EVERYONE'S A STAR! by 5 Seconds of Summer // Album Review
Raised on pop punk and bubblegum, 5 Seconds of Summer's EVERYONE'S A STAR! is a sharp and at times satirical blend of everything the band has spent the past fifteen years building. Much of the record is rooted in the desire to poke fun at the idea of fame itself - both in the cultural sense of what it means to be a "rockstar" and also their own complicated relationships with being known in the modern age. They are fully transparent about all of the glamour, attention and darker undertones of their experiences growing up in the public eye. Now as they are entering their thirties, some even starting new chapters of marriage and fatherhood, they're able to now look back on the parts of their youth that they didn't have the space or clarity to process at the time.
For all of the cheeky, lighthearted moments, this album really digs into what it means to make it through the growing pains of early adulthood and come out on the other side of the struggles they may have faced. EVERYONE'S A STAR! is ultimately rooted in those experiences of growing up, finding love, and figuring out what a meaningful life looks like when the rest of the outside noise finally quiets down. In those ways, this album in its entirety is less about the spectacle of fame itself, although the first few songs present that way initially, but more about the universal desire to evolve in every aspect of life.
The album is largely split into two distinctive sides narratively. The first half is perhaps loosely conceptual, playing into their rockstar personas and giving the people what they want, so to speak. These high-energy rock songs allow them the space to perform as caricaturized versions of themselves, leaning into the costumes, theatrics and quintessential rockstar/boyband/popstar personas. This notion is brought to life visually by the album cover, depicting the band with cartoonish oversized bobbleheads - which is an exaggerated representation of the inflated egos they're grappling with internally. As the record moves into the latter half of the track list, they begin to delve into something more personal and far less guarded emotionally.
EVERYONE'S A STAR! feels like a retrospective in many ways, touching on all of the sonic phases they have gone through artistically, now expressed through some of the most mature and evolved versions of their sound yet. There are clear callbacks and references to the energy and pop punk roots that defined their early work, but now with even more depth in their songwriting and emotional maturity to match it. They also fully allowed themselves to go all out in terms of the over the top aesthetics and theming surrounding the record in every regard, which makes the music so much more immersive in that way.
So much of this music shines brightest through its shared intent of being made to be performed live. All of their best music across their other five albums carries this same energy, one that is always amplified by the sheer force of their collective presence as performers. As a collective, Luke Hemmings, Ashton Irwin, Michael Clifford and Calum Hood continue to expand their talents to new heights in a way that consistently outdoes the last go-around. In the span of the last three years following the release of their fifth album, aptly titled 5SOS5 in 2022, all four members have continued to experiment artistically outside of the group through their individual solo projects. All of these releases feel aligned with the work they have done together, yet offer an even deeper look into their personal influences and inner lives. Much of those records are built through the expansion of some of the creative ideas that generally need to be compromised on in a group setting, but the ability to explore that individually has only continued to strengthen what they bring back to the band.
What makes 5SOS so special is that despite taking time apart between album cycles and focusing on their own creative paths, they always find a way back to each other. It can not be overstated how special it is to see a band and all of its members be able to coexist in such a way and the genuine connection they share as collaborators shines through above all else. They've spoken openly about how creatively fulfilling both sides of their careers are, and it's always exciting to hear what they make together and separately. 5SOS will always be strongest as a sum of their parts, but its so rare to see the way they are able to balance both simultaneously. Very few have even attempted it, and even fewer have done it as successfully for as many years as 5SOS has.
Each member really gets the chance to shine throughout the album, all four having several moments in every song that allows them to show off the fullest extent of their talents. This is an approach they took in some of their early work, then drifted from for a few albums when Luke took on the majority of the lead vocals, only to return to it on 5SOS5 as a call-back to the motifs that defined their debut. It brings so much variety and texture to each song, each one more dynamic than the last in its shared performances and layered musicality.
The lead single "NOT OK" introduced this new era of their career so perfectly. It not only served as the first glimpse into the album, but also unveiled the alter egos they're stepping into with this era, announced immediately with the opening line: "Inside every one of us, a shadow side, I call it my better side". They let the darker tones and themes of the overall album live alongside the wild, guitar-driven rock energy that defines so much of their sound. "I wanna dip my toe into the fire, where did the good boy go? Killed by desire," Luke and Ashton sing in the first pre-chorus. Each member gets sharp and distinct vocal moments throughout that makes the song so dynamic and varied with each verse. Lines like "Bite the apple, baby" from the chorus further feed into the allure and temptation that comes with living this life, but is tied into the darkness after the high wears off. As Calum sings in the third verse, "Oh my god, I feel invincible and when the sun comes up, I feel despicable". It's one of the most electrifying moments of their discography thus far, which especially plays into the fact that 5SOS are at their best when they make music with the intention of the energy being translated into a live setting.
"It has the older 5 Seconds of Summer energy, but it's different - which is the whole M.O. of this chapter. Lyrically, it's about letting out the darker side of yourself and embracing it. The song is also a nod to the band itself. We pull those sides out of each other," Luke said in an interview with Rock Sound.
