MEGAN COURTNEY | Culture Editor
Love, toxic relationships and looking back on the past are the dominant themes of 5 Second’s of Summer’s new album “Youngblood.”
Released earlier this year, “Youngblood,” is a step up from the pop-rock, overplayed and pre-teen vibes of past albums “5 Seconds of Summer” and “Sounds Good Feels Good.”
“Youngblood” kicks off the album and paints a picture of the part of a relationship no one talks about: the fighting, he-said-she-said and the unavoidable strain that can happen for a variety of reasons.
It talks about a relationship that used to be “picture perfect” but is now in shambles. The lyrics “you push and you push and I’m pulling away, pulling away from you. I give, and I give, and I give and you take, give and you take,” show how people can be taken advantage of.
Flipping over to the opposite side of the spectrum, “Want You Back,” is about what the title says. Two people are no longer together, but one party wants to get back together and reminisces on the past, even if the feeling is not mutual for the other party.
Loving someone with everything you’ve got and not getting the same in return is painful and leaves a scar on an already broken heart; that’s what the song “Why Won’t You Love Me” touches base on.
The song then switches gears when “time is running out,” because friends are getting engaged and the loneliness has gone on long enough, but the feeling of love is still not mutual.
A relationship that once was bright, powerful and so full of love but has now faded away is the subject of the last song on the album, “Babylon.”
If Babylon sounds familiar, it’s because it once was a capital covering now modern day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Israel. It was the capital of scholarship and science and fell in 539 BCE to the Persian king, Cyrus.
Like the city of Babylon, the relationship that is mentioned once thrived and was passionate, but it eventually crumbled.
The maturity in the songwriting and concepts displayed on the album have grown over the last few years. 5 Seconds of Summer have stepped away from radio pop and have begun to create a sound that is unique to them.
