Smaller, Quieter Things

Every February, Valentine’s Day brings up the same conversations all over again: relationships, crushes, and who everyone seems to be thinking about a little more than usual. But for a lot of people, those crushes don’t always exist in real life. Sometimes they exist on album covers, in interviews, or in the lyrics of a song that plays on repeat during the bus ride home after a long school day.

We call this a celebrity crush: a harmless, one-sided feeling directed at someone famous.

A lot of the time, we don’t develop these crushes because we expect anything to come from them. Instead, it’s because the work these artists create feels personal. A song by your celebrity crush can feel like it understands exactly what you’re going through, even though the person who wrote it has no idea who you are.

That’s why the announcement of Harry Styles’ upcoming album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., along with his new single, Aperture, feels especially fitting for this time of year.

Fans around the world are already full of excitement, counting down the days and scrambling for tickets to his upcoming Together, Together tour. The excitement around the album isn’t just about admiration for Harry Styles himself. It’s about the connection people feel to his music.

When someone listens to one of his songs, they often feel seen. Whether it’s a specific lyric, the sound of the melody, or just the overall mood, that feeling slowly becomes connected to the person behind the music. That emotional familiarity is often where celebrity crushes begin, even if the connection is entirely one-sided.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about big gestures or perfect relationships. Sometimes it’s about smaller, quieter things: the songs that help you get through tough days and the artists who make you feel understood.

Whether it’s Harry Styles or someone else entirely, those feelings are a normal part of figuring out who you are and what you care about.