What kind of fan would I be if I didn’t use my journalism to celebrate anniversaries and permanently weave 5SOS into my career?
I have some incredibly personal ties to this album, so there’s bound to be a little bias, but isn’t that the fun of running a blog?

Ten years later, 5SOS are proving that their pop-punk era was never just a phase. They grasped their sound early on, even while experimenting, the foundation of what they wanted to create was already there with Sounds Good Feels Good. And with Youngblood, they truly came into their own

Album rating: 4.05/5 ⭑

‘Money’
3/5 ⭑

Off the bat, I always disliked the intro to this, it feels like it wastes space. However, it does show a bit of personality, so I can appreciate the charm it brings, and the actual song has quite a loud and intense intro which might have been too much as an opener. Using the talking bit to soften the blow, maybe helps with that.
As for the song, it’s a bit cheesy, I love how it sounds, I love the guitars taking lead, especially having a guitar solo in the opening track. The echoey vocals at the start of Calum’s verse, the yelling in the background. It’s a really fun, bouncy song – which made for incredible live performances.
The lyrics aren’t their best, but when something sounds fun, I can forgive the lyricism a little. I did ride hard for this song, so much so that I dyed my hair blue back in the day.

Favourite lyric: “Late night, passed out in Tokyo, New York, LA, Chicago”

‘She’s Kinda Hot’
3.5/5 ⭑

I remember when I saw the title of this song before it was released, I was expecting something wildly misogynist.
Real ones remember watching a 3, nearly 4, hour livestream of someone spray painting a wall with the artwork for ‘She’s Kinda Hot’, it’s really funny to look back on, but the frustration at the time was rife.
The song makes for a really powerful anthem, put yourself first, chase your dreams, people are going to talk shit but do it regardless. You may be a loser, or a slob, but you’re doing alright or you’ll be alright. It’s the type of song that’s an ear worm, it’s so catchy, you find yourself doing the claps, the chants, the little ad-libs with the countdowns and the “just a itty bitty, little bit hot” (etc).
Ashtons verse really pulls this together, the manic laughter when he opens and closes his verse is a brilliant touch.
It just feels really empowering in such a lighthearted way.

Favourite lyric(s): “When you’ve got bigger plans that no one else understands, you’ve got a shot though” & “They say we’re losers and we’re alright with that”

‘Hey Everybody!’
3.5/5 ⭑

I’m desperately trying not to be too obviously bias across every song, but I love love love the bass in this. I really like how it opens with “sounds good, feels good”, it’s fun to pay homage to an album, within the album.
The older I’ve gotten, the more I resonate with this song, it seemed silly at the time, a bunch of nonsense, not really many deep lyrics. But as someone who’s struggled with the cost of living, who’s moved out of their hometown and been forced back, there are some standout lyrics that now make me laugh in an almost reflective way. “And what’s ironic to me, the ones who don’t ever leave, think that they know”, is my favourite part of my personal reflection – as someone who lives in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, who got to live in London for 3 years.
‘Hey Everbody’ has a humble edge to it, it may be their only song in their discography where they talk about such mundane everyday problems that people face – not being able to afford rent on time, paying for gas with change, not affording a bus fare, all very minor issues, but everyone’s faced something like this many times in their lives.

Favourite lyric: “We can’t afford to give up, we gotta make our own luck”

‘Permanent Vacation’
4/5 ⭑

I don’t understand why this wasn’t immediately a fan favourite. It was so much fun live, when 5SOS split the crowd into 3 parts, and did a “na na na na” chant, a “hey hey hey” chant or some claps.
Really I think this song is quite introspective in ways, it feels quite internally reflective, judgemental of society as a construct but also how it impacts you emotionally – being frustrated, desperate for change, and being so in your head that you can’t sleep.
There’s an element of self-awareness that not a lot of other songs (on this album) offer, but also in such a careless way, it’s very much saying; “we know you think we suck, we know you think we should be doing different things, but we’re fine right here, we don’t care”.

