Album Exploration: 5 Seconds of Summer – EVERYONE’S A STAR!

Australian pop-rock band 5 Seconds of Summer, whom I’ve been a massive fan of since they burst onto the scene in 2013, released their sixth studio album, EVERYONE’S A STAR!, in November, and I’ve been dying to write about it.

I won’t call this an album review because I don’t want to dive into every track and can’t actually provide a critique – I’m obsessed with the whole thing! Only subjectivity here, folks! So let’s call it an “album exploration,” perhaps the first of more to come, because there is an overwhelming amount of music in the world and I could easily gush about all the records I love for days, weeks, months on end.

The EVERYONE’S A STAR! era is shaping up to be a loud, nuanced, and much needed examination of the “boyband” concept through music and directly from the band itself, which fascinates me as a lifelong fangirl who carries on varying degrees of parasocial relationships with every band I’ve ever loved, whether they are still together or not. On this album, 5SOS bulldozes through the the dazzling, isolating doors of fame that entice us all and adopts a raucous “HELL YEAH, HEDONISM” attitude along the way…while exposing the messy truth of the moments when hell sets in.

SOUNDS GREAT

To my ears, this album is a strong continuation and expansion of the sexy, industrial synth-pop sound 5SOS dabbled with on CALM songs like “Easier” (God bless that music video…if you know, you know!) and “Teeth.” It’s also where the sleek and snappy ’80s production that runs throughout 2018’s Youngblood intersects with the emo pop-rock arena sound that propelled 5SOS to global stardom, particularly on their sophomore album, Sounds Good Feels Good…which was my personal favorite until this record came to give it a run for its money!

These three eras past combine to proclaim in 2025 that GlitterSOS is back, the band members resurrecting their flashy cool boy personas but older now, less naive, more world-weary and wary. The production is tight, the instrumentals roaring and speedy yet restrained, carrying the uneasy sense that darkness hovers on the edge of a bright and shiny celebrity world that always churns, always demands more from its stars.

While 5SOS’s musical identity has developed over time into something genuinely unique to them, I do enjoy the occasional derivative DNA moments on this album; I get a thrill from the fun little game of being able to instantly compare the instrumental I hear to another song or artist! For example, the opening of “istillfeelthesame” gives off a Pat Benetar’s “Love Is a Battlefield”/Billy Idol vibe that is an essential driving force for the high-powered, desperate feel of the song. “I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep Again,” which has quickly become a fan favorite, sounds like The 1975 meets gritty 90s city rock meets Guns N’ Roses (that guitar riff is DELICIOUS!) with a taste of The Cranberries.

The boys are also influencing themselves – their solo endeavors were crucial to the sound of this record. All four members have released amazing projects since the group’s last album in 2023, with Luke and Ashton releasing music even earlier. I think this healthy “individual within the collective” dynamic not only challenges the baseless belief that all boybands are fated break up when someone goes solo, but serves to strengthen their work as a band. Each member’s musical taste peeks through and weaves its own thread in the sonic tapestry of EVERYONE’S A STAR: Michael’s emo edge, Ashton’s rock ‘n roll mystique, Calum’s reflective indie rock bend, Luke’s delicate and spaced-out melancholy floating above the clouds…the genres and vocals mix together in a way that oozes authenticity.

Speaking of CALM, the first time I heard the lead singles, I instantly harkened back to “No Shame.” The band has always leaned on the outcast/anti-establishment attitude that is foundational to punk music, but the criminally underrated track was the first time they took a deeper look at society’s obsession with attention. It is the perfect sonic, lyrical, and conceptual genesis for this album.

“I only light up when cameras are flashing
Never enough and no satisfaction
Got no shame
I love the way you’re screaming my name
Digging my grave to get a reaction
Changing my face and calling it fashion
Got no shame
I love the way you’re screaming my name”

On EVERYONE’S A STAR, the band takes these themes of narcissism, voyeurism, greed, and obsession and magnifies them to a new level, widening the gaze from the inside out. They ask: If everyone’s a star, does anything honest still lie behind the smoke and mirrors? What is it really like to be a modern band within the “starmaker machinery,” as Joni Mitchell once put it, perceived and projected onto and objectified, willingly participating in the madness of celebrity? Society and internet culture may encourage the ego-driven, “I’m hot shit” public performance, but what are the private consequences?

FEELS TOXIC (AND TRUE)

If I had to drop the album into a distinct time, place, and perspective, it would be this: it’s just after 3 A.M. at a sprawling mansion property in the Hollywood Hills, or anywhere in the world…after all, you’re rich and famous and you have a private jet. The party is over and the adrenaline and adoration from the crowd is wearing off and you’re cross-faded, surrounded by strangers but utterly alone and consumed by your thoughts. It’s not a pretty sight, in your head (that sick, spinning, self-loathing feeling) or in reality, as the band so effectively depicts in the song “Ghost:” drunk and high, a totaled Porsche, “vomit all over the yard, crawl to my room, I know the ending.”

This record exposes the dark underbelly of the seemingly glamorous rock star life. The track list journey is like moving through an exhausting stream of uppers and downers (an emotional blender, one might say…), illustrating the push-pull allure of a dream career that runs on attention, denial, audience demands, and the selling of the self. For this version of 5SOS, fame is a manic joyride in a limousine veering out of control, moments away from crashing hard and fast. The lyrics are smug, anxious, nihilistic, giving the sense that the members are both disgusted with and entranced by who they become in the spotlight.

