American Girls (Harry Styles song)

During the promotional cycle for his third album, Harry's House (2022), English singer and songwriter Harry Styles revealed he was starting to work on his fourth album, and started teasing a new release in December of 2025. On 15 January 2026, Styles confirmed that his fourth album, titled Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, was due for release on 6 March of that year.^[1] The track listing for the album was revealed on 23 January; "American Girls" appears as the album's second track.^[2]

It's like being truly vulnerable with someone, like sharing a life with someone like that. Having the time to stop and assess all of it and really look at my life from a bird's eye view and go, 'What do I actually want in my life?' [...] The song to me is actually quite a lonely song in a lot of ways.

In an interview with Zane Lowe of Apple Music leading up to the album's release, Styles said he had taken inspiration for "American Girls" after seeing three of his close friends getting married and wanting to settle himself down in the near future.^[3][4]

"American Girls" was written by Styles, Kid Harpoon, and Tyler Johnson, and was produced by Kid Harpoon and Johnson. The song was recorded in Berlin at Hansa Studios, in London at both RAK Studios and Abbey Road Studios, and at Ridgemont Studio.^[5] Critics described the song as having an 80s music sound,^[6] specifically Italo disco and house music,^[7][8] and received comparisons by critics to the sounds of the 1975, James Blake, and David Bowie.^[6][9][10]

Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally was released on 6 March 2026 through Erskine and Columbia Records.^[11] It was released to Italian radio on 20 March 2026.^[12] "American Girls" was received somewhat well by critics, who applauded the song's levity and its production while challenging its simplistic nature. Emma Swann of DIY noted the "pleasant" contrast of the use of synthesisers to the song's cadence, which she described as "warm and infectious". She likened the bassline of the song to David Bowie's 1977 song "Sound and Vision".^[6] NME's Rhian Daly called the song fun but "easily forgettable".^[13] Ed Power of The Irish Times noted the song's use of "gauzy"-sounding synths, but called the chorus annoying and "vacuous".^[10] Matt Mitchell of Paste similarly commented that Styles's voice pales in comparison to the production of the song.^[14]

"American Girls" debuted atop the UK Singles Chart dated 13 March 2026 while its parent album debuted atop the UK Albums Chart. This marked Styles's second 'official chart double', with "As It Was" and Harry's House having simultaneously topped the singles and album charts in 2022. "American Girls" earned Styles his fourth number-one single in the UK, following "Sign of the Times" (2017), "As It Was" (2022) and "Aperture" (2026). This also made Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally Styles's first album to contain multiple UK chart-toppers.^[15]

The song also topped the Billboard Global 200 and its companion chart excluding the United States, becoming Styles's third and second number-one on the charts respectively. "American Girls" led the Global 200 with 50.9 million streams and 3,000 copies sold worldwide in its first week of release. Excluding the US, the song earned 30.6 million streams and 1,000 sales.^[16]

A music video for "American Girls" premiered the same day as the release of Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. Directed by James Mackel, the video shows Styles performing stunts on a film set, driving under a truck that later explodes during a wake. He is also seen going on a joyride with a stunt double. Near the end of the video, Styles is revealed to be watching the video from a director's chair.^[17][18]

Credits adapted from Pitchfork.^[5]

• Harry Styles – vocals, composition, lyrics
• Kid Harpoon – production, composition, lyrics
• Tyler Johnson – production, composition, lyrics
• Tom Skinner – drums
• Mark Stent – mixing
• Kieran Beardmore – assistant mixing
• Emily Lazar – mastering
• Bob DeMaa – assistant mastering
• Brian Rajaratnam – engineering
• Liam Hebb – additional engineering
• Kian Moghaddamzadeh – assistant engineering
• Francesca Edwards – assistant engineering
• Tommy Bosustow – assistant engineering
• Seth Taylor – assistant engineering
• Gili Portal – assistant engineering
• Alfie Scott – assistant engineering