Where their boyband predecessors failed or splintered off into solo acts, 5 Seconds of Summer have survived. But they’re not the green young men in skinny jeans they once were — and their sixth studio album “Everyone’s A Star!” shoves the reality of their aging boyband-hood into the light, both an ode to their roots and a reflection on the present.
For a band that originally found success from their catchy pop-rock hits and their looks — as well a particularly beneficial relationship with One Direction — it’s no wonder they’ve now come to a place on their newest album where they have to reckon with change. Of the four of them, two are already 30, and the other two are on the cusp; two are married and fathers as well.
The album fuses their past with the present — the sounds and motifs reminisce on their first three albums so clearly that once you hear it, it’s almost shocking. Like the pop-rock that put them on the map for young women across the world, almost every song on their sixth album bar one is driven by heavy, pounding drums and guitar. Thirteen years between their earliest album, and yet many of the themes transcend them like no time has passed at all — love, heartbreak, drugs, sex, how hard life is and now, change.
As a cohesive piece, the album works — mostly. At its core, it’s an amalgamation of songs composed individually by the bandmembers and a gaggle of composers and producers, but they come together with a shared catchiness and quality of writing that makes them work. The eighth track, “Ghost,” simply does not belong on the album — it breaks with the themes, the energy, and the flow of song to song, but the better additions lift the record where it lags there two-thirds of the way through.
“Telephone Busy,” is an annoyingly catchy song that worms its way into your ear; “Evolve” steps up the dance-ability of the record further with a specific groove that makes one wonder if the Dare snuck into their studio. “Sick of Myself” takes an indie turn with Calum Hood’s composition producing something the Wallows could’ve easily adopted, but it fits like a glove in the track list.
“Boyband” pokes fun at the worst parts of being a boyband and is probably the most essential listen on the album for anyone looking to see how they feel about their past and their present. And as the album makes its way into chart listings in the coming days, it’ll be interesting to see whether they had it right in the lyrics when they said “the public “Love me when I’m skinny… / love me ‘til I get it wrong.”
As a whole project, and for fans who have been around for years, it’s a comfortable and (mostly) consistent album despite this mirror they hold up to the audience. It’s the exemplification of their grown selves, in a way— returning to their roots, but applying an older reflection on it. 5 Seconds of Summer may make clear they no longer wear the skinny jeans they once did, but they prove they still have the boyband spirit.