Favourite lyric: “Watch out, I think we’re going under, right now, we’re just another number, get out, the systems in the gutter”

‘Jet Black Heart’
4.5/5 ⭑

Listen, I know I said I’d try not to be bias, but this is as only as high as it is because of Calum’s verse. It never fails to make me bawl my eyes out when I hear it live – the way you feel the drums shake your body slightly, this song is just so emotionally driven.
Jet Black Heart is lyrically beautiful, I will always give this song her flowers, she is beautiful. It’s teeters on the edge of being a true rock ballad.
I really don’t have much to say about this song, it is beautiful, the way it builds, the drums being the obvious lead make it really feel like this song is in your veins as you listen to it. The way this song continuously builds gradually and the way it hits the peak right towards the end, oh my god it is stunning. Having a constant build and never really any drop, just as you think it might drop, the vocals change and it brings you back up, it screams desperation, pain, longing, like no other.
It wouldn’t be right to talk about this song and not mention the music video, including so many fans was such an honourable nod to the community 5SOS has made.

Favourite lyric: “the blood in my veins, is made up of mistakes, let’s forget who we are, and dive into the dark, as we burst into colour returning to life”

‘Catch Fire’
4/5 ⭑

The chorus to ‘Catch Fire’ is so fun, it’s so… screamable? This album has a bit of a theme of desperation, just in all its many forms.
The lyrics to this song are really quite clever, full of metaphors, and whilst they’re not always literal in what they’re singing, they do make it known how you’re supposed to feel, and irregardless of if you’ve personally felt it in your own life, the lyrics make it clear as day, what that feeling does feel like.
I adore the echoes in Michaels verse, and whilst we’re here, an honourable mention of a favourite lyric has to be “’cause the ghost of survivors guilt can be so unkind”.
Calum’s bridge towards the end is beautiful, a fun change of pace – as a bridge should. I love his vocals, there’s always been a softness to them which always adds something special to each song he’s vocally showcased in.

Favourite lyric: “All my life, I’ve been waiting for moments to come, when I catch fire, and wash over you like the sun”

‘Safety Pin’
4/5 ⭑

This feels adjacent to ‘She’s Kinda Hot’ & ‘Permanent Vacation’, with that teenage angst, the carelessness about what others think, being damaged or different, and embracing that in its entirety.
I really loved the logo they created with this era, the broken heart with the safety pin piecing it together; it’s one of my favourite logos of theirs over the years.
When Ashton starts his solo, and there’s an audible “bleh!”, oh I love it. Touches like that are what I believe adds personality and charm to a song, or an album overall, it adds some humour and makes it all feel a little more light hearted, despite the fact all of these songs are actually quite emotionally heavy.
‘Safety Pin’ has an element of hope, not only in the lyrics of being fixable and loveable despite the fact we’re damaged, but the sound, it sounds hopeful. Maybe that’s because I was a teenager in this era, and it’s all nostalgic to me now and I remember feeling hopeful when I listened to this song.

Favourite lyric: “Raise ourselves and a middle finger ’cause they all think we’re twisted”

‘Waste The Night’
4/5 ⭑

This is dreamy. Ethereal. I don’t have the brain capacity to know lots of words, but this song always feels sparkly or like I’m floating in clouds with not a care in the world.
It just makes me so happy, there’s very few songs in the world that make me feel truly just… happy, nothing else, no mixed emotions, nothing complicated, just pure joy.
Oh to be in love, to be loved like how this song makes me feel. It builds in such a calm way, it has such a natural climb to each verse and chorus, and of course, the dynamics of the mixed vocals, Calum’s voice is just so pretty.
Everything about this song feels soft, it has such a peaceful, heartwarming feel to it, I’m struggling to describe this song, I hope anyone reading this understands the feelings I have and I hope I’ve captured them well.
My only issue with this song is the interlude at the end, I think they experimented and it just didn’t land, it sounds good, it’s not a bad interlude, it just doesn’t make sense to be placed where it is. There’s no sounds similar to ‘Waste The Night’ and it doesn’t flow into the next song smoothly either.

