Everyone’s A Star! By 5SOS

Australian quartet 5 Seconds of Summer are back with their 6^th album Everyone’s a Star! – an energetic, synth pop-rock album filled to the brim with raw discussions of fame and relationships. 

The first single NOT OK came as a shock to me – a complete 180 from every 5SOS project I have heard before. NOT OK features a shouty chorus and Gorillaz-Esque vocal effects on the verses with an explosive drum solo from Ashton Irwin in the post-chorus. I really admired the band’s willingness to try something completely new and have had this song on repeat since it’s release. To follow, the band took the ‘5SOS are a boyband’ joke head on with Boyband. Backed by wonderful retro basslines and percussion, the discusses the exploitation of young people in the music industry and makes for a great single.

Whilst Telephone Busy makes wonderful use of Calum Hood’s bassline and has a catchy chorus, I found the verses failed to make the song more exciting, making it my least favourite of the singles. 

The album opens with Everyone’s a Star! A fantastic pop tune perfectly encapsulating the song’s themes, featuring plucky synths and chiming percussion throughout that makes for some of the most interesting production on the record. No.1 Obsession feels like a shout-out to Trent Reznor with its gritty, industrial synth and drum beat, supported by scratchy guitar riffs and a shouty hook.

I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep is reminiscent of the bands earlier work (think Waste the Night) with its summery and hopeful motifs, a truly lovely pop tune utilising more synth and spoken word verses from Calum Hood. This run of songs is where the album truly shines with a departure from the traditional 5SOS pop-rock sound. 

Despite this, the album’s track list feels very top heavy with singles and energy, taking momentum away from the latter half of the album. At this point, we hear songs such as istillfeelthesame, an indie pop song that I felt was far too uninventive, despite my enjoyment of Michael Clifford’s vocals.

Whilst Ghost features some of the most heartfelt and honest lyricism on the album and I did enjoy its psychedelic pop production; I again found the sound derivative and more suited for a Luke Hemmings solo project. The energy picks back up on Evolve with some witty lyrics satirising celebrities, think Rockstars by Nickelback. The Rocks feels like a true 2000s throwback with its exciting guitar and beat. The closing song Jawbreaker is a nice love song, but just fine, getting overshadowed by the production and lyricism of the rest of the album. 

Everyone’s a Star! is a fantastic and fresh departure from 5SOS’ previous albums where you can hear the band really committing to trying something new in every song. The lyricism is mature and heartfelt on songs like Ghost and the production on the title track and No.1 Obsession are the true highlights of the record and the band’s entire discography.

Despite being quite frontloaded with momentum and having some duds like Sick of Myself, I found the album shows a lot of range and is successful at conveying its motifs of fame, love, and relationships to the listener. I would recommend this album to those who haven’t delved into the world of 5SOS, because I think you’d be truly surprised by some of the work present here.

Due for release on 14th November 2025, this is a record not to be missed!

Visit 5sos.com for more info

Article By Emilie Shaw