6A — Monday, October 26, 2015
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
ALBUM REVIEW
5SOS makes punk
relevant again
Pop-punk band’s
sophomore album is
even better than its
first
By DANIELLE IMMERMAN
Daily Arts Writer
Ashton Irwin, drummer for 5
Seconds of Summer, proclaimed
Sounds Good Feels Good would
be “epic gnarly
super dope cool
awesome titties
sweet
stuff,”
and
he
was
right.
Sounds
Good
Feels
Good, 5 Seconds
of
Summer’s
sophomore
album,
solidi-
fies their place
in
the
pop-
punk world.
Endorsed by Alternative Press
and bands like All Time Low and
Fall Out Boy, 5 Seconds of Sum-
mer are no doubt on their way to
dominating the pop-punk scene.
Though they are seemingly more
pop than punk, their collabora-
tion with pop-punk virtuosos All
Time Low, Benji and Joel Madden
and John Feldmann has no doubt
taken them from “the guys who
opened for One Direction” to the
guys you should take seriously.
Compared to their freshman self-
titled album, 5 Seconds of Sum-
mer sounds more confident and
sophisticated this time around.
Each song features its own sty-
listic hallmark trait, whether that
be honest lyrics, an unusual vocal
shift or a mind-blowing instru-
mental moment. This, combined
with the more evident pop-punk
undertones, makes for a pleasing
sophomore album.
I wasn’t sue how I felt about
Sounds Good Feels Good when
I first listened to it, but after
listening to the album for the
fourth time through, I can safely
say that it’s low-key amazing. It’s
amazing because this 17-track
deluxe edition of the album will
find mainstream-radio success
in a time when pop-punk is a
genre of music that most people
don’t care about. The only other
pop-punk band known to the
masses is Fall Out Boy and maybe
Panic! At the Disco. 5 Seconds
of Summer’s unique position as
the new pioneers of pop-punk
makes Sounds Good Feels Good
not only a relevant album but one
that determines the future of an
entire music scene.
The best song on the album
by far is “Castaway” — this is
both the most punk and the
most instrumentally and vocal-
ly unique track. The rhythm is
undoubtedly catchy, and the
genre’s standard angst and atti-
tude are more present than ever.
The multiple layers of the song
add a complexity that you can’t
help but listen to on a nonstop
loop, making it an all-around
high-energy standout song.
In addition to “Castaway,”
there are several other unique
songs that give Sounds Good Feels
Good the solid support it needs
to be a game-changing album for
the Australian quartet. You can
see the band’s punk influences
throughout the album, but “Outer
Space/Carry
On”
particularly
echoes Green Day’s “Holiday/
Boulevard of Broken Dreams” in
that the two songs flow together
by way of a guitar reverb. While
“Outer Space/Carry On” is an
example of the band’s growing
pop-punk maturity, “Invisible”
and “Broken Home” are prime
examples of how the band writes
about their own experiences with
insecurity, depression and anxi-
ety. This is important because
mental illness is a problem that
plagues all societies around the
world, so their music can help
others and serve as an anthem for
those battling similar issues.
Considering the fact that most
pop-punk songs start sounding the
same after a while, I’m impressed
that Sounds Good Feels Good man-
ages to incorporate a plethora of
unique tracks. It helps that vari-
ous pop-punk artists helped 5
Seconds of Summer write some of
their songs; each artist has their
own distinct style that influenced
their writing. For example, Alex
Gaskarth of All Time Low con-
tributed to the upbeat pop-heavy
“Catch Fire” while the influence
of the Madden brothers, two-fifths
of pop-punk band Good Charlotte,
can clearly be heard on the album’s
first four tracks. Interestingly, the
two best songs on the album were
written by just members of the
band. “Castaway” was written by
Hood and Hemmings, while “Jet
Black Heart” was solely written by
Hood and Clifford. If the two best
songs are written by the band, this
signals that their future work can
only get better. Sounds Good Feels
Good is 5 Seconds of Summer’s
way of breaking into the pop-punk
scene. It’s only a matter of time
before they dominate the genre
and leave their mark on it and the
music industry as a whole.
CAPITOL RECORDS
“WE’RE BOTH SO HAPPY RIGHT NOOOOOOW!”
A-
Sounds
Good Feels
Good
5 Seconds of
Summer
Capitol Records
TV NOTEBOOK
‘Buffy’ ahead of her
time, even in 2015
By SOPHIA KAUFMAN
Daily Arts Writer
I’ve made some big mistakes
in my life. Calculating how
many hours I spent binge-
watching
every
episode
of
“Degrassi” in 10th grade was
one of them. Spending the first
two months of this summer
binge-watching all of “Buffy
the Vampire Slayer” for the
first time was not. (But I still
refuse to do that math.)
