Sounds Good Feels Good, An Album Review For 5 Seconds Of Summer
*All the letters of the keyboard pressed erratically to form a load of gibberish nonsense just emphasize my extreme excitement.*
My 5sos album came! It's in my hands, it's new and shiny, and 3-D and has a cover on it and it smells like a new book.
So I finally feel like I can do my review/thoughts on it now. I don't want to say I'm doing a 'review' and have people expect knowledgeable, insightful, musical facts from me. I'm just an average teenager, speaking a few words about my favourite band, without being squealish about it. But I mean it's technically a review..
1) Okay so track number one. Money. I like an album that comes in steady, but extremely powerful and in your face to say 'hey! this is what's on offer! This is our album! Love it! Indulge it! Blah blah blah' and the first track really does this. I never actually got round to doing my first reaction thing that I've done for a lot of the other tracks, but I would have said that it's a really guitar and drum driven, catchy, punchy song. It has no strong meaning to it, it's just a song about having a good time which sets a good tone to the album, it gets you pumped and ready to take what's coming.
I really like how the song starts with the boys talking in what I presume is a studio before coming in with the song, it makes it all seem more real, like it's coming from real people.
2, She's Kinda Hot, I want to say this is one my favourites, but there's too many favourites. I really like the production of this song, Ashton's commentary, the xylophone in the background, the claps, and a really odd elephant noise that just doesn't stand out considering it's an elephant noise in the background of a song. In my opinion, it's the rockiest on the album, it's so guitar heavy and Michael's 'wah wah' solo blows me away! The lyrics are strong and shouty but melodically good, and it carries a good message, kicking off the new broken scene and what it stands for.
3, Hey Everybody! I've already written about this song in depth "here" but as a brief summary, this song is also musically rockier but carries a really meaningful message inspiring people to do what makes them happy in life.
4, Permanent Vacation, you know I don't actually know what this song's about.. I have a theory, one of my strange mind things. I think it's about depression -but metaphorically. Destination permanent vacation is solid happiness, and the song is about the fight to get there. There's subtle hints on taking medication and 'hey I'm doing fine' it's kind of an upbeat happy approach to a serious matter, more aimed at the people who are fighting. This has only come to me right now and suddenly all the lyrics are falling into place. This is really cleverly done by 5sos.
5, Jet Black Heart, this is also probably one of my favourites. I spoke in detail in "this" post, which is honestly worth a read just because the song has such a strong message and I really went in deep. Kind of, I tried not to be too rambly.
This song is more vocally heavy than instrumentally, the focus is on the lyrics and making sure the listeners feel all the feels they're supposed to. The song's about protecting yourself to extreme levels that you become that bitter person who shuts everyone out, then meeting someone who gets too close and they catch a glimmer of you're broken insides and the song tells the story of the confusion as to whether you should let this person in your barricaded life or keep them out. It's a beautiful song, and very well written.
6, Catch Fire, ooh I do love this one! It just sounds really pretty, it sung at a really nice note/octave/whatever fancy word you use. I kind of feel like it's Jet Black Heart 2.0. Say JBH is a girls perspective, and she meets a boy who gets too close, then this song is the boys perspective and he's saying it's okay, he's broken too, and he's trying to convince her that she should be honest with him and they should be together because he needs her and he can protect her.
I get other vibes that it's about a relationship that's broken down and this person is trying to get it back on its' tracks. Which makes a lot more sense if you listen to the lyrics but I really like the idea of JBH 2.0.
7, Safety Pin, do you know what, I really feel like this song is from 5sos to their fans. I know it's 'broken boy meets broken girl' but I feel like 5sos is the boy and the fans are the girl... Because 5sos know their impact on their fans, they've helped a lot of people with their music, and the fans know that 5sos have their own issues -not serious issues -but I feel like the fans have helped them as much as they've helped us, and that the fans and 5sos themselves are both the safety pin holding the 'broken boy' and 'broken girl' together.
8, Waste The Night, I hate myself for saying this, but I feel like the vocals sound very One Direction in this song -not musically at all, just vocally.but I love the concept of this song like you're not making the most of your life, there's so much to do in the world and we sit on Tumblr or Twitter all day, it makes me want to travel and forget everything, which is clever because the song doesn't say anything about sitting in all day, it just makes you feel like you need to get out and achieve something.
