Year: 2022

Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.

1. Alex G, God Save The Animals

My issue with Alex G in the past is that his songs are so opaque that it sometimes seems like they’re not about anything. I didn’t fully take into account that this might be on purpose, given the ways in which he deliberately takes himself out of his own songs by manipulating his voice and disappearing into characters. But starting with 2020’s House Of Sugar and especially this album, I think he’s really mastered a sound and mood that’s specific to him. There’s a real modernist-retro thing going on with his music, in that you have hallmarks of old-school singer-songwriters (if we classify Elliott Smith as old school) combined with contemporary pop and R&B influences. Even that isn’t super original to him at this point, but he has been honing this aesthetic for a while now, and he’s now the undisputed champ of the style.

2. 2nd Grade, Easy Listening

If you know the tropes of power pop, you won’t find any surprises on the latest LP from this Philadelphia band. Are there jangly guitars? Yes. Do the vocals sound boyish in a melancholy sort of way? Of course. Are the lyrics replete with references to Beatles and Beach Boys songs? No question. Is there a generous supply of handclaps and gooey backing vocals? As if you need to ask! The point of power pop is never originality; it’s about musical craft and hitting the listener’s pleasure centers over and over via ruthlessly efficient and svelte songwriting. And on those counts, Easy Listening is a smashing success and one of my favorite albums of the year.

3. Mo Troper, MTV

For the past 50 years, there have always been bands committed to the art of making super hooky guitar-pop songs about heartache and horniness. This kind of music might not attract a huge audience, but the listeners who are into it are committed. And, sometimes, that fidelity is rewarded with a fresh wave of greatness. Believe it or not, but it appears that 2022 might be one of those times. There has been a cadre of very good and well-received power-pop albums this year, including the aforementioned Easy Listening and MTV, the newest album by Portland-based singer-songwriter Mo Troper. He came on my radar in 2021 when he put out an album called Dilettante, which has 28 songs that go by in about 50 minutes. The songs are slightly longer on MTV, but his aesthetic remains a delectable combination of lo-fi sloppiness and top-notch songcraft.

4. Wilco, “Venus Stop The Train”

I spent a lot of time this month immersed in the massive Yankee Hotel Foxtrot box set, which drops today. I’ve often said that my favorite Wilco album is a bootleg of YHF outtakes, and the box set expands the number of demos and alternate takes by several factors. As great as the record is, the long and restless journey in search of that greatness has always been more fascinating to me, for the same reason that rock geeks have long obsessed over the making of similarly “difficult” paradigm-shifting curveballs like Pet Sounds, Tusk, and Kid A. For many months during 2000 and ’01 at The Loft, Wilco’s north side Chicago rehearsal space and studio, they ran through countless different versions of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot songs. In the process, they touched on nearly every corner of modern music history, dabbling in classic Brill Building pop, spacey psychedelia, blistering krautrock, rustic folk, surly garage punk, bubblegum funk, John Cage-inspired dissonance, and various points in-between. (There are also the fan favorites that didn’t make the album, like “Venus Stop The Train.”)

5. Young Jesus, Shepherd Head

Whenever I hear people complain that modern indie is too safe or not experimental enough, I always think about this woefully underrated L.A. band, because they seem precisely like the sort of group those people should love. Young Jesus certainly is one of the few bands in modern indie that I can say has never made the same album twice. After the expansive and jammy rock of 2020’s Welcome To Conceptual Beach, the new one gives me a Talk Talk vibe. It’s an experimental art-pop record that’s more art than pop. I think it’s pretty spellbinding, and really shows how Young Jesus is continuing to evolve.

6. Elkhorn, Distances

This guitar duo describes themselves as “interweaving the extended folk tradition with psychedelic improvisation, moving freely from pre-rock to post-rock and beyond.” I would describe this record as “pop an edible and watch the sunset” music. But either classification is apt.

7. Built To Spill, When The Wind Forgets Your Name

The latest from the venerable indie institution is my favorite thing they’ve done since You In Reverse. Though I can’t really say why, exactly, because it’s not that different from their other recent-ish albums. I just like the songs more. This is them working in There’s Nothing Wrong With Love mode, where it’s more about poppy melodies than long guitar solos. BTS strikes me as a band that new generations will continue to discover, because while they are an archetypal ’90s indie band there aren’t a lot of things that date them to that period. And that’s probably because — unlike, say, Pavement — their deal has almost nothing to do with lyrics or an image and everything to do with cool guitar parts and Doug Martsch’s eternally boyish voice.

8. The Gaslight Anthem, “Chloe Dancer” (Live at The Hollywood Palladium, 9/17/22)

I saw two reunion tours this month — Pavement and this one. They were both very, very good. On paper, there is virtually nothing that connects those two bands. But from my vantage point, the concerts were good for the same reason — they didn’t seem like reunion shows. Both bands feel like they have stayed on the road for years and years, and in the process mastered a kind of tight looseness (where you sound powerful without looking like you’re trying to sound powerful) that’s essential for any band.

My favorite moment from either show was when The Gaslight Anthem covered Mother Love Bone’s “Chloe Dancer.” I was so into it that I didn’t record it, so I’m posting this video from a gig played one week prior. (I must admit that I have ulterior motives for posting this — my latest book, Long Road: Pearl Jam And The Soundtrack Of A Generation, came out this week, so all things PJ are definitely on my brain lately. If you are so inclined, you can pick up a copy from wherever you buy books.)

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

After teasing his new collaboration with J. Cole, “90 Proof,” earlier this week, Smino released the single overnight and shared a behind-the-scenes teaser from its upcoming music video on Instagram. As is the custom for a Smino release, “90 Proof” is a slinky cut co-produced by frequent collaborator Monte Booker and Groove, all brush snares and gyrating bass, with both rappers doing their things. Smino sing-raps a soulful confessional to a woman he’s been keeping at arm’s length, while J. Cole goes full speed ahead detailing his own authenticity.

“90 Proof” is the latest single from Smino’s long-awaited third album, Luv 4 Rent. The follow-up to his 2018 album Noir, he’s been cooking up his new project for quite some time, dropping “Rice & Gravy” in spring 2021. Toward the end of the year, he followed up with “I Deserve,” and since then, he’s been filling up his 2022 schedule with a string of impressive guest features with the likes of Syd (“Right Track“), Lucky Daye (“God Body“), Saba (“Still” with 6lack), and Tiana Major9 (“2 Seater“).

Before all that, Smino released the surprise mixtape She Already Decided in 2020, building on the buzz from his previous well-received albums. There’s still no word on his Ghetto Sage group project with Noname and Saba, but at least his new album is on the way; without a firm date, all we’ve got to go on so far is “Droptober.” The countdown starts tomorrow.

Looking to get in the mood for spooky season? You can gaze into the dead eyes of the creepy smiling folks behind home plate, or better yet, watch the trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities. The eight-episode Netflix series, overseen by the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water director, is “an anthology of sinister stories told by some of today’s most revered horror creators,” including Jennifer Kent (The Babadook), David Prior (The Empty Man), Panos Cosmatos (Mandy), Keith Thomas (The Vigil), Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight), and Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night).

You can watch the creepy trailer above. Here’s the complete lineup:

THE AUTOPSY
Cast: F. Murray Abraham, Glynn Turman, Luke Roberts
Writer: David S. Goyer (based on a short story by Michael Shea)
Director: David Prior

DREAMS IN THE WITCH HOUSE
Cast: Rupert Grint, Ismael Cruz Cordova, DJ Qualls, Nia Vardalos, Tenika Davis
Writer: Mika Watkins (based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft)
Director: Catherine Hardwicke

GRAVEYARD RATS
Cast: David Hewlett
Writer: Vincenzo Natali (based on a short story by Henry Kuttner)
Director: Vincenzo Natali

LOT 36
Cast: Tim Blake Nelson, Elpidia Carrillo, Demetrius Grosse, Sebastian Roché
Writer: Regina Corrado (based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro)
Director: Guillermo Navarro

THE MURMURING
Cast: Essie Davis, Andrew Lincoln, Hannah Galway
Writer: Jennifer Kent (based on an original story by Guillermo del Toro)
Director: Jennifer Kent

THE OUTSIDE
Cast: Kate Micucci, Martin Starr
Writer: Haley Z. Boston (based on a short story by comic book author Emily Carroll)
Director: Ana Lily Amirpour

PICKMAN’S MODEL
Cast: Ben Barnes, Crispin Glover, Oriana Leman
Writer: Lee Patterson (based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft)
Director: Keith Thomas (Firestarter; The Vigil)

THE VIEWING
Cast: Peter Weller, Eric André, Sofia Boutella, Charlyne Yi, Steve Agee, Michael Therrialt, Saad Siddiqui
Writer: Panos Cosmatos
Director: Panos Cosmatos with Aaron Stewart-Ahn

Eric Andre, Sofia Boutella, and RoboCop? Sign me up.

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities premieres on October 25.

Coolio, best known for his 1995 hit song “Gangsta’s Paradise,” died at age 59 earlier this week. Following the news, many in the music industry posted tributes to the late rapper. However, one post caught fans’ attention, from none other than “Weird Al” Yankovic — who Coolio had a documented beef with in the ’90s.

The tension between the two started after Yankovic wanted to parody Coolio’s song, which eventually was released as 1996’s “Amish Paradise.” Coolio originally denied Yankovic’s request for the song, but given fair use laws, he couldn’t stop a parody from happening. Thus, the beef began. Coolio even threw in a line about Yankovic in his song “Throwdown 2000,” which appeared to be a diss.

By some point around the 2000s, Coolio and Yankovic had hung out and eventually put their drama aside. Yankovic even wanted the rapper to appear in his 2006 movie, Al’s Brain, but Coolio declined due to the financial aspect of the deal. Prior to his passing, he even noted that he found Yankovic (and the parody of his song) hilarious.

“Let me say this: I apologized to Weird Al a long time ago and I was wrong,” Coolio told Vice in 2014. “Y’all remember that, everybody out there who reads this sh*t. Real men and real people should be able to admit when they’re wrong and I was wrong, bro. Come on, who the f*ck am I, bro?”

“He did parodies of Michael Jackson, he did parodies of all kinds of people and I took offense to it because I was being cocky and sh*t and being stupid and I was wrong and I should’ve embraced that sh*t and went with it,” he continued. “I listened to it a couple years after that and it’s actually funny as sh*t. It’s one of those things where I made a wrong call and nobody stopped me. That’s one thing I’m still upset about — my management at the time. Somebody should’ve stopped me from making that statement because it was dumb. And I think it hurt me a little bit. It made me seem stupid.”

Despite their beef history, Coolio and Yankovic still maintained a clear respect for one another.

Bruce Willis has become the first actor to sell the rights to his likeness to a deepfake company. After testing out the technology for a Russian TV commercial last year, the Armageddon star has reportedly granted the digital firm Deepcake the exclusive rights to create a “digital twin” for future projects.

After 40 years of making films, Willis announced in March of this year that he would be retiring from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, which has reportedly affected his cognition. With this unprecedented collaboration, Willis can now appear in films for years to come (according to The Telegraph), and the actor said in a statement that he was pleased how the Russian test run turned out. Via Collider:

“I liked the precision with which my character turned out. It’s a mini-movie in my usual action-comedy genre. For me, it is a great opportunity to go back in time.

With the advent of modern technology, even when I was on another continent, I was able to communicate, work and participate in the filming. It’s a very new and interesting experience, and I thank our entire team.”

Willis isn’t the only Hollywood legend experimenting with technology that can recreate performances. James Earl Jones recently announced signed over the rights to his voice to Lucasfilm. The VFX company is now authorized to use Respeecher AI technology to recreate Jones’ iconic Darth Vader voice in perpetuity. Lucasfilm has been experimenting with the tech on The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Darth Vader is set to appear in the upcoming Ahsoka series and will presumably use Respeecher to create the Dark Lord’s dialog.

(Via Collider)

Shawn Mendes voices the titular character in the forthcoming film Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, which is based on the children’s book series and arrives next month. Today, he released the song “Heartbeat” as the first single from the movie soundtrack.

“Heartbeat” is a jovial track with an infectious chorus: “Heartbeat, it speeds up whenever you / Want me, what you got, I want it like / All week, I need that, I wanna be / Wherever you are, wherever you are,” he sings against a flamboyant rhythm.

Earlier this year, the pop star had to cancel his Wonder tour. “As you guys know, I had to postpone the past few weeks of shows, since I wasn’t totally prepared for the toll that being back on the road would take me,” Mendes said in Twitter and Instagram posts. “I started this tour excited to finally get back to playing live after a long break due to the pandemic, but the reality is, I was not at all ready for how difficult touring would be after this time away. After speaking more with my team and working with an incredible group of mental health professionals, it has become more clear that I need to take the time I’ve never taken personally, to ground myself and come back stronger.”

Listen to “Heartbeat” above.

Russia’s war on Ukraine isn’t going terribly well, as an endless stream of leaked phone calls from Russian soldiers has confirmed to the world. Nor does video footage of soldiers being told to use tampons to treat their own bullet wounds look great. Yet Putin still decided to roll out an annexation event, in which he proclaimed that four regions of Ukraine are now part of Russia. That amounts to 15% of Ukrainian territory (mostly villages), but it’s grown increasingly clear (over the course of seven months) that Putin’s army won’t be able to take Kyiv. That didn’t stop Putin from telling Kyiv to stand down and negotiate with him during his Friday speech.

Will he have the manpower to even attempt to do so? Last week, the Russian president grew desperate and drafted 300,000 reservists, and in the midst of the chaos, his regime decided to draft protesters and ship them to Hell, too. Following public pressure, Putin has admitted (to his Security Council) that mistakes were made with the draft. Via the New York Times::

President Vladimir V. Putin acknowledged “mistakes” on Thursday in how the Russian government has been carrying out his draft, a sign of the Kremlin’s scramble to keep public discontent in check over Mr. Putin’s effort to escalate the war in Ukraine.

In televised remarks to top security officials, Mr. Putin said that the draft had raised “many questions,” and that “all mistakes must be corrected and prevented from happening in the future.” He described cases of people entitled to deferments being wrongly drafted, such as fathers of three or more children, men with chronic diseases or those above military age.

As well, Putin’s Friday speech (according to Washington Post reporter Mary Ilyushina) featured a rant about gender identity including, “The West’s suppression of moral values acquires the features of Satanism.” The Telegraph notes that he ranted for quite some time about Western countries, including the United States, and he warned Russians to save their “future generations” from the West: “We have to protect them from enslavement and experiments that can crippled their bodies and souls.”

This bizarre tangent appears to be how Putin’s justifying his war, although it’s truly a mystery how he believes that his distaste for the West has anything to do with turning the Ukrainian people’s world upside town. And still, he insisted that the newly annexed Ukrainian regions are due to “the will of millions of people” in Ukraine.

(Via The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post & The Telegraph)

Here’s a fun question: How much money is a Snoop Dogg blunt worth? On one hand, the rapper is perhaps the most iconic marijuana-associated celebrity, so a joint once owned by him is a special thing for fellow enthusiasts. On the other hand, thousands and thousands of Snoop Dogg blunts have found their way into existence over the years: In a 2012 Reddit AMA, Snoop noted he smokes about 81 blunts a day. If he kept that up daily for ten years, that’s over 295,000 blunts, and Snoop’s been smoking for much longer than just a decade.

So, how much is a Snoop blunt worth? It appears the answer is $10,000.

In a recent Variety interview, Seth Rogen and wife Lauren Miller Rogen spoke about Hilarity For Charity, their nonprofit and annual event focused on Alzheimer’s disease, for its tenth anniversary. During the conversation, they were asked if there was “one performance or moment through the years that you think really captures what Hilarity For Charity is all about,” and Seth said, “Snoop Dogg once auctioned off a blunt on stage for Alzheimer’s.” Lauren chimed in, “I think it went for $10,000.”

Seth continued, “I think that encapsulates how we are approaching the space differently. If you’re lucky enough to be able to get Snoop Dogg to come perform at your show and auction off a blunt for Alzheimer’s care and research, then I think that speaks very well to an unexpected but effective kind of melding of matters and sensibilities.”

Check out the full interview here.

Earlier this year, a major pop culture prediction was made: 2022 is the year indie sleaze returns. Think smudged makeup, disco pants, an odd obsession with cheap beer, and, of course, Meet Me In The Bathroom-era indie rock. So, it’s only right that the period’s most respectable band, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, are also making their comeback. On this week’s Indiecast episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen review the band’s comeback album Cool It Down. Plus, they share their thoughts on Wilco’s absolutely massive box set and plug Steven’s just-released book, Long Road: Pearl Jam And The Soundtrack Of A Generation.

The most talked-about music news story this week was fueled by Pitchfork’s massive listicle where they rounded up the 250 best songs of the ’90s. Like any major retrospective music list, the choices outraged some, particularly those who noted that Céline Dion made an appearance over Neutral Milk Hotel.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian notes the return of screamo legends City Of Caterpillar. Meanwhile, Steven tells listeners to check out 2nd Grade’s new album, Easy Listening.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 107 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

Countless moments had to go right, or at least not disastrously wrong, for 5 Seconds Of Summer to make it past the 10-year mark as a band. There were instances in which the band members themselves — made up of guitarists Luke Hemmings and Michael Clifford, bassist Calum Hood, and drummer Ashton Irwin — were uncertain about whether they would emerge from creative droughts and burnout long enough to even reach the milestone. But as they release 5SOS5, their fifth studio album in twice as many years, the pop-rock outfit has embraced the feeling of falling upwards.

The tagline has appeared sporadically throughout the current album era with no explicit meaning or definition. However, glancing back over the trajectory of their career, it’s clear that from the very beginning 5SOS possessed deeply ambitious, if at times misguided, long-term goals that shifted as they began to find their place in the pop arena. The Australian band has since built a catalog scattered with searing ruminations on toxic relationships that have reached their breaking point, others that simply weren’t meant to be in the first place, and more recently have embraced the thematic thread of self-reflection in their songwriting to metamorphic results.

When 5SOS released themselves from the restrictive influence of both internal and external expectations to allow themselves to fall freely, they didn’t find that they were plummeting towards the ground, but rather floating completely untether in the opposite direction towards boundless opportunity. Revisiting 20 of the band’s greatest songs, it seems they’re only getting better along the way.

20. “Castaway” (Sounds Good, Feels Good, 2015)

5SOS tried out a dozen combinations of sounds across their second album to help prove they were a tried-and-true rock band, each with varying degrees of success — but none as intriguing as “Castaway.” Left with the ashes of a past relationship, Hemmings and Clifford delivered a venomous performance trying to figure out where it all went wrong, backed by sweltering instrumentals from Hood and Irwin. The band took the glossy pop band narrative that had begun forming around them from the release of their self-titled debut album and melted it down with the heat of an unrestrained and fervently industrial rock anthem.

19. “Unpredictable” (Somewhere New EP, 2012)

5SOS has released dozens of songs across multiple albums and smaller projects since the release of their debut EP Somewhere New in 2012. Now, the band may look back and recoil from their earliest releases — they’ve grown immensely as artists in the time since and won’t even entertain the idea of playing most of them live — but still, there’s something special about the youthful optimism of “Unpredictable.” Even the cliché “get out of town” trope they learned from their pop-punk forefathers isn’t cringe-worthy. How could it be? They sounded like they were having the time of their lives.

18. “End Up Here” (5 Seconds Of Summer, 2014)

After years of studying the work of All Time Low, Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and more, 5SOS boiled down the most essential lessons they learned from each of their early career influences and crafted their notes into “End Up Here.” They checked all of the boxes: slight self-deprecation, impassioned storytelling, and — most importantly — a killer, chant-ready chorus that kicked off with a Nirvana reference and lead into an even more satisfying hook: “Now we’re walking back to your place / You’re telling me how you love that song about living on a prayer / I’m pretty sure that we’re halfway there.”

17. “TEARS!” (5SOS5, 2022)

Closing out 5SOS5 as the last of five bonus tracks, “TEARS!” is an atmospheric departure from the 18 songs that preceded it. Beyond its pulsating, boundary-pushing production — one of the band’s most unique structural arrangements to date — the track unsuspectingly called back to the cadence and melodies wielded by R&B singers in the late ’90s and early 2000s, the beat dropping out at times to spotlight crystal-clear vocal performances from Hood and Irwin. One of the few led vocally in the band’s discography, let alone on this particular album, “TEARS!” unleashes a vividly cathartic performance about a precarious search for release.

16. “Moving Along” (Youngblood, 2018)

On their third album Youngblood, 5SOS set the stage for their most ambitious and cohesive live show yet. With that in mind, the band brought the energy of thousands of fans into the studio to create “Moving Along,” a pulsing deep cut that erupts from the moment it begins. The funk-meets-rock track only slows down as Hood and Hemmings take turns riding out the bassline, wondering if an ex is as stuck on even the most trivial “what-ifs” of the past as they are. “Thinking ’bout you lots lately,” they admit. “Have you been eating breakfast alone like me?”

15. “Vapor” (Sounds Good, Feels Good, 2015)

“Vapor,” a deep cut from Sounds Good, Feels Good, builds itself around the elevation of deeply passionate sentiments, even in the face of emotional destruction. “I want to breathe you in like you’re vapor,” 5SOS offers on the chorus in a rare instance in which Clifford leads vocals. The intensity heightens from there, Hood and Irwin raising the bar: “I want to feel you in my veins.” There’s a haunting darkness to “Vapor” that intensifies with the addition of a complete string section that runs beneath percussion that sonically resembles the shattering of hearts in a relationship built to fail.

14. “Blender” (5SOS5, 2022)

5SOS has long conveyed an apparent discomfort with staying in one place for too long, using each project to experiment with their sound while inching closer and closer to a sonic manifestation of their core identity. On 5SOS5, they crack their own code with “Blender,” an uptempo emotional whirlwind driven by a masterfully slick bassline and vocal gymnastics. The single reflects a culmination of both the band’s development between Youngblood and CALM and their dramatic yet electrifying energy they made honest attempts at capturing on their earlier releases. “Blender” is an illustration of the heights 5SOS can reach when everything clicks.

13. “Old Me” (CALM, 2020)

One of the leading singles on CALM, the band’s fourth studio album that derived its title from each member’s first initial, “Old Me” feels like a catalyst for the recent self-reflective breakthroughs offered both on their group releases and in the solo material shared by Hemmings (2021’s When Facing The Things We Turn Away From) and Irwin (2021’s Superbloom). Over thumping production from Post Malone collaborator Louis Bell, 5SOS owns up to their past to streamline a clear path toward the future. “Shout out to the old me and everything you showed me,” Hemmings laments. “Had to f*ck it up before I let you get to know me.”

12. “Beside You” (5 Seconds Of Summer, 2014)

Two years before it landed on the band’s debut album, an earlier version of “Beside You” was the centerpiece of their debut EP. The newer recording was a more polished effort rounded out with orchestral flare and rock inclinations. The lyrics, however, remained intact, almost as a testament to foundational songwriting skills 5SOS had from the jump. Conceptually, they weren’t reinventing the wheel in their approach to detailing the yearning of a long-distance relationship, but they made it their own. It also marked one of the band’s strongest vocal performances and remains a fundamental marker of growth in their skill set.

11. “Older (featuring Sierra Deaton)” (5SOS5, 2022)

Credited collaborations are few and far between within 5SOS’ catalog. With the arrival of “Older,” songwriter Sierra Deaton becomes the first featured artist on one of the band’s album tracks. The one-time X Factor winner co-wrote the song with Hemmings (her fiancé) and has vocals on the final recording. The soothing ballad pays homage to classic, piano-based love songs while verbalizing the inevitable pain promised by falling in love and running out of time. There’s a maturity to the notion, taking the band’s frequent ruminations on the passage of time and pairing it with their ever-evolving understanding of the complexity of love.

10. “Waste The Night” (Sounds Good, Feels Good, 2015)

5SOS knew they needed their second album to explore areas of their artistry they hadn’t on the first. When they started working on what would become “Waste The Night,” they laid down a mid-tempo foundation built around synths with Irwin’s drumming leading them forward. Clifford and Hood tackle the refrain that follows the instrumental break at the song’s conclusion, returning from a seamless fade-out to harmonize with alluring vocals. Drawing inspiration from somewhere in the space between The Police and The 1975, 5SOS unearthed something that felt grandiose, ethereal, and unexpected.

9. “Teeth — Live From The Vault” (CALM, 2019)

During the early stages of introducing CALM, 5SOS conceptualized the vault, a live performance space where they would deliver alternate recordings of the album’s singles. Before the vault shuttered indefinitely at the start of the pandemic, 5SOS recorded an elevated version of their industrial rock track “Teeth” — which interpolates New Order’s “Blue Monday” via Rihanna’s “Shut Up And Drive” — adding even more grit and electricity to it. The bassline running through “Teeth — Live From The Vault” fuses with piercing drum stabs and range-challenging vocals in what culminates as a celebration of the complete transformation a song can make when its focus locks in on the interconnection of its instrumentation.

8. “Disconnected” (She Looks So Perfect EP, 2014)

While 5SOS were making their mark singing about arrow-heart tattoos and American Apparel underwear on their debut major label single “She Looks So Perfect,” the song’s accompanying EP was hiding pop gold in plain sight. Co-written with John Feldmann (The Used, Good Charlotte) and All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, “Disconnected” expertly channeled the brand of long-winded rhythmic pop that The 1975 were inching closer to perfecting around the same time. Everything fell perfectly into place — from the backing ad-libs and the attention-demanding performance from the rhythm section to the tender sentiment: “You are my getaway, you are my favorite place.”

7. “Bad Omens” (5SOS5, 2022)

On “Bad Omens,” 5SOS delivers a cautionary tale about the danger of ignoring glaring red flags, something their discography suggests they’ve had quite a few run-ins with. Still, when it comes to love, they never learn their lesson. The layers of harmonies that swell at the end of the track alongside an angelic string section were recorded all at once, rather than pieced together in layers later on. As it builds to a climax, the ensemble performance drives home the force behind their willingness to go to the ends of the earth for someone, no matter how poorly it may end: “That’s what you do when you love somebody.”

6. “Ghost of You — Live” (Meet You There Tour Live, 2018)

5SOS’ live show rests at the core of their identity as a band. On “Ghost Of You — Live,” recorded in 2018 during the Meet You There tour, eerie piano notes lead into a transformative rendition of the chilling breakup ballad from Youngblood. Flashlights raised, the audience quickly takes on a collaborative role as thousands of emotion-packed voices blend together with the band’s pristine performance. “So I drown it out like I always do / Dancing through our house with the ghost of you,” Hemmings sings on the final verse, driving home one of the band’s most heart-wrenching lyrics with the help of the roaring crowd: “And I’ll chase it down, with a shot of truth / That my feet don’t dance like they did with you.”