I’d
heard
references
to
“Buffy” before, but I’d never
seen an episode until the cool
girl who lived in the dorm
room across from me last year
physically dragged me from
my room into hers and made
me watch the pilot. (She is now
my roommate. Coincidence? I
think not.)
I was hooked after just a half
hour. And after watching the
first season, I could understand
why
Buffy
has
the
cult
following she does. The show
is funny and well-written, and
being from the ’90s, just campy
enough to be endearing. Seeing
faces I had always associated
with other movies or shows
— Sarah Michelle Gellar from
“Cruel Intentions” and David
Boreanaz from “Bones” — was
strange at first, but now it’s
impossible to think of them
as anything other than part of
Buffy’s posse.
But one thing especially
stood out while watching this
show: In terms of feminist
writing on TV, “Buffy” was
ahead of its time. Series creator
Joss Whedon said that he
wanted to reverse the blonde-
girl-always-getting-eaten-
by-monsters trope and write
a blonde girl who was able
to kill the monsters herself.
At first, I was skeptical. In
trying too hard to reverse a
trope, it’s easy to fall victim
to other kinds of stereotypes.
That’s how the Manic Pixie
Dream Girl waltzed onto our
doorsteps — people started
writing
women
characters
who were “different” or “not
like other girls,” and we ended
up with disasters like Natalie
Portman in “Garden State.”
But over and over, “Buffy
the Vampire Slayer” proved to
be an answer to my feminist
prayers. Whedon got a lot
of things right, not the least
being how to write a real
love story between a human
and a vampire — not one
that portrays a controlling
relationship
and
a
stupid
heroine. Certain Young Adult
novelists should have watched
“Buffy” more carefully.
One of the main things that I
love — other than the fact that
Buffy is the most powerful in
her town as the one Slayer of
vampires — is how the men,
particularly Giles and Xander,
are portrayed on the show.
Giles may be the adult, but he
never questions the fact that
at the end of the day, it’s Buffy
calling the shots. He never
patronizes her because she’s a
teenage girl. And while there
are some side jokes here and
there about how Xander needs
to maintain his “manliness”
because he’s always in a girl-
dominated environment, his
character never falls prey to
the idea that men can’t be
emotional.
“Buffy”
also
captures
elements of teenage sexuality
with well-written scenes and
nuanced
performances.
For
example, Willow and Tara’s
relationship
is
organically
introduced and maintained.
The best thing about this
relationship is how no one
makes a huge deal out of
it involving two women. It
doesn’t feel like the writers
are saying, “How progressive
are we? Lesbians! Look! There
are two of them!” They don’t
oversexualize
Willow
and
Tara, nor do they remove their
sexuality.
On a more humorous note,
there are two other characters
who
love
sex
and
aren’t
ashamed to show it: Anya and
Faith. No one shames them
for loving sex and initiating it
frequently. Of course, Buffy’s
relationships are always given
the most screentime, but some
of the most honest depictions
of
relationships
belong
to
these other characters.
In addition to giving all of
the women a large measure
of sexual autonomy, “Buffy”
splinters a concept that is
so often disguised as female
empowerment, that sometimes
we
don’t
recognize
it
as
problematic at its core — the
idea of the Alpha Female and
her bitches. Even though Buffy
is “the Slayer,” Faith is “the
Slayer,” too. They don’t always
get along in the beginning, but
it’s never the case that there
is a finite amount of power
that must be split between
them — there’s only double
the power. It’s nice to finally
see two totally badass, funny,
attractive, intelligent women
go head to head — but without
needing to have one finally
come out on top. By the end
of the series, there is plenty of
room for both of them.
Lastly — and I know some
people disagree — I think
the finale holds one of the
keys to “Buffy” ’s feminism.
Though I think the finale
had its problems, I’ll always
love it for its final message
about
empowering
women.
Buffy and Willow work some
magic so that every girl out
there who has the potential
to be a Slayer becomes one.
There’s a beautiful montage
of girls all over the world
suddenly finding themselves
with super-strength and a
new confidence in their eyes;
one girl hits a home run out
of the park, while another one
catches the man’s fist that was
about to hit her and throws it
aside, slowly standing up.
I
know
“Buffy”
isn’t
perfect, even when looked
at within the context of the
decade it was made. There is
a noticeable lack of people of
color in the show, and most
seem to be from an ambiguous
middle class. But it is one
of the most overtly feminist
shows
I’ve
ever
seen
—
especially for shows directed
at teens, which is important.
And in a world where people
are still questioning whether
the
masses
will
still
be
interested in something if
it unapologetically features
strong
women,
“Buffy”
’s
popularity
and
importance
can’t be overlooked. If you
haven’t watched it yet, you
should. It’s on Netflix. You
have no excuse.
THE WB
Are we just not gonna talk about the guy with the eye patch?
After watching the
first season, I can
understand why
Buffy has the cult
following she does.