5 Seconds of Summer is just weeks away from the release of its new album Sounds Good, Feels Good, and in a new interview on the cover of this week's Billboard, the "She's Kinda Hot" band is opening up about what it's like to be one of the biggest bands in the game. Speaking frankly, Ashton Irwin, Calum Hood, Michael Clifford and Luke Hemmings claimed that they're one of the few bands out there writing about real issues.
Citing lead Sounds Good, Feels Good single "She's Kinda Hot," which touches on topics such as alienation and mental health, 5SOS said that for its sophomore album, they wanted to break away from the pop mold.
"Look at top 40 radio. No one is writing music that highlights what everyone is scared to talk about -- which is that everyone is sick and depressed these days." Irwin said. "People our age, we all feel like sh*t about ourselves. We wake up and we look at our phones and there are a thousand opinions on who we are -- or what we are. It's destructive."
Citing Green Day, All Time Low, Blink-182 and Good Charlotte as major influences from their days growing up in a lower middle class Australian suburb, 5SOS are intent on keeping it real on their second album and relating to their fans, lyrically and musically, as they continue to prove they are *not* in fact a boy band.
"The fans feel like they know us, because they do," Irwin said. "We're here together in 2015, and we're experiencing the same issues."
Sounds Good, Feels Good will be released on Friday, Oct. 23.
