Nervous. Scared. Excited. Worried. What does this amalgamation of
emotions mean? Why, a new 5SOS album of course. On
the 23rd October 5 Seconds of Summer released their sophomore album Sounds
Good Feels Good. Anyone who knows me on the Internet/in real life is probably aware that I’m a huge 5SOS fan, which means that I am simultaneously their best and worst
critic. Over time I’ve seen them improve and I’ve seen them make some questionable musical decisions, and I feel like I am in good standing to review their new
record. On that note, let me get started.
1. Money - self-proclaimedly a song with "dumb
lyrics", Money is, pure and simple, a massive arena jam - it's high
power energy, wild instruments and lyric-chanting. I also like to think of it
as an ode to the band, from me, with the lyric “take my money” resonating with
the hundreds of pounds I must have spent on them in total over the years.
2. She's Kinda Hot - I find it hard to review a song
that's been out for a few months already, but here I go. I remember when I
first listened to this I fell in love – I really dig the weird kind of
Western-riff-meets-electric-guitars thing it’s got going on. I cannot wait to scream the final chorus of “they
say we’re losers and we’re alright with that” when they sing it on tour. Is it
weird that it gives me goosebumps imagining it?
3. Hey Everybody! – at first I
didn’t really like this. One thing I’m stuck on with artists is the notion of
authenticity. For me, singing a song about not having enough money to pay rent
etc. when I know they don’t even pay rent felt a little artificial, notably
because for me, that is a very real and difficult problem I am constantly faced with. Over time, however, I’ve realised that if I just take the
song for what it is melodically, it is a huge jam. I know it’s gonna be a
fun one performed live, especially right after that moment of silence towards the end that leads to a
CRASH of sound and energy.
4. Permanent Vacation – Permanent Vacation is cool as a
polished studio version but I’d say it is a unanimous agreement that the live
version is just on another level. This song quickly developed into one of my
favourites during the last tour – I loved the crowd participation and how rocky
it sounded. Nonetheless, the studio version is still fun to sing along to, and
it’s nice to be able to hear the drums in the breakdown.
5. Jet Black Heart – I am obsessed with the lyrics in
this song. They’ve managed to use some beautiful dark imagery and I think they're potentially the best, most poetic lyrics on the album. It’s one of the
slower songs and I’ve found it really showcases some of their best vocals.
6. Catch Fire – I didn’t know Zayn Malik featured on
this album? …(No, but really, Luke sounds so Zayn in the beginning of this song,
I can’t unhear it). I was unsure about this song at first, as the most poppy of
the whole album, but this is another one that’s grown on me immensely. It
really gives me The Heart Never Lies
by McFly vibes, and that song makes me happy and emo all at once. I love the all-singing-together aspect of
the chorus, I think it really ties it together nicely.
7. Safety Pin – the lyrics of this remind me of All Time
Low, which in my opinion cannot be a bad thing. It’s another of the more poppy
songs of the album and I can just tell it’s just going to be another fun one on
tour, if they choose to sing it. It features a rare Ashton verse - usually if
he has a solo he comes in at the end but in this song he sings the second
verse, so that's pretty cool because it means we get to hear some of his awesome vocals.
8. Waste the Night – I didn’t really like this at first
because it’s just not a normal 5SOS kind of song and I think that threw me off,
but I’ve come to realise how interesting it is. The breakdown is super cool when all
the guitars come in, and the drums are insanely good throughout. I think the kind of droning, brooding, repetitive nature of the chorus is so cool and almost cinematic. I wonder how it will translate if they perform it live, particularly the verses, but I'm excited to find out.
9. Vapor – I reckon this is going to rapidly become a fan
favourite as it’s got some really cool lyrics. It seems to follow on from Waste the Night sonically, as if it’s a
sister song. In the notes I wrote during my first listen I wrote “damn that’s
some good mid-tempo moodiness” and I think that’s a pretty apt description of
the song as a whole.
10. Castaway – it was at this point in the listening process
that I realised that this is not a happy album, but it was also at this time
where I thought to myself “this song is what I came here for”. Castaway is angry and a bit sad and it
gets me pumped and I LOVE IT. The lyrics are top-notch and the melody is catchy
enough to sing along to but different enough to feel fresh. I am in LOVE with that
slow-burning-just-guitar-and-Luke’s-vocals bit towards the end; it makes my
heart hurt.