The song finishes with this beautiful instrumental interlude which I'm obsessed with, it doesn't sound like the song, it's really calm and bass-y/drum-y.
9, Vapor, this lyrically is one of my favourites. It's so genius. They sing representing someone as a drug, but not in a trashy 'yeah you make me high' kind of way, but in a way that's kind of desperate, like they can't get enough of this person. They don't want to be restricted to just touching and looking at this person, they want to inhale this person, inject this person into their veins. It's such a beautiful but strangely unique way of describing love/or maybe just lust... And I really like it.
10, Castaway, this is Ashton's song. He really shines on the drums in this, it's punchy and dance-y and sing a long-y. This is a song I just remember. When I first hear it I'm 'no, there's better songs on the album' but by the end I'm like 'God this is a good song' and I don't know at which point I change my mind, it's an odd song in that sense. I love the part when the music strips back and Luke sings in a deep voice and then a guitar comes in (I don't know how to say this technically) going down all the notes, sliding down the strings and it becomes more guitar rocky to finish the song off.
11, The Girl Who Cried Wolf, I've spoke about this in a Currently Listening To post before but I won't link it now, this is the part of the album where the emotions start to come in. The start of the song is a kind of slow ease into the slower side of the album with acousticness, but electric essences and strings. A mish mash of noises, which makes for this amazingly beautiful sounding tune. Then. There's an instrumental break. And things pick up, where you'd think it would turn really electric to finish th song off with a climax of a bang! It doesn't.. but it does. Michael, who is known to be very conscious of his voice, comes in with this gut wrenching, soul hurting, heart destroying solo, repeating the same words over and over with this perfect raspy, hurt, strong voice. I can't describe the goosebumps it gives me, it's so powerfully emotional that it physically takes me aback.
This is my favourite off the album.
12, Broken Home, with no time to recover from your emotions, this song is thrown right at you. I will try not to sound too fangirlish when I describe this song but what can't be helped, can't be helped. I've said before when talking about Stay Together For The Kids by Blink 182, that my parents have split, but it didn't affect me because it's something that needed to happen. However this song really makes me think, back to my childhood days of a happy family, but this song isn't reminiscent of a happy family at all. It's heart breaking. The lyrics are strong, they are so well written and sung with such slowness and emotion and rawness, accompanied mostly by strings.. It's the perfect concoction for the most sad song you will ever hear.
Now I'm honestly a sucker for sad songs. I love feeling things from music, and sad songs will always make you feel something, but this song is so sad that I feel nothing,. After it's finished I feel empty, like my insides are a black pit. I've never experienced this, it's so sad that I don't physically have that emotion in my body. And it affects me, the song really gets to me, it makes me feel like I never want to smile again..
My favourite part of the song is Michael's solo. He comes in at the climax, and from the song previously explaining this broken house situation and painting the picture in your head, Michael brings it all to reality by telling you to let it go because you're losing your hope. And that's the part where I, and other fans, lose it. Because this picture 5sos painted for us with the first half of the song, is suddenly being swept away uncontrollably by Michael's words, and it works, and it helps. But you're letting go of memories of your parents and it's so hard, but it feels so.. relievable.
This song is like therapy, which anyone outside the 5sos universe will never understand, it's so special.
13, Fly Away, the tempo is quickly brought back to reality in this song, which kind of sucks because we're all full of emotion and now we're back to partying and we don't want to! However, I feel like this song is placed here because it continues on from Broken Home, because this song is about running away, getting out of your bad place, going as far as you can and never looking back, which is probably what you want to do when you have a broken home. I went into more depth on the song "here".
14, Invisible, back to the slow ones again. This song is purely acoustic, and purely Calum's vocals with a dash of strings. I'm so so mad this song wasn't around in my high school days. This song describes my entire high school experience, even coming home I still felt the same way. Back then I'd have killed for a song like this to keep me going, and now I don't feel like like I did back then, but I know I'll still have days where this song will do a great deal for me. The title says it all really, about what the song is about, but it goes a bit deeper than just feeling invisible with lyrics like "I was already missing before the night I left" and "who am I, who am I, when I don't know myself" it really goes in deep and touches the heart, it's not a tacky song by someone trying to be relatable, it's real. And everything makes sense.
