On their new album C A L M, 5 Seconds of Summer turn a lifetime of musical passion into their most thrillingly ambitious work to date. Hailing from the outskirts of Sydney, the band got their start forging a sound that brought pure punk energy to pop music. Within just a few years they became a global phenomenon, then defied all expectation with their 2018 album Youngblood (an acclaimed effort that made them the only band in Billboard 200 history to see its first three studio albums debut at No. 1). Now, with their fourth full-length, 5SOS push into even bolder sonic terrain, realizing their vision with more impact and intensity than ever before.
5SOS’s debut album for Interscope Records, C A L M vividly captures what Hemmings calls “a journey through a young man’s life, for better or for worse.” In creating the album’s 12 kinetic tracks, the band reached a whole new level of honesty and emotional depth, ultimately lending a remarkable durability to their music. “These new songs feel like something we could keep playing for the next 10 years, or even beyond that,” says Hood. “It feels like our first album—like we finally found what we’d been trying to achieve since the beginning of this band.”
In the making of C A L M, 5SOS worked closely with producer Andrew Watt (Post Malone, Camila Cabello). “He loves rock & roll to the core, and he’s a great innovator in terms of bringing that into pop,” notes Hemmings. Much of the album stemmed from 5SOS’s spending hours holed up in Watt’s studio (a former home of Charlie Chaplin’s), working songs out live in a windowless space Clifford describes as “really dark and extremely sweaty.” As a result, C A L M bears a gritty vitality, even as it shines with 5SOS’s immaculate melodies and crystal-clear harmonizing.
Sparked from a demo co-created by Charlie Puth, OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, Louis Bell (Halsey, Jonas Brothers), and Ali Tamposi (Charli XCX, Demi Lovato), lead single “Easier” brings that dynamic to a graceful collision of atmospheric guitar tones, radiant vocal work, and darkly propulsive beats. “Andrew gave me the freedom and space to play with all these different sounds with the synth and keys, which ended up being a huge anchor for the album,” says Hood, who names noise-rock bands like HEALTH among his inspirations. “I feel like I learned a lot about juxtaposing shades of light and dark, and it created a new contrast within our music.”
That contrast gets wildly amplified on “Teeth,” as 5SOS merge their epic harmonies with lyrics channeling raw romantic angst. “A lot of this album deals with jealousy and trust issues,” says Hemmings. “‘Teeth’ is about the struggle to push through all that, because you know there’s something beautiful on the other side.” Featuring a guest performance from legendary guitarist Tom Morello, “Teeth” also unfolds in galvanizing rhythms the band sculpted in part by deconstructing songs like The Clash’s “London Calling.” “I realized that four-to-the-floor chorus and huge drums have become a personality trait of the band, and we need to just completely own that,” says Irwin.
On “Old Me” 5SOS turn tender and reflective, looking back on all the change they’ve endured in the past decade. “That song is us paying homage to where we’ve been, but it’s also about who we hope to be—not just as musicians, but as humans,” says Hood. Laced with dreamy falsetto vocals, “Old Me” nods to the band’s early days with its abundant use of stark guitar work. “We started out writing songs on acoustic guitars, so it was cool to include that element on ‘Old Me,’” says Hood. “In a way, hearing that song takes me back to every single chapter we’ve lived out as a band.”
Produced by Oscar Görres (MARINA, Troye Sivan), “Wildflower” emerges as one of C A L M’s most euphoric tracks. In a particularly brilliant move, 5SOS omitted certain key words from the chorus lyrics, magnifying the song’s mood of dizzy infatuation. “We wanted to make the chorus kind of a choose-your-own-adventure, where some words are left out and then accentuated by these big stabs of synth,” explains Hood. “It lets everyone come up with their own interpretation, and fill in whatever they think those missing lyrics might be.”
Throughout C A L M, 5SOS reveal the potent chemistry they first discovered as kids back in the suburbs of Western Sydney. All near-lifelong musicians, the band bonded over a mutual love for music with a rebellious bent, such as Australian metalcore acts like Parkway Drive. “In metal, there’s this spirit of wanting to get out of wherever you came from and do something bigger with your life,” says Clifford. “We took that spirit, and somehow managed to turn it into pop music.” Along with playing local pubs and working on original material, 5SOS earned a powerful online presence, gaining a worldwide following before they’d ever put out an official release. Not long after signing to Capitol Records they delivered their 2014 self-titled debut, soon followed by Sounds Good Feels Good (a 2015 release that saw them crowned “biggest new rock act in the world” by Rolling Stone).
After wrapping up the Sounds Live Feels Live World Tour in October 2016, 5SOS retreated to their now-homebase of Los Angeles to recharge their creative energies. In that process, the band reconnected with Andrew Watt (whom they’d met one tequila-soaked night in a Hollywood bar) and began working on new material that drew a great deal of inspiration from post-punk acts like Echo & the Bunnymen and Killing Joke. “There’s a sincerity and darkness to their songs that I wanted to bring into our music but in a more modern context,” says Irwin. Not only an artistic breakthrough for the band, Youngblood again proved 5SOS’s massive appeal as its double-platinum title track went #1 at Top 40 radio for five consecutive weeks and hit the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In bringing C A L M to life, 5SOS focused on further expanding their sound. “We’re fascinated with incorporating this very industrial-type musicality into what we’re doing as a band,” says Irwin. “A lot of it comes from being in L.A. and going to goth clubs and getting exposed to music I’d never heard in Australia, and then studying genres like new wave and darkwave. As a drummer I’m drawn to those rhythms that are so hard and primitive, and it’s been exciting to bring that into the melodic structure of pop.” At the same time, the band’s also assumed a greater complexity in their lyrics. “Even if we’re writing about something beautiful, we always try to put some sort of dark twist on it so that the song has our own unique stamp,” says Hemmings.
For the band, the emotional honesty of C A L M traces right back to one of their most closely held ambitions: building a lifelong and ever-deepening connection to the 5SOS fanbase. “We all grew up latching onto these bands that meant so much to us, and it fuels my soul to see our fans finding themselves in our music in a way that gives them joy,” says Irwin. “We want to just keep on growing and evolving, and crafting our songs so that they really stand the test of time. That’s what we’ve been pursuing since we were kids, and at this point it’s all we really know how to do.”
Tracklisting – 'C A L M'
1. Red Desert
2. No Shame
3. Old Me
4. Easier
5. Teeth
6. Wildflower
7. Best Years
8. Not In The Same Way
9. Lover Of Mine
10. Thin White Lies
11. Lonely Heart
12. High