Michael Clifford – best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of 5 Seconds Of Summer – has officially announced his debut studio album, Sidequest. While a release date for the album is yet to be announced, Clifford has announced his signing to American label Hopeless Records as a solo artist – and has also shared his debut single, entitled ‘Cool’.
Clifford both co-wrote and co-produced the single. In the former department, he worked with 5SOS bandmate Calum Hood; in the latter department, meanwhile, he worked with the team of JT Daly and Andrew Goldstein. In a press statement, Clifford said that he believed that the song “speaks for itself”. “My hope is that when fans hear the lyrics, they’ll understand me – and hopefully themselves – a little better,” he said.
“I’ve been deliberating on this music long enough, so I can’t wait for everybody to hear it.” A music video for ‘Cool’ has also been shared, directed by Bobby Hanaford. The director praised Clifford’s performance in the clip for being “willing to play a bit of the fool and turn a mirror on themselves”. “The moment I heard ‘Cool’, I realised Michael was really letting his guard down,” he said.
“He was using the critic in his head to take us on this journey of insecurity that every person can relate to. It was a quick process seeing a video that matched it, and it was a great collaboration with Michael going deeper into that idea and bringing it to life.” The video can be viewed below.
Michael Clifford – ‘Cool’
The launch of Clifford’s solo career comes nearly three years after 5SOS’ most recent studio album: Their fifth, simply titled 5SOS5. Last year saw two of Clifford’s bandmates revive their solo careers with new material: frontman Luke Hemmings released a new EP, entitled Boy, while drummer Ashton Irwin released his second solo album Blood On The Drums.
Speaking on the album’s title, Clifford said that he chose Sidequest due to his love of video games – a “sidequest” is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “part of a computer game that has its own aim and story, but is not part of the main game” – and because of its reflection on his current life. “I want this project to make people smile,” he said. “I’m just out here doing a bunch of sidequests. Now that I’m a dad, everything other than that feels like a sidequest.”