The trio of songs that I think most directly descends from “No Shame” is “Boyband,” “No. 1 Obsession,” and “Evolve.” Not only are they energetic, extremely catchy bangers, but the guys are at their cheekiest, toying with the assumptions and ideas ascribed to them as a boyband while also being honest about their toxic attachment to the absurd, suffocating lifestyle of the rich and famous. Yes, they need to grow the hell up and get a new lease on life, but why should they when the machine continues to reward them for not doing so?

5SOS are not okay — simultaneously surrounded and isolated by the trappings of fame, which are directly warping and deteriorating their mental health, but also needing to be crushed by the love and obsession of their fans. They poke fun at the stereotype of girls “maturing faster” than boys, man-children in all their glory who are content to keep spinning out and pleading for the person on the other end to indulge it just a bit longer. (Many of us ladies have been there, ugh.) They ride the rollercoaster with white knuckles, clinging too tightly out of fear it could all disappear in the blink of an eye; it reminds me of my other favorite boybands, Jonas Brothers and One Direction, who each skyrocketed to the highest highs of music stardom in only two or three years thanks in large part to frenzied teenage girls with taste and access to the internet. The sheer scale and pace of what they experienced was unsustainable, as the JoBros have said in retrospect, and eventually both groups reached a breaking point…as do the members of 5SOS in the story these songs tell.

But what is left after the dream shatters? Rock bottom – and within it, potential. Accountability. Messy healing. Finally facing the sober truth of the hole you dug for yourself, in order to start crawling your way out of the rubble and finding fertile ground for a path forward. In “Ghost,” a beautifully depressing ballad and the hinging point of the album, Luke sings the quiet pain of how awful it feels to stop numbing yourself and admit you screwed it all up by giving into your vices.

The tracks that follow “Ghost” chase its brutal honesty ’til the album’s end, tinged with the same old desperation and impulses that only add to the authenticity; the listener feels like they’re untangling and atoning and learning with the boys in real time. The brighter rock and roll tone and looser instrumentals help balance the self-destruction with 5SOS’s classic self-awareness, calling out their own BS. Still needy and immature but open to the necessity of change, moving toward acceptance and a lighter attitude. More man, less monkey.

The latter half (especially the tracks on the deluxe – oh, I’m sorry, “Fully Evolved” edition) hit me with a dual meaning that fundamentally shaped how I view the album as a whole: in nearly every song, 5SOS could be speaking to the music industry, speaking to their fans, and/or speaking to a lover. The anxiety and codependency, the destabilizing highs and lows, the intense need for all-consuming attention disguised as affection, the inability but overwhelming desire to leave toxic circumstances and find a healthier way to be…it applies across all relationships. This mirror of the band’s emotional experiences both with the system and with an individual adds a refreshingly deep layer to EAS that makes the listening experience even more electric to me!

LOOKS OUTRAGEOUS

The third leg of the EVERYONE’S A STAR triangle, which pulled me in before the album even came out, is the promotion. While EAS does have some outrageous lyrical moments (if you told 18-year-old me that the guy formerly known as Instagram user luke_is_a_penguin would one day sing the words, “I wanna do drugs, I wanna make love, I wanna get f***ed,” her head would explode!), it doesn’t quite fully capture the larger than life grandeur of this 5SOS era on its own. Enter the Boyband Marketing Blitz – and oh, what a blitz of a rollout it’s been!

Thanks to the band’s new label – they signed with Republic Records earlier this year – this feels like the first time one of their albums has had a proper marketing budget. And thank goodness, because the raucous nature of EAS demands it! This iteration of 5SOS sees the boys fully giving into the chaos goblins they’ve always been, leveraging in-your-face stunts and flamboyant fashion choices and egotistical versions of themselves on social media (their heads are literally blown up on the album cover) to bring the rock star attitude of the album to life. A few examples:

• Playing a secret show at a hotel just off LA’s Sunset Strip, pulling up in a hot pink limo
• Signing fans’ heads and encouraging hysteria at their induction to the Australian Walk of Fame
• Clickbaiting fans with a fake “Boyband” music video (complete with NSYNC/BSB-inspired outfits) to announce a massive world tour
• Posting comedy videos for the “Daily Sauce” series on Instagram, interviewing each other and catching absurd diva moments on tape a la Entertainment Tonight and the 2000s paparazzi culture
• Surprising NYC fans by riding a bus around the city as they blasted the album and then performing in the middle of Times Square

These wildly successful fan service moments were a blast to watch even from afar, and combined with the band’s talent and insane stage presence it’s bound to feed the creation of a live show bigger and brasher than anything they’ve done before. 5SOS can pull off “greatest boyband on earth” arrogance and supersized antics in support of a damn good album, because their sense of humor and earnest passion for their craft is still the foundation of everything they do.

The band has actually declared they want to be the best boyband and reclaim the term, which I am in full support of; the only reason it’s ever been mocked or considered undesirable is, you guessed it, misogyny! And it is precisely the fact that they want to do it differently (and also because they haven’t reached the crazy overexposure points of some predecessors) that puts them in the perfect position to criticize the ultra-narrow definition and expectations that come with the label. “Stay young, love me ’til I get it wrong / Make me your flavor of the week / Now I only feel alive when you’re looking at me.” Although the boys are dripping with sarcasm, the callouts actually make me feel seen. What lies underneath is an acknowledgment and validation of the true fangirl experience that 5SOS understands the power of…the deep bond between fan/band/music that goes beyond and much deeper than parasociality and phone screens and dollar signs.

My favorite part of being a long-time 5SOS fan is being able to witness the boys grow up and evolve into a more inventive band with each album they make. While they’ve always been loud, EVERYONE’S A STAR is their boldest, catchiest, most expressive musical statement yet. I can confidently say it will be my #1 obsession for a while…or at least until one of my other favorite boybands comes in like a wrecking ball to smash my sanity!