For more than a decade, 5 Seconds of Summer have existed in a state of constant reinvention: boyband, pop-punk prodigies, alt-radio staples, arena dominators, and, now, something stranger, bolder and more self-aware than ever before. Their sixth album, EVERYONE’S A STAR!, marks the start of a warped, maximalist new era: a glossy, universe-bending expansion of the band’s identity that embraces satire, spectacle and sincerity at the same time. Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin have always been students of evolution, but this version of 5SOS feels like their most uninhibited yet — the group as both subject and punchline, earnestly leveling up while winking at the idea of stardom itself.
The album’s title sets the tone. “When everyone’s a star, no one’s a star,” Luke tells me early in our conversation, turning the internet’s main-character energy into something a little existential. The band has lived long enough in the public eye to understand fame not as a fixed role, but a perpetual performance — one that shifts as the world does. Their influences this time around stretch from N.E.R.D. to Gorillaz to the big-room nostalgia of Fatboy Slim and The Prodigy, but the real engine beneath the record is creative restlessness. “We wanted to make shit we’ve never made before,” Michael says.
Across its twelve tracks, EVERYONE’S A STAR! feels like the band cracking themselves open, poking fun at their own mythology and then turning that self-awareness into joy. Songs like “Telephone Busy,” “NOT OK,” and “Boyband” lean into the irony and humor they say has always been there, but is now turned all the way up. Even visually, this era arrives in a kaleidoscopic burst — Brian Ziff’s imagery stretches and distorts the band into surrealist caricatures, echoing the album’s central theme: fame as both costume and mirror.
But what ultimately grounds the project is how unified the four feel after fourteen years. “Every song has a different influence,” Luke says, “and when we come back together, we bring all these things to pull from.” Whether they’re joking about entering their “yassified” era or talking about the evolution of their live show, the through line is unmistakable: a band unafraid to grow stranger, freer and more themselves in full view of the world.
We caught up with Michael and Luke to talk sonic left turns, “yassified” evolutions, and the strange, sarcastic beauty of EVERYONE’S A STAR!.
I listened to the new album, and it’s very ’70s, funky vibes. Can we talk about the record name, EVERYONE’S A STAR!? What does being a star mean to you guys in 2025?
Luke: What does it mean to be a star? I think it’s a multifaceted name. When we wrote “Everyone’s A Star!,” it was very much about how, in this day and age, it’s hard to ignore that everyone is sort of the main character. You go to a festival or anywhere, and instead of watching what’s going on onstage, everyone’s trying to be the main character in their own story, which is interesting to comment on.
Another meaning of it is that we all had solo albums, and it’s kind of an ode to that. It plays into the irony and sarcasm of a lot of the songs, and that humor. What does it mean to be a star in 2025? It means when everyone’s a star, no one’s a star.
Yeah, everyone’s an influencer. Influencers are like A-listers now.
Luke: Yeah, I think it’s not even a pessimistic thing. We’re all part of it as well. We’re doing interviews, we want the album to do well, we want the songs to be heard. You know, we’re all climbing.
You guys have mentioned N.E.R.D., No Doubt, and Gorillaz as touchstones that inspire you. What lessons did you pull from those acts when shaping your own identity? Are there other really important inspirations you pulled from?
Michael: I think inspiration is an interesting one, because there are so many different parts to this record. There are so many different sounds and styles, which is where we find the most enjoyment — experimenting and creating different things that challenge us along the way, things that are fun in the moment to make.
Yes, we pulled inspiration from those artists, but as much as the sonic influence matters, we also had an idea of how we wanted the campaign and album to look and feel. We wanted to do the complete opposite of what we’ve done in the past. Our last album, 5SOS5, was beautiful and expansive — really layered and lush. And with this album, we were like, how can we do the complete and total opposite of that?
