Boy band emancipation looks good on Harry Styles. Since One Direction announced an indefinite hiatus in 2016, the onetime scourge of the planet’s female vocal cords has forged ahead, with a liberated sound that hungrily takes its cues from squalling, leather-jacketed blues (“Kiwi”, on his self-titled 2017 debut) sun-kissed 1970s soft rock (“Golden”) and other crate-digging musical byways well beyond the supposed ken of a former X Factor finalist. Most impressively: he makes these gigantic creative leaps look like logical next steps. Not just because he has surrounded himself with a Los Angeles-based rabble of seasoned musicians and likeminded souls (most notably Jeff Bhasker, who helped him sculpt the floating, piano-led majesty of first single “Sign of the Times”). But also because—as evinced by the glittering R&B refrain on “Adore You”, or the raw, cracking yearn of “Falling”—Styles may be a reborn sonic adventurer, but he still has a pop star’s beating heart.