I genuinely cannot stop listening to this song, it is truly SO beautiful.
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Aussie pop heroes 5 Seconds of Summer drop the last song before the release of their fifth album 5SOS5; and this song hits a personal note as it features frontman Luke Hemmings’ fiancee/wife, songwriter and musician extraordinaire, Sierra Deaton.
I think by now, it’s obvious I am so incredibly excited for the new 5sos album, but this surprise release is by my favourite of the five songs that have come out in this promotional stretch, and I’m so glad to be able to review it, in its own limelight, in anticipation of the album.
Truly the crowning glory of this song is its simplicity. It isn’t hugely keen on the classic 5SOS big drums or the complex production. It opens on a soft piano note and light percussion, with soft vocals from Hemmings joined by gorgeous harmonies from Deaton. It’s easy on the ears and allows the listener to focus on the main event: the lyrics.
The song encapsulates that stage of love that isn’t new anymore, it’s the comfortable constant in your life – living without it is now impossible. Sierra explains this much better than I can, explaining in an Instagram post that “when you fall in love and commit to forever, you’re inevitable sentencing one of you the ultimate heartbreak… an eventual existence without the other.” This encapsulates these feelings of both heartbreak and pure love so so well, and it’s so easy to hear the pain they both, as well as many others, feel upon coming to this point in a relationship.
My favourite lyric in this whole song summarises the whole song perfectly – “It’s not worth it if I lose my one-way ticket for two”. I think on first glance it might seem like they mean the relationship isn’t worth it, but I don’t think this is the case. Truthfully, they mean merely existing just isn’t worth it. Their existences are so deeply intertwined that when the day comes to live without the other, living just doesn’t feel the same. That ticket for life was meant to be for the both of them – not to one day be alone because their partner has departed.
This isn’t your normal heartbreak song, it’s the duality of pure adoration and utter devastation that’s it apart from so many like it. If this is another facet of the singles released so far from 5sos5, it has made me even more excited.
Older is out now via BMG, check it out below:
