By: Eilis O’Neil | Staff Writer
When you hear the band name of 5 Seconds of Summer, you probably think of the song that mentions American Apparel underwear and how you look so perfect standing there.
Discovered on YouTube by One Direction member Louis Tomlinson, 5 Seconds of Summer was asked to join their world tours twice as opening acts. Instantly, the band gained more popularity, allowing the fandom to grow overnight.
To be completely honest, listening to their songs from 2011 to now, their sound has changed so much that they are almost unrecognizable. Not in a bad way, of course. Their first album came out in 2014, followed by another album in 2015. In between all the recording, writing, and touring, the band felt rushed and did not think their music lived up to their sound expectations.
After the release of the album Sounds Good Feels Good, the band took a long three-year break to take time and write the music they originally wanted to. Being a long time fan, let me tell you those three years felt like forever.
Late February of 2018, they released their top track “Want You Back” from their latest album, Youngblood. As an avid music listener, I got extremely excited for their new album. Everything was different, like the tempo, beat, and overall sound.
This was the music they wanted and you could tell just by their stage presence that the music they are making now was their ultimate goal, and they aren’t stopping. On February 5, 2020, and February 21, 2020 respectively, 5SOS dropped two singles “No Same” and “Old Me” from their upcoming album, set for release March 27, 2020 and titled CALM.
Turning a 180 on music was a risk 5SOS was willing to take, going from successful pop to more of a rock edge, something the fans were not expecting but were surprised with in a good way.
As the band themselves are growing up, their sounds are evolving with them. Not many teen punk-pop bands have made it as 5SOS has done. I give them so much credit for being able to finally get the sound they wanted to and to be honest, it was worth the wait. They are writing with some of the best songwriters music can get like John Feldmann of Goldfinger and Benji and Joel Madden of Good Charlotte.
5SOS announced a new world tour for their upcoming album CALM and to say I am excited is an understatement. I discovered the band 7 years ago and have seen them on every tour they’ve been on, and their stage presence gets better and better each time. When seeing them live in concert, you can tell that they love what they do for a living and have so much passion to show their fans. I cannot wait to see where their new album takes the band!