Favourite lyric: “I don’t wanna let it burn in the city lights and make the same mistakes”

‘Vapor’
5/5 ⭑

Oh my god ‘Vapor’. I need you to understand I rarely revisit this album, no real reason, I just keep up to date with whatever their most recent project is, so to go back into this album and rediscover my old favourite songs has been so surreal.
This song is so romantic, yes I know some of the lyrics tell us it’s a bit toxic but the strings in this song make it sound so beautiful.
“I want to feel your love like the weather, all over me” – are you joking?! This song is so beautiful, these are the types of songs that make my heart beat a little faster, that make me feel like being in love is truly all I need in life. To love a song this much is wild, I bet this would sound otherworldly with an orchestra (if they played it at The Royal Albert Hall I don’t want to hear about it, I have major FOMO).
This is one of the best songs on this album, maybe in their entire discography.

Favourite lyric: “‘Cause you know you’ve got perfect aim, I wanna feel you in my veins”

‘Castaway’
4/5 ⭑

Not that anyone cares, but my island on Animal Crossing is named after this song.
Anyway, nothing hits the spot like a song you can headbang to. It’s so aggressive, this going hand in hand with ‘Over And Out’ from the She’s Kinda Hot EP, they’d be a power couple.
5SOS may act like they have one braincell that bounces between the four of them, but their lyricism is genuinely incredible.
Michaels vocals really suit songs like this too, he has a rockier edge than the other guys, a raspiness that really works with their “angry” sounding songs. His voice really pushes it up a notch and gives it that emotional depth.
There’s a really fun noise in the background of this song and I can’t pinpoint it, I don’t know what it is, what it even sounds like, but it reverberates around the background of the song, you can hear it more with headphones on and it just subtly pulls you into the song more. I have nothing to be mad about – but I’ll find something when this songs playing. And I love the abrupt ending by the way, I think it closes out perfectly.

Favourite lyric: “Eyes closed, all I see is good times disappearing, and I’m trying to hold on”

‘The Girl Who Cried Wolf’
2.5/5 ⭑

This was going to be rated Lower (I’m so sorry), but the pre-chorus into the chorus is so peaceful.
I think over the years they’ve managed to master the slower songs a little better. Whilst this song is good, it’s nothing special (to me). It has a nice build, it sounds nice, but nothing really stands out.
I enjoy the change of pace throughout the song, the differences in verses, the call outs etc. it just falls short for me.

Favourite lyric: “Does it have to be this tragedy, this endless lost parade? A castle of facade and make believe”

‘Broken Home’
2/5 ⭑

As someone from a broken home dynamic, I resonate with this song in some personal ways, I just find it… boring, at least in the context of this album. I feel like it doesn’t fit too well. Whilst yes, it has an air of desperation like a lot of the other songs, it’s much more of an outward desperation, projection almost, rather than the more internal an introspective desperation in other songs.
It used to make me cry a lot, and not because I’m from a broken home – I came to terms with that many years before the song was released, but their vocals are so raw in this song, and Calum sings it so beautifully.
I think the verse lyrics are much better than the chorus, but choruses are made to pull the song together and I feel like that’s where it starts to fall apart for me.

Favourite lyric: “I’m stuck in between a nightmare and lost dreams”

‘Fly Away’
3/5 ⭑

Again, with a headbanger. This song is SO fun. I love any song that mentions London, that makes me a bit bias but it makes my heart burst.
‘Fly Away’ marries the hopefulness of ‘Safety Pin’ with the desperation of ‘Permanent Vacation’ very well, it’s like we were desperate for change, and this is the light at the end of the tunnel, finally seeing and feeling those changes, knowing they’re within reach.
It’s a really fun song, having such an upbeat sounding song with actual upbeat lyrics makes all the difference too, it’s something I used to jump around my room to, dreaming of a better life, pursuing a career I always dreamed of, and getting out of my small town.
I like to believe there’s not a single ‘Fly Away’ hater on this earth. If there are… do you guys hate everything fun?

