Sounds Good Feels Good

Background and release

Following the release of their debut album 5 Seconds of Summer and their live album LiveSOS in 2014, 5 Seconds of Summer took a break for the holidays. Aside from the track "Invisible", penned in August 2014 at Ocean Way recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, the majority of Sounds Good Feels Good was written in 2015 in Los Angeles. The band flew to Los Angeles in early 2015 to start writing and recording what was to become their second album. On their headline tour beginning in early May, they began performing a new song titled "Permanent Vacation". On 12 August 2015 they announced the title and cover art for the record, with pre-orders starting on 14 August in each time zone. Each pre-order got an instant download of the new tracks "She's Kinda Hot", "Fly Away", "Jet Black Heart", "Money", and "Hey Everybody". Many songs touch on severe topics like depression, and mental health. The band stated that the album was written as a way for them to work through personal issues, and from there they worked to make it an album for their fans, as well.

Promotion

In 2015, 5 Seconds of Summer announced a follow-up to their Rock Out with Your Socks Out Tour, titled Sounds Live Feels Live, which took place in 2016.

Singles

The album's first single "She's Kinda Hot" was released on 17 July 2015, and a music video to accompany it in early August. The second single "Hey Everybody!" was released 17 October 2015 worldwide, with the band performing it on Alan Carr: Chatty Man and TFI Friday as part of promotion. On 16 November 2015, it was announced by the group that "Jet Black Heart" would be released as the album's third single. The official music video for "Jet Black Heart", containing fans who entered their stories for a chance to be in the video, was released on 17 December 2015.

Other songs

"Fly Away" was made available to download when the album was made available to pre-order on 13 August 2015. "Money" was made available to download on 17 September 2015.

Critical reception

The album was generally praised for its maturity compared to the band's debut, but criticized for its lack of cohesiveness and cliche themes. On Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album gained an average score of 67 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Awarding the album four stars at Alternative Press, Maria Sherman states, "the band have a real responsibility to the consumer, and Sounds Good Feels Good delivers...It's 5SOS' attempt to find community in their new sound and those who support it, a concept that lives both on the record and well outside of it. It's a strong sentiment: follow them and you might find something to relate to. That's a powerful thing." The staff from Rock Sound published a review of the album in their October 2015 issue giving the album an eight out of ten rating, where they write, "album number two finds the four man phenomenon firming up their identity and becoming their own band" and closing with the remarks "this is the New Broken Scene, it sounds good and it feels even better". Kerrang! awarded it a 4/5 rating, commenting "Sounds Good Feels Good won't change the world, but it might just change your mind".

The album was included at number 31 on Rock Sound's top 50 releases of 2015 list.

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one in the band's home country of Australia, with 16,150 album sales, outselling current The X Factor Australia judge Chris Isaak's First Comes the Night by over 10,000 units. In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 192,000 album-equivalent units (179,000 in pure album sales). 5 Seconds of Summer became the first band (not vocal group) to have their first two full-length albums debut at number one in the US. Sounds Good Feels Good is their first UK number one, outselling its nearest rivals by more than two to one. It also debuted at number one in other countries including Ireland and Norway.

The album has sold one million copies worldwide as of April 2016.

The album has been certified Silver in the United Kingdom, Gold in Indonesia and Platinum in Ireland.

Track listing

Vocals by all members except where noted

Formats

Several limited edition album bundle formats are available via the band's official store, which each contain a variety of items relating to the album. They are as follows: