5 Seconds of Summer’s new album “Everyone’s a Star!” released on Nov. 14,with the deluxe “Everyone’s a Star! (Fully Evolved)” releasing shortly after on Nov 17. It changes sounds from their last album from dreamy alternative pop with hints of rock to a more night out, synth and distorted sound. 

One of the most enjoyable things about 5SOS is how each album of theirs changes slightly in sound. It shows growth and versatility. They’ve done pop, pop punk and both heavier and acoustic sounds as well, and often discuss in interviews the artists they take inspiration from. It creates more anticipation while waiting for their next record because you can never be sure exactly what you’ll get. 

With their previous album, 5SOS5, being full of poetic lyrics and metaphors that were used as a window into personal emotions and experiences, “Everyone’s a Star!” had a pretty high bar set for it. This record definitely has a mix between tracks that show vulnerability and some that are more generic in both topic and sound.

Two favorites from the record are “I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep Again” and “Start Over.” Both tracks have a dreamy and airy feeling to them with slightly less-distorted vocals then the rest of the album, allowing you to enjoy their voices, along with specific and personal lyrics. While “I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep Again” is about the thought of someone taking up so much space in your brain that it will keep you up at night, “Start Over” discusses how it feels to be in love with everything about someone and the fear of that relationship ending. 

Another standout is “istillfeelthesame” which follows “I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep Again.” This song has lyrics that hold emotional weight, speaking about a disconnect in a relationship because the other person is losing feelings. This song incorporates a more synth and 80s sound which makes it stand out a bit amongst the others while still being high energy. Following this song is “Ghost,” one of the only slow songs on the record. This song continues the more vulnerable topics with a slow and minimal beat that allows you to really focus on the clear vocals. While the details of the song’s subject seems to be open enough for various interpretations, any conclusion on the meaning will still bring emotion. Starting the song off with “you sound like me when you’re drunk” and continuing on with lyrics like “I can’t look you in the eyes / ‘Cause I’m afraid it looks like me” and the chorus, “you and I, haunted by a similar ghost” are all hard-hitting lines that stick with you. The song ends with a silent pause that then jumps to a loud build that seems to express further emotional aspects. 

However, if you listen to the album from start to finish, you’d have to get through the first three tracks, “Everyone’s a Star!” “Not OK,” and “Telephone Busy” that all feel repetitive and contain little to no unique qualities. These tracks are upbeat with heavy distortion, but lack one of the things 5SOS did so well on their last album, which is specific lyrics/story telling that evokes emotion. 5SOS are talented enough to all have good, unique and distinct voices, which is why putting so much distortion on them throughout some of these pieces can make this record feel less personal and more like any other hype-sounding music out there. “Evolve,” a later song off the record, is another one I would categorize in the more basic area. With lyrics like “I wanna have fun / I wanna get high / I wanna get drunk / When you gonna grow up? / I wanna do drugs” it just felt like a grab for a catchy song that would be played in a club and that could be found anywhere. With making “Everyone’s a Star!” and “Not OK” the first two singles, it came across like there would be little to no range in sound and lyrical subjects to be expected on this record, even if that turned out to not be true. 

While the fourth song “Boyband” continues within the same genre as the previous ones, the lyrics seem a bit more personal. Throughout 5SOS’ career, they have been categorized as a boyband, a label they used to fight when they were younger but were never able to fully get away from. Over time they seemed to stop caring about the title and even included a skit in their 10 year anniversary video where they made fun of themselves by mocking how they used to act/feel towards it. They also used posts and flyers with things like “your favorite boyband is coming back” as promotion for this album. This song seems to be referencing this aspect of their career. Whether you think of them as a boyband or not, they’ve been treated like one for years. Lyrics in the song like “Boy in a boyband, / imaginary boyfriend,” “make that monkey dance” and “love me when I’m skinny, / and we never ever age” all show how this sort of fame can feel like they’re only there for entertainment instead of being their own people. 

“Wishful Dreaming,” one of the deluxe songs from the record, has a light-sounding chorus with a bit of a heavier sound within the verses. That heavier and more-dense sound can also be heard throughout “The Rocks.” This brings some resemblance in genre to their second album “Sounds Good Feels Good.” While this album brings a lot of new sounds for 5SOS, this song adds some familiarity within that. 

Whether you like songs that hold a more hype feeling or ones with lyrics to sit with, or even somewhere in between, there’s probably something on this album for you. With 5SOS being very present in playing shows recently and never knowing which genre they might incorporate within their music next, now could be a good time to see if they could be your new favorite “boyband.”