Favourite lyric(s): “Now I’m off to paradise, swore I’d never fight, say goodbye to pain and misery” & “I won’t waste another day, wishing this would fade away”

‘Invisible’
4/5 ⭑

A hard hitter for sure here. Bias this, bias that, I know, but I truly think no one else could have sung this song other than Calum.
Like I said previously, there’s a softness to his voice, that has always pulled me in, made me so drawn to him. When a song as heart wrenching as this is put into the world, it needs a voice that can treat it with the gentleness it needs and I think Calum being the lead vocalist on this has done that perfectly.
The way it starts to builds towards the end and then has such an abrupt cut off right before the end, makes my heart drop.
This song always felt like I was being heard, not that I was telling anyone my story, but I could project it into this song and feel safe.
I think when you suffer with any form of mental illness, no matter how well you can handle it, it is inevitably going to impact you daily, and this song captures that feeling of feeling lost in yourself, hopelessness and feeling like a burden. Watching life pass you by whilst you’re stagnant and stuck in a rut, being aware of it but not having a way out.
‘Invisible’ really captures some intense emotions without being too heavy that it makes you spiral into a hole of darkness yourself, but in a way that makes you feel wrapped in a blanket of comfort and safety.

Favourite lyric(s): “Just me and my shadow, and all of my regrets” & “Looking on as all of life’s colours seem to fade to grey”

‘Airplanes’
4/5 ⭑

One word for this song: underrated.
I love the whole bridge, I just love this song. The only reason it isn’t rated higher is because I don’t think it tells much of a story, there are parts of it that do tell a really good story of not giving up on yourself, but the song as a whole, doesn’t say much – unless there’s metaphors that I’m missing within the main hooks of the song.
It bounces between being true to yourself, to being in love with someone, to … screams being set on fire? That’s where I start to get lost.
Is it a love song to or about someone else, or are we reflecting and empowering ourselves? I’m not sure.
Aside from me being a little lost, I do enjoy this song a lot and I love when other members get full songs to lead, in the way that Calum has a soft voice that fits ‘Invisible’ incredibly well, Michaels rockier edge, fits this louder, busier song extremely well.

Favourite lyric: “I’m not gonna say that I’m sorry, gonna see the end of this story, I won’t fade into darkness”

‘San Francisco’
4/5 ⭑

This gives me a similar feeling to ‘Waste The Night’, I adore the addition of strings throughout this album.
5SOS by this point had already mastered the art of bridges, and to have such an iconic bridge on a song named after a city with an iconic bridge feels like a very full circle thing, maybe it was intentional.
It’s the type of song that you’d put on and run through a field, or drive in a car with the roof down, it sets a very specific scene and one day I will live out one of those scenarios and see if it makes me feel the way I believe it will.
Another interlude at the end, which again ruins the song for me, whilst this one if more fitting – sounds like a better fit than the other interlude, I just wish it was a separate track and not put at the end of an already existing track. It’s too long, and again doesn’t flow too nicely into the next track.

Favourite lyric: “Leaves fall from the tallest trees, even mountains crumble into the sea, holding onto memories and I can’t let go”

‘Outer Space’
10/5 ⭑

This is my all time favourite 5SOS song, it is beyond personal to me and I’m not sure how much of that I want to put onto the internet, but to understand the context, it may be needed. ‘Outer Space’ is beyond the rankings, it is beautiful in every way it can be, sonically beautiful, lyrically beautiful, vocally beautiful, there really is nothing I can write about this song that will say otherwise.
I have “Nothing like the rain, when you’re in outer space” tattooed on my wrist. Whilst you’ll see it’s not my “favourite” lyric, when the whole song is as well written as this, it’s next to impossible to choose a single lyric that captures how I feel about this song.
I saw it live for the first time on the Sounds Live, Feels Live tour, April 7th 2016, which was also the first day I met Calum for the first time. He did a particular note change in the lyric I have tattooed, that struck me like lightning and I needed a constant reminder of it. This was also the day I got clean (S/H… not substances or alcohol, if you catch my drift), all of those things coming together and happening on the same day, meant everything to me, which is why this song will remain untouchable to me.
Making promises to myself, meeting the man I had loved for years (and still do), and hearing a rendition of such a beautiful song and getting it tattooed, it’s a moment to tell me how far I’ve come.
I will inevitably always run back to 5SOS, no matter how good or bad my life may be, they have always been a constant in my life and it’s songs like this, and days like that, that keep me as strong and sane as I am. I always resonated this song to 5SOS myself, especially now after seeing them live so much and being able to meet them the times I have, I hope one day I have the courage to tell them to their faces how much this song means to me, but ultimately this song, being as in love with it as I am, and loving the band as deeply as I do, they are my safe space, what I consider home. They are who I always turn to, with every major event in my life, with every feeling I have, there is something of theirs to greet me, a song, a video, a photo, a show. They have me so enamoured and so deeply grateful that I get to exist alongside them, I never ever take a moment with them for granted.
The song wasn’t played live much, as in it was axed from a few of their tours, so to be able to hear it 4 times in my lifetime has been such a blessing, truly.
‘Outer Space’ will never be topped, it takes up so much space in my heart, gives me so much love and life, and makes me feel like everything is worth while.