15, Airplanes, yes yes yes yes. First of all, we are greeted with amazing drumming. Then Guitars. Then a really raw voice -Michael's voice. I feel like the song is about spending your life waiting for something good to come along and then finding something that makes you feel free, and suddenly you put your all to into it like you would if you had 'something to prove' but you don't, you're putting all this effort in off you're own back, because it's what you really want to do. It's another subtle song which makes me want to get off my arse and do something great without 5sos actually pointing it out. This is also another favourite of mine.
16, San Francisco, this song is slightly like Catch Fire melodically, but musically lighter and flutter-ier. I can't work out what it's about, I know it's about love and wanting to go back to where the love was first found, so maybe the love is breaking down or someone wants to do something over. It's a pretty song, I really like this one. Especially because it has another interlude at the end, made of just instruments, I feel like it's teaching kids (or even adults) to love music -not just the voices or the people behind the songs.
17, Outer Space/Carry On, I knew I would love this before the album came out because it was recorded on a beach, at midnight, so the song already carries atmosphere and something more real to it than it being produced in a studio. It's a soft song with harsh instrumental at some points and softer at others, I haven't dug into this song much enough to have a solid thing as to what it's about, but personally, the song feels infinite. It feels like they're singing about what makes them feel infinite like someone by their side, rain in outer space etc, it's all like a little infinity they're describing.
Carry on is the second half of the song, played after a beautiful interlude of the sea. I don't need to clarify how much I love the sea. It's so peaceful and one of my favourite sounds. This song is the perfect way to end the album. The instruments are gone. I think percussion is the only sound aside from a choir of voices. It's about simplicity, and closing up the album of 'personal problems in people's lives' the boys sign off with a 'it won't be long' 'it's gonna get better' and 'carry on' in soft, hushed voices, but with the power of a choir behind them. It's in-genius it's so unbelievably, cleverly done. And it's nice. It's so nice for the boys to end it that way.
The album starts as this rocky sound we were all hoping for, then it changes into this masterpiece of emotion with strings alongside their guitars, and rawness in their voices. The album is real. It's about real things, recorded in a real way, with the talking at the start and the waves at the end. Even the choir, it snaps you out of this trance you're in when you listen to music so that you're more aware of what's being sung to you. This album is about more than music, and I don't know if I'm seeing that because I'm a fan who's intently looking deep into the album, or whether everyone experiences this with the album. I hope everyone gets what I got from the album, because it's really special.
Shaan x
My 5sos album came! It's in my hands, it's new and shiny, and 3-D and has a cover on it and it smells like a new book.
So I finally feel like I can do my review/thoughts on it now. I don't want to say I'm doing a 'review' and have people expect knowledgeable, insightful, musical facts from me. I'm just an average teenager, speaking a few words about my favourite band, without being squealish about it. But I mean it's technically a review..
1) Okay so track number one. Money. I like an album that comes in steady, but extremely powerful and in your face to say 'hey! this is what's on offer! This is our album! Love it! Indulge it! Blah blah blah' and the first track really does this. I never actually got round to doing my first reaction thing that I've done for a lot of the other tracks, but I would have said that it's a really guitar and drum driven, catchy, punchy song. It has no strong meaning to it, it's just a song about having a good time which sets a good tone to the album, it gets you pumped and ready to take what's coming.
I really like how the song starts with the boys talking in what I presume is a studio before coming in with the song, it makes it all seem more real, like it's coming from real people.
2, She's Kinda Hot, I want to say this is one my favourites, but there's too many favourites. I really like the production of this song, Ashton's commentary, the xylophone in the background, the claps, and a really odd elephant noise that just doesn't stand out considering it's an elephant noise in the background of a song. In my opinion, it's the rockiest on the album, it's so guitar heavy and Michael's 'wah wah' solo blows me away! The lyrics are strong and shouty but melodically good, and it carries a good message, kicking off the new broken scene and what it stands for.
3, Hey Everybody! I've already written about this song in depth "here" but as a brief summary, this song is also musically rockier but carries a really meaningful message inspiring people to do what makes them happy in life.
4, Permanent Vacation, you know I don't actually know what this song's about.. I have a theory, one of my strange mind things. I think it's about depression -but metaphorically. Destination permanent vacation is solid happiness, and the song is about the fight to get there. There's subtle hints on taking medication and 'hey I'm doing fine' it's kind of an upbeat happy approach to a serious matter, more aimed at the people who are fighting. This has only come to me right now and suddenly all the lyrics are falling into place. This is really cleverly done by 5sos.
