Taking musical cues from New Wave and Japanese city pop, it's a much more layered and playful listen than your average chart fodder, while Harry himself demonstrates here that he's growing into a remarkably literate and nuanced lyricist as he strides further and further away from his boy-band origins and crests his 30s. The guest list, too, signals a parting of ways with pure pop, to some extent; there are no A-list MCs dropping cameo verses here and there, but you do find John Mayer and Ben Harper contributing guitar to a couple of tracks and jazz bassist sans pareil Pino Palladino holding down the low end on "Little Freak" and "Daydreaming." Classy record, this one. And while no one gives a rat's ass about the Grammy Awards, Harry's House was a refreshingly non-hateful choice for Album of the Year at the 2023 ceremony.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Music for a Sushi Restaurant
2. Late Night Talking
3. Grapejuice
4. As It Was
5. Daylight
6. Little Freak
7. Matilda
8. Cinema
9. Day Dreaming
10. Keep Driving
11. Satellite
12. Boyfriends
13. Love of My Life