11. The Girl Who Cried Wolf – after Jet Black Heart this is one of the other emo songs on the record.
It features acoustic guitars and a lot of muted cymbal crashes which just add to
this lovely ballad. I say ‘lovely’ in terms of sound, I mean, lyrically
it’s not lovely, it’s SAD. Michael’s husky, desperate repetition
of “is anyone there at all” reminds me of Wrapped
Around Your Finger, which likewise is another emo mess. Man I do love me a bit of
dark, passionate 5SOS; I often find that’s where Michael especially shines.
12. Broken Home – this is the first song on the album
accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra and the effect this brings is
nothing short of mesmerising. I’m glad the lyrics do justice to the melody.
There are some horribly vivid lines “she’s the scar, she’s the bruises, she’s
the pain that you brought” / “sharp words like knives they were cutting her
down” but personally, the simplicity of “hey mum, hey dad” in the chorus is
what gets me the most. I can’t relate to the song in my own life but I fully
appreciate how beautiful it is.
13. Fly Away – 5SOS made the decision to insert Fly Away between two of the most
upsetting songs they’ve ever written, which I'd say was a wise choice on their
part. After the previous two songs the album gets pretty negative, so Fly Away is a nice change. It’s up-tempo
and significantly more positive and hopeful and focuses on the “let’s get out
of this town” idea that they did so well on their debut album.
14. Invisible – just when
you thought you were going to be happy again, 5SOS hand you the emotional
ballad that is Invisible. First off,
let’s start by affirming that this here is Calum’s song, and he owns it. It
sounds magnificent with the London Symphony Orchestra, and when all the strings
come in at the end it is really quite breathtaking. Don’t expect to feel
uplifted or in any way happy when listening to Invisible because those are not emotions it can offer you. Instead,
it can provide “upset”, “horrified” and my personal favourite: “I want my MUM”.
15. Airplanes – it’s okay
guys, we are now out of the depths of despair with Airplanes. There’s a line in this song that perfectly embodies how
I feel about it, which is “make-believe worlds make us all feel alive”. There
is never a time that I feel more alive than when I’m at a concert in what feels
like a parallel universe, singing words from my favourite songs alongside my
friends and our favourite bands. I have so much to say about Airplanes but I’ll try to keep it
concise. This song has some of my favourite lyrics of the whole album, if not
some of my favourites that the band has ever written. To me it feels uplifting and
cinematic and passionately hopeful, almost to the point where it’s angry. Airplanes is ambitious and optimistic and
the kind of song I value more than any other. I find with this type of track I
get this wonderful feeling in my chest where I’m just so HYPED for life (from
5SOS I previously got this from Never Be,
but I also feel like this when I listen to Another
Night on Mars by The Maine). This song is fantastically explosive and I
am approximately 97% sure I too will explode when I hear it performed live.
16. San Francisco – here we
have yet another non-classic 5SOS song. It’s got a chant-y/march-y indie-rock-style
Mumford & Sons vibe (which is pretty unexpected from 5SOS) but somehow it
works. I love the stomping in the chorus and I think it’ll sound really nice on
tour with everyone singing along. In my notes I wrote “okay it’s good but WHY
is it ‘you don’t gotta say anything’ in the chorus???” Ignoring the grammar
police inside me telling me these lyrics are just not okay, I really like this song. Oh, and it has another cool
interlude, so listen to that.
17. Outer Space / Carry On – we
have come to the end of the album, but alas! There is a twist – the final track
is actually two songs merged into one, and the final installment is a
masterpiece. We’re first presented with Outer
Space, and at the beginning the beat reminds me of a more advanced Never Be (which I mentioned earlier). It’s
really cool how it features lyrics about castaways/the ocean/London/the weather
– all images and motifs that featured in the preceding songs. I don’t think I
have ever been so excited to hear a song live as this one. When everyone chants
“the darkest night never felt so bright with you by my side” I am going to
either pee or combust - I can’t tell which one. Layered on top of this are
Ashton’s super high-pitched vocals (as in, impossible-to-emulate,
Bohemian-Rhapsody-style) and it really just adds to how cool it all sounds.