5, Jet Black Heart, this is also probably one of my favourites. I spoke in detail in "this" post, which is honestly worth a read just because the song has such a strong message and I really went in deep. Kind of, I tried not to be too rambly.
This song is more vocally heavy than instrumentally, the focus is on the lyrics and making sure the listeners feel all the feels they're supposed to. The song's about protecting yourself to extreme levels that you become that bitter person who shuts everyone out, then meeting someone who gets too close and they catch a glimmer of you're broken insides and the song tells the story of the confusion as to whether you should let this person in your barricaded life or keep them out. It's a beautiful song, and very well written.
6, Catch Fire, ooh I do love this one! It just sounds really pretty, it sung at a really nice note/octave/whatever fancy word you use. I kind of feel like it's Jet Black Heart 2.0. Say JBH is a girls perspective, and she meets a boy who gets too close, then this song is the boys perspective and he's saying it's okay, he's broken too, and he's trying to convince her that she should be honest with him and they should be together because he needs her and he can protect her.
I get other vibes that it's about a relationship that's broken down and this person is trying to get it back on its' tracks. Which makes a lot more sense if you listen to the lyrics but I really like the idea of JBH 2.0.
7, Safety Pin, do you know what, I really feel like this song is from 5sos to their fans. I know it's 'broken boy meets broken girl' but I feel like 5sos is the boy and the fans are the girl... Because 5sos know their impact on their fans, they've helped a lot of people with their music, and the fans know that 5sos have their own issues -not serious issues -but I feel like the fans have helped them as much as they've helped us, and that the fans and 5sos themselves are both the safety pin holding the 'broken boy' and 'broken girl' together.
8, Waste The Night, I hate myself for saying this, but I feel like the vocals sound very One Direction in this song -not musically at all, just vocally.but I love the concept of this song like you're not making the most of your life, there's so much to do in the world and we sit on Tumblr or Twitter all day, it makes me want to travel and forget everything, which is clever because the song doesn't say anything about sitting in all day, it just makes you feel like you need to get out and achieve something.
The song finishes with this beautiful instrumental interlude which I'm obsessed with, it doesn't sound like the song, it's really calm and bass-y/drum-y.
9, Vapor, this lyrically is one of my favourites. It's so genius. They sing representing someone as a drug, but not in a trashy 'yeah you make me high' kind of way, but in a way that's kind of desperate, like they can't get enough of this person. They don't want to be restricted to just touching and looking at this person, they want to inhale this person, inject this person into their veins. It's such a beautiful but strangely unique way of describing love/or maybe just lust... And I really like it.
10, Castaway, this is Ashton's song. He really shines on the drums in this, it's punchy and dance-y and sing a long-y. This is a song I just remember. When I first hear it I'm 'no, there's better songs on the album' but by the end I'm like 'God this is a good song' and I don't know at which point I change my mind, it's an odd song in that sense. I love the part when the music strips back and Luke sings in a deep voice and then a guitar comes in (I don't know how to say this technically) going down all the notes, sliding down the strings and it becomes more guitar rocky to finish the song off.
11, The Girl Who Cried Wolf, I've spoke about this in a Currently Listening To post before but I won't link it now, this is the part of the album where the emotions start to come in. The start of the song is a kind of slow ease into the slower side of the album with acousticness, but electric essences and strings. A mish mash of noises, which makes for this amazingly beautiful sounding tune. Then. There's an instrumental break. And things pick up, where you'd think it would turn really electric to finish th song off with a climax of a bang! It doesn't.. but it does. Michael, who is known to be very conscious of his voice, comes in with this gut wrenching, soul hurting, heart destroying solo, repeating the same words over and over with this perfect raspy, hurt, strong voice. I can't describe the goosebumps it gives me, it's so powerfully emotional that it physically takes me aback.
This is my favourite off the album.
12, Broken Home, with no time to recover from your emotions, this song is thrown right at you. I will try not to sound too fangirlish when I describe this song but what can't be helped, can't be helped. I've said before when talking about Stay Together For The Kids by Blink 182, that my parents have split, but it didn't affect me because it's something that needed to happen. However this song really makes me think, back to my childhood days of a happy family, but this song isn't reminiscent of a happy family at all. It's heart breaking. The lyrics are strong, they are so well written and sung with such slowness and emotion and rawness, accompanied mostly by strings.. It's the perfect concoction for the most sad song you will ever hear.