It was more about making the music match what we were seeing in our heads, and that 180° flip. Every song has a different influence, and we were trying to create things we identify with — things that were honestly just fun to make. We wanted to make shit we’ve never made before. If something felt scary or felt like the wrong thing, we did it. It was all about that for us.
Luke: We were definitely trying to maintain a bit of the first album — that more pop-punk route — but also add things we want to put on when we’re going out and having a good time. That’s where the dance influence comes in. I really like Cassius, The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers… that genre, but in a very 5SOS way.
Like Mike said, every song has a different influence. What makes the band what it is is that, especially as we get older and have increasingly separate lives, when we come back together, we bring all these things to pull from: things we never had before when we were all living together making a pop-punk album. It makes it so interesting, and that’s probably why it took a minute to finish this. There was just so much to sift through.
Yeah, I bet. It must be crazy working with three other guys as you all evolve. You have your own families and different inspirations, but it all comes together in the end, right?
Michael: I think it does. I think the fun was being able to experiment with these new identities we were creating for our characters within the band. The person we are onstage, or when we’re meeting people as 5 Seconds of Summer, is different from the versions of us at home. So how can we fully embrace that and bring these versions of ourselves that live within the band to life, and have them feel like their own identities?
Luke: Yeah, it’s like 5SOS5, in its own earnest, beautiful way, was so us. And it was really fun building out the more… I don’t know what the word is. All I can say is this is the more yassified version of us. What’s the word? The more glamorized, the more refined.
Michael: Yeah, we can say yassified. I like yassified.
I love yassified. But it is like you guys are like Pokémon evolving. Over more than a decade of working and performing together, have there been different roles or archetypes assigned to each member — like someone being closer with fans, or someone taking things differently?
Michael: Yeah, I know what you’re saying. I think it just changes every album. We’re constantly in different stages of our lives every time we make an album. So it’s impossible to put a fixed role on each of us. There’s also so much fun in not having defined roles. On some albums, one of us will do more of one thing, less of another, more of another thing. Half the fun of being in a band is experimenting, having fun, exploring — doing shit.
Was there any turning point or specific moment in the studio that clicked for you guys? Any inside jokes or rituals while making this album?
Luke: There was a lot of emphasis on the song “No. 1 Obsession.” From there on out, we kept asking: What’s the main takeaway line from the song? Like: “Everyone’s a star,” “Make me a number one obsession,” “I’ve gotta evolve” — something you’d put on a billboard.
That was a real turning point for me. I can definitely tend to get more lyrically metaphorical and dance around things, and it was a nice challenge to get to the point and have those ironic, very 5SOS, very t-shirt/billboard lines. It took a longer time to get to them in the studio, but it was challenging in a rewarding way.
You guys are known for massive, communal experiences with your live shows. How are you thinking about translating EVERYONE’S A STAR! to the stage, visually, emotionally, spiritually?
Michael: I think the whole idea of what we’re doing with EVERYONE’S A STAR! was really inspired by our last tour, The 5 Seconds of Summer Show. It felt like that tour opened a lot of doors for us in terms of the way we could entertain.
Coming from being a really young band, we had a lot of exploring to do — how we could grow and evolve and translate who we are now, the people we are now. And that tour really helped us do both things: be nostalgic and throw it back, but also remain present and live in the new versions of ourselves, in the band we are today. That tour was amazing for us because we were able to identify what we can create and how we can bring our fans into our world — all being part of it together and having fun.
Even as we came up with album art and thought about how everything looks, the tour was top of mind — how we can make this translate to a live environment, and what we can do that’s unique and interesting. The most important thing for us on this album is: how can we do shit we’ve never done before? We’re not the type of band that wants to do the same thing over and over. Doing things completely new and different from last time is really important to us, while still keeping a through line of what people love — and what we love.
Luke: Yeah, we really set the bar with the last show. It was definitely our best one. So we’ve got some work to do.
I feel like you guys are definitely a live band.
Michael: Thanks, bro. That’s the whole point.
Photography: Brian Ziff
