5SOS redefine the "Boyband" label with self-aware new single

Fourteen years after breaking out of Sydney’s suburbs with scrappy guitars and teenage bravado, 5 Seconds of Summer—better known as 5SOS—return with their new single “Boyband.”

Witty, confident, and irresistibly self-aware, the track arrives ahead of their sixth studio album Everyone’s A Star! (out November 14 via Republic Records). It’s a reminder that longevity in pop doesn’t mean playing it safe—and that sometimes, reclaiming the very label that defined you can be the boldest move of all.

From the first shimmering synth pulse, “Boyband” plays like both a nostalgic time capsule and a mirror. It nods to the pop-punk chaos that defined the 2010s while poking fun at the self-aware ironies of fame in 2025. Once a double-edged tag used to box them in, “Boyband” now becomes their declaration of control. “We’ve always been called a boyband and this song is about us owning that narrative and taking the power back,” the group said in a statement.

Lyrically, ‘Boyband’ turns the band’s mythology inside out. Lines like “Same four chords, but it never feels the same” and “Raised on pop punk and bubblegum / Stay young, love me till I get it wrong” straddle humor and honesty. It’s a knowing love letter to their fans and the shared journey that’s carried them together for over a decade. The band are fully conscious of their past personas, yet more at ease than ever with the very contradictions that shaped them.

Luke Hemmings’ velvety vocals carry a teasing mix of swagger and self- reflection as he croons, “I’m your favourite (Boy, boy, boy, boy),” echoing the very posters that teased the group’s return earlier this year. The song’s chant-laden pre-chorus, joined by Ashton Irwin and Calum Hood, brims with a youthful defiance and easy, tongue-in-cheek charm.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Hemmings admitted the strange fragility that comes with fame: “Being in the pop world in a band, or a boy band, you attach your self-worth to how many people are looking at you… and you can feel disposable.” That introspection pulses beneath the song’s polished surface. “Boyband” sparkles with humor, but it’s also a reflection on identity—how artists navigate image, expectation, and authenticity.

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Musically, the track bridges eras—borrowing the gloss of 2000s pop, the bite of early 2010s punk revival, and the sleek precision of modern alt-pop. The production sparkles with deliberate restraint: synths shimmer, drums snap cleanly, and the hook lands with infectious ease. It’s clever without being pretentious, fun without being frivolous—a balance few acts at this stage of their career can still pull off.

At just under three minutes, ‘Boyband’ is both a sonic wink and a manifesto. It’s 5SOS taking a term once used to box them in and turning it into an emblem of freedom. If their earlier hits like Youngblood chased reinvention, this era seems more interested in rediscovery—a band finally at ease with every version of themselves.

‘Boyband’ follows ‘NOT OK’, the lead single from Everyone’s A Star!, and previews what’s shaping up to be one of 5SOS’s most cohesive projects yet. The album’s tracklist includes titles like ‘Telephone Busy’, ‘No. 1 Obsession’, and ‘Jawbreaker’—hinting at themes of identity, self-satire, and evolution.

And if their surprise Los Angeles pop-up show last week—where they debuted new songs alongside fan favorites like ‘She’s So Perfect’ and ‘Teeth’—is any indication, 5SOS are entering a new creative high: looser, lighter, but no less sharp.

In ‘Boyband’, 5SOS aren’t running from the label—they’re dancing with it. What once boxed them in now defines them on their own terms. It’s not just a comeback single; it’s a statement of survival, wit, and self-possession.

Listen to ‘Boyband’ below.

Pre-order EVERYONE’S A STAR! here.

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