5 SECONDS OF SUMMER - Everyone’s A Star

Self-styled Australian boy-band, very pop and barely punk, with worldwide success, 5 Seconds Of Summer have racked up hits, streams and sold-out shows, positioning themselves as the rockier alternative to One Direction without losing any of the simplicity and immediacy essential to the teenage audience of every era.

Formed in 2011, after some time paying their dues on YouTube they had their breakthrough with the sugary pop-punk single "She Looks So Perfect" in 2014, the lead track from an eponymous album that met with surprising public success and helped build a tight-knit, passionate community.

Having become one of the most successful acts in Australian music history, essential to the adolescence of many, they shifted towards a more polished, danceable electronic pop sound with "Youngblood" (2018), a third album with new wave shades driven above all by the title track, a less abrasive take on Imagine Dragons. Too often, though, whether because of Luke Hemmings' vocal register or the mix of smoothed-out pop, harmless electronics and recurring romantic themes, 5 Seconds Of Summer end up resembling Maroon 5. This sixth album, "Everyone's A Star", seems to rediscover rock energy without losing pop effectiveness. But there's more: post-punk, rave memories, steroid-fuelled electro-rock.

The technological rock sound, with reverbed vocals and the synth bass of the opening "Everyone's A Star!", immediately signals the transformation that's taken place: it's a darker, murkier sound, still immediate but definitely more mature than much of what appeared on previous albums. "Not OK" pushes even further: over a drum'n'bass beat and echoes that even recall Prodigy, 5 Seconds Of Summer build a contagious chorus.

But the Australians can also deliver melancholic synth-pop on "istillfeelthesame" and a muscular one on "Boyband", flirt with bombastic '80s-style rock on "No. 1 Obsession", and make their most heart-wrenching songs more interesting by steeping them in reverb and echo, as on "Ghost", a swing between intimacy and grandeur.

They nod to garage rock of twenty years ago on the guitar-driven "Sick Of Myself", then launch into the explosive nu disco of "Evolve" and dust off emo-pop with "The Rocks": they've never been so eclectic, and they pull it off sounding more fun than ever.

"Everyone's A Star" is more than a turning point, it's a rebirth and a fresh start: the Australian band hasn't given up its knack for crafting songs that are easy to remember and sing along to, but it cuts back on the sugar and considerably broadens its stylistic range. It certainly borrows and references other acts, but with newfound maturity and a touch of lightness and irony. Another point in its favor: it doesn't overstay its welcome, clocking in at under 37 minutes. It closes with "Jawbreaker", a synth fantasia that wraps up in just over two minutes. For this reason too, it's hard to recommend the extended edition, dubbed "fully evolved": even though "Chest" is an explosive electronic-rock track, sometimes it's better to stick to the essentials.

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03/01/2026