5SOS5 came out in September 2022. It’s been a long time and many listens of this record since I reviewed it five days after its release. Some things change, some opinions change and some things never change. Now I can only try to find balance writing down my spoken preciously thoughts on this matter.

I’ve already been mentioning about 5 Seconds of Summer here on this blog few times so I won’t introduce this band again. I’m sure you know exactly what’s going on here. I’m sure you know that it’s an Australian band with 5 albums in their discography and 5SOS5 is the name of the 5th one. I will review this record right away then.

You can watch the video with the review that I made last year here (if you haven’t seen it yet!):

It’s good to have your own opinion before you read someone’s thoughts on the same subject… So, you can listen to this album here:

Now I can start the opinion part. Are you ready for it?

• How the title and cover are responding to each other and the content of the record?

In my opinion this strange cover that is made of four silhouettes doesn’t tell the listener what to expect. The color of sand in the background reminds of the country Australia – the band origin. All we know is that it’s the 5th record and it’s just the representation of who these four guys (that the band is made of) truly are. And title 5SOS5 is simply telling us that it’s their 5th record and that’s all.

• What kind of genre is it?

The answer is simple. It’s pop-rock.

• What singles are promoting this record?

Complete Mess, Take My Hand, My Myself & I, Blender, Older (feat. Sierra Deaton) and Bad Omens. I love all these songs and it’s hard to choose favs but Complete Mess was my most streamed song on Spotify last year so… It’s just a little dirty love song. I also love Take My Hand. This one is about being lost, admitting it and hoping that your loved one would always stand by you. These two sound great and lyrics are quite positive as you can see. Older and Bad Omens are romantic and the second title is even tragic lyrically because it’s about the situation when the one you love is actually in love with two people at the same time so you just keep going round and round… My Myself & I is about being selfish and that electric guitar sound is so cool here. I love it.

• What other songs can be called as favorites?

Easy For You To Say, Haze, Bloodhound, Tears. The first song was played during the live show in Kraków that I’ve been to. I love hearing new music live that wasn’t out at that time yet. It was so exciting for me to wait for this one. And that’s about the tough process of becoming a better person and not being able to forget about hard times. Haze has lovely long sounds in chorus and it’s a love song. I fell in love with the next song after just one listen. It’s also a love song and I believe it’s a metaphor of hunting for prey. Tears was written by Ashton and it’s really heard in my opinion if you know his solo album Superbloom. This one is about feeling alive thanks to pain.

• What score does this record deserve to get?

In general: this album is mainly perfect to me become of the sound. It feels like I can relax quite as much as while listening to folklore by Taylor Swift. And the sound of guitar is like… magic. Honestly, no single song to skip. And it’s probably the best situation when the whole album is made of really good material and not just one hit, fav song. And the band is constantly progressing writing and making better and better albums. But I also miss here the track that would be similar to Teeth. So, it’s 8/10 for me.

• What songs from the record can be placed in Top 5?

1. Complete Mess
2. Take My Hand
3. Caramel
4. Bloodhound
5. Bad Omens

That’s my old list. Now I must also mention such songs like Carousel, Easy For You To Say, Bleach, You Don’t Go To Parties Anymore, Older and Blender. I feel like it’s constantly changing so my new Top 5 probably looks like this now:

1. Easy For You To Say
2. Carousel
3. Blender
4. Older
5. Bleach

The show called The Feeling of Falling Upwards took place one day before the release of 5SOS5 or actually few hours before… It was an interesting experience to see the band that used to play punk-pop tracks performing with orchestra and choir. It was a smoother version of the band. It was like a silky scarf. And I heard few interesting and clever things during the livestream… They’re not such silly boys as some people may think.

Caramel, Carousel and Bad Omens were played then for the first time. I loved Caramel in that live version. It sounds good and it’s quite deep. Lie To Me in a new version with choir… I must say that it fitted there perfectly. Older with Sierra was amazing. Her voice got a delicate vibrato there and it’s not heard in the studio version of the song. Teeth. My absolute fav by 5 Seconds of Summer. It was interesting to hear it with orchestra. Other good moments: Ghost of You, Me Myself & I. The second title came out after the show in Poland so I didn’t hear it so it was good to see the band performing it at least in this form.

In general, I hoped to hear more new songs (though 8 songs from 5SOS5 were played) and that show flew by so fast. Too fast! But I must say that it was really interesting. And… Do you realize that there were three bands at the stage?!

And now a little bonus… The best lyrics list:

1. Bullshit I feed myself
   Me and my selfish appetite – My Myself & I (so clever!)
2. A painted heart on a sidewalk
   A bleeding sun on a silver screen – Take My Hand (this line is so poetic!)
3. My life’s just a carousel spinnin’ around
   I’d pay again just to keep from stoppin’ it now – Carousel (poetic & clever; we always say that life is like a roller-coaster while the metaphor of carousel is so fresh!; it’s like life is going in circles… the same thing with the blender)
4. We go stupid every night, what a tragedy – You Don’t Go To Parties Anymore (such a honest and funny line!)
5. It’s supernatural, got me howlin’ at the moon – Blender (one of my favorite lines)
6. Life is like a poem written on a bathroom wall – Best Friends (I’m a poet so I had to put here this funny but true thought)
7. Brought a knife to a gun fight
   But the hurtin’ is all mine – Bleach (I love this methafor)
8. It’s so hard to watch everything I want – Bleach
9. I wanna occupy your brain
   Be the only living space in your head – Bleach (this song is too good lyrically, I’m not sorry)
10. Heart is gonna flatline – Flatline (another way for calling a heart attack…)

So, that’s it. Let me know how you like this band, this record, have you seen them preforming live etc. I would love to hear anything!

Tomorrow post will be about music again. It’s about one of artists who’s been following me on Twitter from the very beginning. Such a mysterious hint! Also, I’m planning to write each two days again because I start to feel tired… My phone telling me that I slept for 12h is no good sign… But next weekend I’m planning to be blogging everyday again!

See ya tomorrow then!

AA