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(So disclaimer, I will preface this review by saying there is absolutely no way I can keep my bias out of this review. I've been a fan of these Aussie pop-rockers since their debut album in 2014 and I become a bigger and bigger fan every day.)
Youngblood was a huge gamble for 5SOS as a band-- their record label had abandoned them after their success with tracks like "She Looks So Perfect," "Amnesia," and "She's Kinda Hot", they'd disappeared from music for 2 years, and they'd grown up from a teen garage band to worldwide rockstars. 5 Seconds of Summer had one shot at rebirth with Youngblood , and they nailed it-- as far as pop-rock albums go, this one is darn near perfect.
Stand out tracks: "Youngblood" "Want You Back" "Ghost of You"
My favorites: "Want You Back" "Why Won't You Love Me" "Empty Wallets" "Woke Up In Japan"
I've always found "Youngblood" an odd album opener, but it checks every single box in terms of what you want from a great pop-rock song-- thrumming bass, whiny power vocals, unpredictable drums. "Want You Back" feels like an ode to what 5SOS used to be, just grown up so that heartbreak is more reflective and mature rather than scathing and heartwrenching than it was on previous albums. "Lie to Me," "Valentine," and "Talk Fast" are all astronomically different sounds from one another, but hold together with the catchiness of their choruses and the ever-present theme that romance isn't meant to last forever. The album kicks into high gear with the unyielding emotion of back-to-back "More" and "Why Won't You Love Me," with lyrics like "we're speaking different tongues communicating" and "switching into airplane mode again/we're not alright but I'll pretend" illustrating the powerlessness of relationships spiraling into nothingness. The last hurrah of Youngblood is the pure post-party haze of "Woke Up In Japan" and "Empty Wallets"-- this is 5SOS back at their most fun, but now with flashing club lights and extravagant nightlife rather than what they gave us on tracks like "Good Girls" and "Hey Everybody!." The album closer "Ghost of You" is 5SOS's "All Too Well"-- it's haunting, incredibly written with stunning imagery, and it's turned into a song that connects the band with fans in a way that supersedes the song itself; it's simply stunning.
If I were ranking 5SOS albums on their quality, Youngblood takes a close second, only to 5 Seconds of Summer's new album 5SOS5. This album was a hell of a turning point for this band, and it's carried them into a whole new era where the music has only continued to get better.
AM I OBSESSED?
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