If you remember 5 Seconds of Summer, you're probably thinking about the band that opened up for One Direction in 2014. Or you're thinking of the song about underwear (still pretty catchy, if you ask me.)
And you're right to think of both. If that tour didn't do it,"She Looks So Perfect" surely skyrocketed the Australian pop-rock band into world stardom. But the world may have wrongly underestimated these four guys.
While touring with teen heartthrobs certainly earned them more fans than their YouTube covers ever had the chance to, they got pigeonholed into the "boyband" stereotype, which made it difficult for them to be taken seriously. Pop punk, the genre they strived to be a part of, did not normally accompany hordes of screaming tween One Direction fans (no shade to 1D, I still love them.) Nevertheless, they produced and played great music, and saw enormous success.
Three years later, 5SOS is back. And if you were skeptical of them before, you might want to give them a second chance.
[instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/BgRfvr-H0iK/embed/captioned/?cr=1&v=8&wp=532#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A9046752.399999999%7D expand=1] With the release of "Want You Back," the lead single from the upcoming album Youngblood set for release in June, a new era is upon us. It's becoming clear that they're finally finding their sound after years of trying to emulate others'.
They're currently on a short tour of intimate underplays in Europe and North America, during which they're testing out some new music with select fans. They could easily sell out amphitheaters if they wished, but this gives them the opportunity to dabble in something a little different before the new album is released and they embark on their promotion tour at the end of the summer.
Thursday, April 12 saw the release of the titular track "Youngblood" which truly establishes the more mature tone of the album. Gone are the days of a bubblegum pop hook and chorus, and lead singer Luke Hemmings proves himself to be a more powerful vocalist than we've heard from him in previous years.
If you're a die-hard 5SOS fan, I can't promise it's the same sound from the hemmo1996 YouTube videos. But I can promise it will definitely still be stuck in your head.
You can pre-order "Youngblood" now, and the album will be released everywhere June 22, 2018.