At the end of the song we hear the calming sounds of the ocean, soon to
be interrupted by the glory that is Carry
On. When everyone sings “carry on, let the good times roll” together I get
CHILLS. The vocals merge with the sound of the organ and it all just sounds -
for want of a better analogy - like a heavenly choir. If I said Airplanes was uplifting earlier, then Carry On is way, way up in the clouds. It’s ethereal and mesmerising and a really
inspiring way to end the album.
Favourite song(s): Castaway / Airplanes / Outer Space / Carry On
Favourite lyric(s): “We’re alright though.” (She’s Kinda Hot) // "Nothing
left but picture frames." (Castaway) // "Sharp words like knives, they were cutting her down.” (Broken Home)
// “I was already missing before the night I left.” (Invisible) // “I won’t
fade into darkness.” (Airplanes) // “Even mountains crumble into the sea.” (San
Francisco) // “Carry on, let the good times roll.” (Outer Space / Carry On)
(…I realise that was a lot of lyrics. Sorry.)
Overall rating: 7/10
The track-by-track review was supposed to be succinct but, well…it
wasn’t. Who’s surprised? Not me. I’m going to talk a little bit about the album
more generally now, and it’s probably going to be similarly long-winded, so
once more I apologise.
Upon my first full listen I
was perplexed. I don’t know what I was expecting but I don’t think it was this.
I was expecting it to be a bit different sonically; more guitar-heavy and
gritty than it ended up being, especially after having heard She’s Kinda Hot and
Permanent Vacation. I know I was not alone in this assumption, and that’s partly what
is so cool about the album and the band themselves. Yet again, 5SOS do not conform to the standards and
ideas thrust upon them. Since their first release they have been confusing
people – are they rock? Are they pop? Pop-rock? Pop-punk? Why don’t they fit
perfectly into a box or a genre? That’s the thing about 5SOS. They refuse to fit into a
box, and not because they’re being intentionally contrary or belligerent, but
because the reality is they just don’t
care. They don’t try to fit into a single mould, and I don’t think they
would ever want to. Regardless of what you think of their music, you cannot
deny that this kind of attitude is refreshing.
Something I was incredibly struck by when listening was the fact that this is not a
happy album at all, and I think perhaps that is what took me so aback when I
first heard it. It’s got a few up-tempo melodies, but you find that many of
them are juxtaposed with some incredibly painful and disquieting lyrics. With
the exception of a small number of songs, this record focuses on the darkness
of life – feeling lonely, desperate, unloved. Overall, the very fact that
thematically SGFG is so different to their debut was a leap and a risk but I’d
love to see it pay off in the charts.
On a more general note, it likewise is impossible not to notice that
some of their new lyrics are really really
good. Their self-titled debut was written when the guys were 15-17 and
hadn’t experienced a heck of a lot. By now, their lyrics tell stories of deep
isolation and heartbreak and love, and there are a few moments where it feels
like pure poetry. Okay, that was gross and I wish I wasn’t so corny in my
compliments, but if you listen carefully to the words you’ll hear what I mean.
Another particularly striking characteristic to consider is that the
guys have really stepped up their instrumental game. I’m not musically inclined
- I’ve never played an instrument, I’ve never even had a singing lesson – but
even I can hear how insanely good Ashton’s drumming is. I can hear such
precision and mastery in the beats and that’s one of the standout aspects of
the record for me.
This new sound they've presented is perhaps now known for its iconic line “we are the kings
and the queens of the new broken scene” which is a far cry from their previous
tagline of “you look so perfect standing there in my American Apparel
underwear”. The entire feel of the album is more mature and complex. Upon each
listen I find new lyrics, sounds and melodies, and I love this intricate
layering they’ve used in the production.
While they are still relatively new to the music scene, and their sound
is distinctly different to that of their debut album, Sounds Good Feels Good is still indisputably, intricately and ineffably
5 Seconds of Summer. This new album was not as we expected, but you know what? I truly hope they never stop surprising
me.
See you next time!
Georgia
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