5. “2011” (2021)

Commemorating their 10-year anniversary in December 2021, 5SOS shared “2011,” a nostalgia-drenched return to form. “I miss the days when we were young and not so wise,” Hood offers. “Only doing what felt right, with open hearts and open eyes.” In between the highs and lows of their career, 5SOS became somewhat jaded by their own success. But as the first song written and produced solely by 5SOS — Clifford helming the latter responsibility with pop-punk flare — “2011” carried with it an air of optimism. When the band chants “back to the days when the days were better” over slamming percussion, they aren’t exactly clicking their heels together wishing to go back in time. Instead, they arrive at a realization that the youthful, bright-eyed feeling doesn’t have to be gone forever – and they don’t need anyone but each other to get it back.

4. “If You Don’t Know” (Don’t Stop EP, 2014)

Over the years, 5SOS has developed a reputation for delegating some of their best songs to the fate of becoming b-sides and rarities. “If You Don’t Know” is one such fallen soldier. An essential snapshot from their early career, the record captures all of the potential they have come to reach and further explore as established pop artists in the years that followed. While delivering some of their sharpest lyrics to date, the band had never sounded more in sync — from Clifford’s anxiety-inducing guitar riffs reflecting the impending doom of the relationship to Irwin’s backing vocals holding the entire production together. It’s a breakup song that fights for a happy ending — if the flame was going to burn out, anyway, 5SOS were going to exhaust themselves pleading for one final chance at making it work.

3. “Close As Strangers” (5 Seconds Of Summer, 2014)

5SOS was adamant early in their career that they didn’t want to be called a boyband, or draw too many comparisons to One Direction, despite their closely linked fanbase. But teaming up with the group’s frequent collaborator Steve Robson, 5SOS made it clear that if they wanted to dominate in the pop lane (they would later prove on Youngblood, they could do so with ease). Listening to “Close As Strangers” feels like reading years-old love letters abandoned in a drawer and experiencing all of the same emotions. Another song left to collect dust in the depths of 5SOS’ discography, it’s a classic story of a musician on the road, straining to maintain a sense of connection. But 5SOS changes their fate, singing over soothing guitars and shimmering percussion: “Living dreams in fluorescent lights while you and I are running out of time, but you know that I’ll always wait for you.”

2. “Best Years” (CALM, 2020)

As we’ve seen, 5SOS does heartbreak extremely well — maybe even a little too well. But “Best Years” makes an undeniable case that 5SOS does all-consuming romance even better. It’s a modern pop ballad on par with Ariana Grande’s “POV” or The Weeknd’s “Die For You” and a public declaration of love that would bring even the most cynical anti-romantic to their knees. “Best Years” succeeds in its refusal to take the easy way out by celebrating a love without hiccups or detours. “I wanna hold your hair when you drink too much / And carry you home when you cannot stand up,” Hemmings offers as dazzling synths subside to the background. “You did all these things for me when I was half a man for you / I wanna hold your hand while we’re growing up.” There’s a depth to the track’s all-encompassing production that carefully matches the weight of its content without overpowering it.

1. “Youngblood” (Youngblood, 2018)

When 5SOS launched into their third album era in 2018, there was no better declaration of the band they had become in the three years since their last album than the title track “Youngblood.” Their newfound maturity reintroduced the four-piece as artists with a catalog-defining collection of live instrument-driven pop songs up their sleeve and nothing left to prove. 5SOS established themselves as key players in the genre’s ever-competitive arena with unsuspecting production twists and progressions as the single dominated radio, years ahead of pop’s guitar revival. During their time off gathering life experiences, the band made an essential transformation through the realization that they didn’t have to overcompensate for anyone’s expectations. Their first song to surpass a billion streams, “Youngblood” captured the essence of 5SOS in under three and a half minutes, signifying a defining turning point for the band as both songwriters and performers.