Harry Styles flexes his dance credentials in the new "Coming Up Roses" music video, a waltz-heavy visual that marks another collaborative moment between the former One Direction member and the directing powerhouse Bradley & Pablo.
The clip arrives as the latest promotional push for "Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally," Styles' fourth studio album. This reunion with Bradley & Pablo carries real weight in Styles' visual catalog. The directing duo previously steered the aesthetic ship for two of his biggest hits: "Watermelon Sugar," the breezy 2019 breakthrough that dominated streaming and radio, and "Late Night Talking," which became a global chart fixture in 2022. Their fingerprints across Styles' most successful singles speak to a deep creative rapport that translates into cohesive artistic vision.
The waltz direction charts fresh territory for Styles, who has built his post-boyband career on a foundation of rock and roll swagger mixed with disco-inflected pop sensibility. His visual language has ranged from the sun-drenched California dreamscape of "Watermelon Sugar" to the more surrealist turns his recent work has taken. That "Coming Up Roses" centers formal dance ballroom movement suggests Styles and Bradley & Pablo are pushing toward something more theatrical and physically expressive than previous singles.
This marks a calculated turn in how Styles deploys his fourth album into the cultural conversation. "Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally" entered the market with Styles fully aware that his audience expects both sonic innovation and visual storytelling that matches the music's ambition. By enlisting the same creative team that shepherded his previous megahits, Styles signals continuity while the waltz concept telegraphs evolution.
The album itself represents Styles in a reflective space. After dominating mainstream pop and rock simultaneously across his first three solo projects, he's calibrating what a fourth era looks like. The title itself carries a playful, almost self-aware quality. That humor extends into the visual realm. Pairing Styles with ballroom choreography taps into both the whimsy his fanbase responds to and the technical discipline that lends credibility to his artistic pursuits.
Bradley & Pablo's track record suggests "Coming Up Roses" arrives as a fully realized visual statement rather than a quick promotional clip. Their work with Styles has consistently prioritized aesthetic clarity and emotional directness. Whether the video emphasizes romantic storyline, abstract movement, or surrealist imagery remains to be seen, but their collaborative history indicates the piece will cohere with Styles' broader artistic narrative.
The video campaign approach also reflects how major artists now operate post-streaming explosion. Rather than front-loading all album promotion at launch, Styles spaces out music video releases to maintain attention and stream velocity. "Coming Up Roses" serves that function while keeping "Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally" positioned as an active album earning real estate in playlists and on social feeds weeks after initial release.
For viewers tracking Styles' evolution, the waltz moment represents something worth examining. It's neither abandonment of his established pop-rock identity nor wholesale reinvention. Instead, it's strategic expansion. Styles continues proving that mainstream artists operating at his level can layer sophistication and play across multiple aesthetic registers without confusing audiences about who they actually are.