Now I'm honestly a sucker for sad songs. I love feeling things from music, and sad songs will always make you feel something, but this song is so sad that I feel nothing,. After it's finished I feel empty, like my insides are a black pit. I've never experienced this, it's so sad that I don't physically have that emotion in my body. And it affects me, the song really gets to me, it makes me feel like I never want to smile again..
My favourite part of the song is Michael's solo. He comes in at the climax, and from the song previously explaining this broken house situation and painting the picture in your head, Michael brings it all to reality by telling you to let it go because you're losing your hope. And that's the part where I, and other fans, lose it. Because this picture 5sos painted for us with the first half of the song, is suddenly being swept away uncontrollably by Michael's words, and it works, and it helps. But you're letting go of memories of your parents and it's so hard, but it feels so.. relievable.
This song is like therapy, which anyone outside the 5sos universe will never understand, it's so special.
13, Fly Away, the tempo is quickly brought back to reality in this song, which kind of sucks because we're all full of emotion and now we're back to partying and we don't want to! However, I feel like this song is placed here because it continues on from Broken Home, because this song is about running away, getting out of your bad place, going as far as you can and never looking back, which is probably what you want to do when you have a broken home. I went into more depth on the song "here".
14, Invisible, back to the slow ones again. This song is purely acoustic, and purely Calum's vocals with a dash of strings. I'm so so mad this song wasn't around in my high school days. This song describes my entire high school experience, even coming home I still felt the same way. Back then I'd have killed for a song like this to keep me going, and now I don't feel like like I did back then, but I know I'll still have days where this song will do a great deal for me. The title says it all really, about what the song is about, but it goes a bit deeper than just feeling invisible with lyrics like "I was already missing before the night I left" and "who am I, who am I, when I don't know myself" it really goes in deep and touches the heart, it's not a tacky song by someone trying to be relatable, it's real. And everything makes sense.
15, Airplanes, yes yes yes yes. First of all, we are greeted with amazing drumming. Then Guitars. Then a really raw voice -Michael's voice. I feel like the song is about spending your life waiting for something good to come along and then finding something that makes you feel free, and suddenly you put your all to into it like you would if you had 'something to prove' but you don't, you're putting all this effort in off you're own back, because it's what you really want to do. It's another subtle song which makes me want to get off my arse and do something great without 5sos actually pointing it out. This is also another favourite of mine.
16, San Francisco, this song is slightly like Catch Fire melodically, but musically lighter and flutter-ier. I can't work out what it's about, I know it's about love and wanting to go back to where the love was first found, so maybe the love is breaking down or someone wants to do something over. It's a pretty song, I really like this one. Especially because it has another interlude at the end, made of just instruments, I feel like it's teaching kids (or even adults) to love music -not just the voices or the people behind the songs.
17, Outer Space/Carry On, I knew I would love this before the album came out because it was recorded on a beach, at midnight, so the song already carries atmosphere and something more real to it than it being produced in a studio. It's a soft song with harsh instrumental at some points and softer at others, I haven't dug into this song much enough to have a solid thing as to what it's about, but personally, the song feels infinite. It feels like they're singing about what makes them feel infinite like someone by their side, rain in outer space etc, it's all like a little infinity they're describing.
Carry on is the second half of the song, played after a beautiful interlude of the sea. I don't need to clarify how much I love the sea. It's so peaceful and one of my favourite sounds. This song is the perfect way to end the album. The instruments are gone. I think percussion is the only sound aside from a choir of voices. It's about simplicity, and closing up the album of 'personal problems in people's lives' the boys sign off with a 'it won't be long' 'it's gonna get better' and 'carry on' in soft, hushed voices, but with the power of a choir behind them. It's in-genius it's so unbelievably, cleverly done. And it's nice. It's so nice for the boys to end it that way.
The album starts as this rocky sound we were all hoping for, then it changes into this masterpiece of emotion with strings alongside their guitars, and rawness in their voices. The album is real. It's about real things, recorded in a real way, with the talking at the start and the waves at the end. Even the choir, it snaps you out of this trance you're in when you listen to music so that you're more aware of what's being sung to you. This album is about more than music, and I don't know if I'm seeing that because I'm a fan who's intently looking deep into the album, or whether everyone experiences this with the album. I hope everyone gets what I got from the album, because it's really special.
Shaan x
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