When Haley Tesch learned that one of pop star Harry Styles’ listening parties for his new album would be in Madison, she figured there was “no way” she’d be selected to attend.
Tesch, a UW-Milwaukee nursing student, got an email during her clinicals Monday that said: “You’re in!”
“I was in disbelief. I was shaking,” Tesch said. “I had to go to the bathroom to call my friend and say, ‘You better not make any plans on Wednesday.’”
She and her friend Morgan Schwartz will get to hear Styles’ fourth solo studio album, “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally,” in a group of 50 fans and their plus ones at the British artist’s listening party in Madison on Wednesday, weeks before the album’s March 6 release.
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Styles, 32, is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer who became a solo artist after rising to fame in the five-member boy band One Direction, which broke up in 2015.
Only two of the 40 total album listening parties are in the United States — one in Los Angeles and, surprisingly, one in Madison.
The Madison event’s location will be revealed to attendees before the event Wednesday, and Tesch’s email said check-in for the listening party is at 6 p.m.
There has been some online speculation that the event is taking place at the Monroe Street record store Strictly Discs because it is offering preorders for Styles’ new album. The store was founded in 1988 and is home to one of the largest used vinyl collections in the country.
On Tuesday afternoon, Strictly Discs’ general manager Evan Woodward said he couldn’t confirm whether the event is taking place at the store.
Fans answered a few questions to be entered into a random drawing for an invitation to the listening parties, according to the party’s rules.
Applicants had to give a response to “What do you think listening to the album will feel like?” and provide their TikTok, Instagram and X accounts.
It’s unclear whether Styles will show up at one of the listening parties, but fans who attend will “hear the album in full.”
Katie Murphy, who is 26 and lives in Madison, has been a fan of Styles since she was 12 years old.
She posted several TikToks about her love for Styles after hearing about the event.
“I was doing everything that I could to get into the party, and I think luck was just on my side, and I got the invite and have been living on Cloud 9 ever since,” Murphy said.
Another fan, Caroline Accetta, who lives in the Madison area, said she’s seen Styles in concert about a dozen times and hopes he makes an appearance at the event on Wednesday.
"I think it’s going to be so much fun. I’ve never been chosen for any fan event like this where it’s a specific group of people, so I’m just really grateful,” she said.
Schwartz, who lives in Lake Geneva, is rushing to the store to buy a new, likely glittery, outfit for the event.
“I’ve never really heard of anything like this before,” she said. “I know things like this exist, and I feel like with it being Harry Styles, it will probably be a lot more fun than people would expect. I expect dancing, letting loose, and not just a sit-down casual listening session.”
She and Tesch are diehard Harry Styles fans, having listened to his music for more than a decade, since he was in One Direction. Tesch said she’s already bought tickets for his upcoming “Together, Together” tour show in London this summer at Wembley Stadium.
“I was almost positive he would’ve chosen a place like Chicago” for a listening party, Tesch said. “Madison is so random.”
Harry Styles’ Wisconsin ties
Madison is a surprising choice for one of Styles’ listening parties, most of which are being held in major cities across the globe, including London, Tokyo and Paris.
If Styles has a direct connection to Madison, it’s not widely known. But he is a fan of the Green Bay Packers.
He said in a 2020 interview with NPR, while wearing a Packers jersey, that when he started traveling to Los Angeles, he would stay with a friend who is from Appleton and a fan of the team.
“They’re also the only NFL team owned by the fans, so you know, I like that, I think that’s nice,” Styles said. “Also a big fan of cheese, so the Packers were the team for me.”
Styles said during the interview that he went to a preseason Packers game at Lambeau Field.
He also has a Packers tattoo after betting before a game that he’d get a tattoo if the Packers won.
“I only had time the day before the game to go and get the tattoo, so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just get it because they’re going to win.’ So I go to get the tattoo, and they lost,” Styles said. “So yeah, now I have a Green Bay Packers tattoo on my arm.”
Sabine Martin reports on higher education for the Wisconsin State Journal. She covers the Universities of Wisconsin system, with a spotlight o…