Favourite lyric: “The darkest night never felt so bright, with you by my side”

‘Carry On’
4/5 ⭑

If I’m ever able to emotionally stable enough to make it to the end of ‘Outer Space’, this piece of gold is hidden at the end.
Now this is an interlude styled song I can get on board with, I think it fits the album very well, I like that there’s lyrics to it, I love the message it tells.
It’s so simple, yet so strong, it holds such an important spot on the album too, as the traditional closer (without the deluxe tracks) it works so well, and to close out ‘Outer Space’ like that is just flawless.
Again, I just wish it was its own track.

Favourite lyric: “So sick of the tug of war that keeps pulling me under”

‘The Space Between A Rock And A Hard Place’
4/5 ⭑

Luckily, I have a friend who lives in the US, so she was always able to ship me the target editions of albums, so having a physical copy of this album with these tracks is still wild to me.
I do think, for ease, it should be called ‘Catch 22’, whilst they mean the same thing, this title is just a mouthful.
This song is so catchy, I find that with a lot of the Target deluxe songs, but this one in particular has these really infectious harmonies.
In true Calum girl nature, Calum’s verse is my favourite, but I love when Michael says “…and here we go again” at the end of his part. It’s that charm I have mentioned a few times now, it gives the song a bit of humour, pulls it together and makes it feel a bit more personal to the listener.
It showcases a funny irony that sometimes exists in the chase of a relationship, the back and forth of petty arguments whilst ending up together anyway.

Favourite lyric: “Reckless, I’m at your front door and I’m helpless, I’m twisted back up in the madness, repeating history”

‘Story Of Another Us’
4/5 ⭑

These lyrics are earth shattering, I fear they peaked too early with this. People weren’t taking them seriously at the time, but holy crap, the way they tell a story in this song is perplexing – in the best way. At the time, even as a fan, I had no idea they had this kind of lyricism in them. They used words I didn’t understand at the time, but the story was so well told that even without those words (which I do now know, by the way), it was so blatantly heartbreaking and world shaking.
I love a slow song, but I particularly love when a heartbreaking song is put on top of a classic pop-punk track.
I love that Calum, and his soft vocals, get a moment towards the end right before it picks right back and Luke slam-dunks you into an emotional spiral just before the end of the song.
Most of the lyrics in this just have me shocked to my core and audibly saying: “Are you f*cking kidding?!”, because they were so young writing this, how they managed to encapsulate the feeling of raw heartbreak like that so young is crazy to me.

Favourite lyric: “Memories are pay-per-view, it costs too much to think of your”

Overall, my main qualm with this album is the interludes, I can appreciate an interlude if it fits well, and I just don’t think they work well with this album.
However, this is my second favourite album of theirs so I don’t have too much criticism and truly never will.
The main takeaways are that ‘Outer Space’ is untouchable, and the desperation that’s a theme throughout this album, in all definitions of the word, is really interesting to me and I enjoy the theme being consistent throughout, whilst dealing with longing, heartbreak, hope and breaking free, all alongside it.

(all photos used within this blog post are my own, please do not use without permission or credit)