So much of this record feels like a return to form for the band in many ways, with self-aware references to their early work being among the most pertinent. The second single and fourth track on the album, "Boyband" reclaims so much of what critics labeled them as faults in their early days, now owned to the fullest extent. It's a song that Calum has once said is inspired by "constructs of the human condition in the digital age" and largely feels like a clever critique on the fragility of pop stardom and fame as a whole, as well as the concepts of parasocial fandom.
With this song they are finally owning the boyband title that many critics often tried to pigeon-hole them with and more times than not attach a negative connotation to in their early days, for a variety of reasons - one of them being that 5SOS gained a lot of traction early on when they opened for One Direction from 2013-2015, and were associated with them for quite a few years to follow. At the time, 5SOS largely rebuked being called a boyband, wanting to instead be likened to the pop-punk bands that influenced their early work such as Blink-182 or Green Day.
They never exactly fit the boyband blueprint for a few reasons, but the way their music has often been downplayed or undercut by music critics and traditional rock fans has always felt more directed toward the largely young female fanbase garnered over the years. It's rarely ever been about the actual substance of the band's music. To be clear though, the band themselves has never dismissed their audience in any way and have truly only ever embraced the people that support their music. With "Boyband", they have now also come back around to reclaim the title that so many tried to pin on them into throughout the past fifteen years and are now fully owning it. They have also really come around to fully embracing a traditional pop sound through the years, while also being blended with their pop-punk roots - which this song fully exemplifies.
"Give me, give me, give me, give me everythin' I want, take my photograph and lick it with a wet tongue, when I'm dead and gone, bury me in stardust," Luke sings in the opening verse. "Raised on pop punk and bubblegum, stay young, love me till I get it wrong, make me the flavour of the week, now I only feel alive when you're lookin' at me".
"Boy in a boyband, imaginary boyfriend, irritates the metal heads, it's your favorite boyband," Calum continues in the chorus. "Boy in a boyband, make that monkey dance, let me see you clap your hands, it's your favorite boyband".
As fun and catchy as the song is, it really captures the notion that pop stars are disposable and the media/the public only build you up to break you down. It also plays into the fleeting, fickle nature of fame and what happens when the teenage heartthrob grows up. "Love me when I'm skinny and we never, ever age, same four chords, but it never feels the same," in particular being a lyrical highlight that captures that.
"I think 'Boyband' for us was about reclaiming the phrase boyband. Boyband was a very dirty word and to some, it still is. I think we were really intrigued by the idea of why that is. For a long time we let it become a word that would offend us and I think as we got older, we found the idea of being called a boyband a good thing we were like oh man you know people have sort of stopped calling us a boyband, how can we make them do it again," Michael said in an interview with Official Charts. "We can be whatever we want. And if you want to use it as a dirty word, fine. But let's make it benefit us and let's make it do something for us and take power in the things that are sometimes thrown against you. It doesn't matter to us if you call us a boyband or not. But if you do call us a boyband, we want to be the best. We want to be the best boyband of all time. So why not full send it and just go for the stars?"
"Ghost" follows, which is an emotional confrontation of all of the personal cracks that have been avoided up to this point. It is also a sonic outlier in the context of this album, but is an integral turning point in the narrative that EVERYONE'S A STAR! presents. "Late at night, we're the same, it shows, you and I, haunted by a similar ghost," Luke sings in the chorus.
"We wanted the album to feel like a riot the whole time and 'Ghost' is kind of the only ballad on the whole album," Luke said in an interview with The Hot Hits. "I like how sort of graphical and visual the lyrics are. Still, even though it's a ballad and it's very sensitive and it has a heartfelt meaning behind it, it still fits in the world." In the same interview, Michael added, "I like to think that, if the album is a visual moment, 'Ghost' is the moment where everything goes in slow motion and you look around and see things for what they are."
It feels very closely linked to Luke's solo music though, especially considering how much of his work focuses deeply on introspective, personal reckonings with himself and why he is the way he is. The connection becomes even clearer considering the song was also co-written by his wife, Sierra Deaton, who has collaborated with him and the rest of 5SOS across numerous projects through the years. She has such a distinct style of songwriting, one that consistently draws out the most emotional and deeply honest moments from the artists she works with.
"I don't want to go to sleep, 'cause I'm afraid of what I'll see," Luke sings on the heart wrenching bridge. "I can't look you in the eyes, 'cause I'm afraid it looks like me".
This album had such a clear narrative of wanting to kind of poke fun at fame and the concept of being a rockstar in the modern age, with the glamour and darkness explored in equal parts. At the same time, this album powerfully delves into the way that those extremes shaped them as the men they are today. ⭐️
Thanks for reading! I have written about 5 Seconds of Summer's music in depth many times through the years, all of which are linked here and below.
As of the day I'm posting this, I will also be seeing them perform this incredible album live in New York City, which I have been looking forward to for months and will absolutely be sharing my full experience of it soon! ⭐️
Photo Credit: 5 Seconds of Summer
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