Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell is a backing singer on Harry Styles’ comeback single ‘Aperture’, it has been revealed.
The former One Direction singer released the song on Thursday (January 22) as the first single from his upcoming album ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’. Executive produced by Kid Harpoon, Styles’ fourth solo effort is due to be released on March 6 – visit here to pre-order.
On the song’s credits on Spotify, Rowsell is listed as contributing backing vocals, making it the first time the two have appeared on record together.
Wolf Alice did support Styles for a series of shows in Europe in the summer of 2022, with Rowsell even joining him on stage in Lisbon for a duet of the band’s 2021 single ‘No Hard Feelings’. Check out footage of that performance, as well as the official video for ‘Aperture’, below.
Rowsell spoke about the duet in 2022, describing it as “great”, and saying: “We didn’t have much time to practice but it felt like a great moment and it’s been a really nice memory I have to look back on.”
“I loved being on stage with Harry and his band. It was the last day of the tour and it felt like a really nice day,” she added.
Last year, Rowsell spoke to Nylon about getting to know Styles, describing their shared tour as a “really, really special experience” and describing Styles as “a super lovely guy” and being “really welcoming [and] passionate”.
NME gave ‘Aperture’ a four-star review, noting: “It’s also Styles as we’ve not heard him before. Rather than the loosely retro pop-rock of ‘Harry’s House’ or the grand theatrics of ballads like ‘Sign Of The Times’, the star heads in the direction of electronic music.”
“‘Aperture’ is propelled by a lightly thumping beat that’s made more or less euphoric by the stabs of house piano that dip in and out, the jittery blasts of distorted fuzz, and the 31-year-old’s resonant delivery in the chorus: “We belong together”. Add in a series of drawn-out, droning chords and it’s (likely) as close as we’re going to get to Styles fronting LCD Soundsystem.”
Indeed, Styles has referenced James Murphy and co. as an influence on the song. “I think the inspiration from them [was], ‘Oh, that’s how I want to feel when I’m on stage’. And then that kind of led to the kind of music I was making,” he said.
Styles has also shared that he needed to “fall in love with music all over again” after taking three years off after releasing ‘Harry’s House’ in 2022.
In support of ‘Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally’, Styles has also announced a huge comeback tour, which will see him play residencies in seven major cities around the world.
The ‘Together, Together’ tour will consist of six nights at London’s Wembley Stadium and a total of 30 shows in New York’s Madison Square Garden, as well as strings of concerts in Amsterdam, São Paulo, Mexico City, Melbourne and Sydney.
