5 Seconds of Summer – She’s Kinda Hot EP, 2015 (Album Review)

5 Seconds of Summer is fueling up for the launch of their sophomore full-length titled Sounds Good, Feels Good, but on the road to this soon-to-be triumph, 5SOS generously released a scorchingly memorable EP, She’s Kinda Hot, which primarily features their latest hit single. “She’s Kinda Hot” isn’t all there is to talk about on this fiery EP though. After opening with an alternative version of the single, the band then slows it down to a more mellow feel outlined in the track “Broken Pieces,” which they cowrote with Sum 41 guitarist and vocalist, Deryck Whibley. The EP then includes one of the Sydney-based band’s heaviest tracks to date, “Over and Out,” cowritten by Alex Gaskarth who has been a notable influence on the boys. If sped up, the guitar melodies in this song could easily be mistaken for something by Dragonforce. The chorus is an honest display of 5SOS and Alex’s catchy writing abilities and shows that 5SOS can conquer even the slightly heavier realms of pop rock. The standard edition EP concludes with the unforgettable “Lost in Reality,” chanting the chorus “Hey, hey, Haley, won’t you save me?” with pop punk glory oozing from each syllable. This still mellow track excitingly ends the EP, leaving listeners hanging on the edge of their seats for more to come in SGFG. Other versions of the EP include the songs “The Girl Who Cried Wolf,” an emotional acoustic ballad, and “Safety Pin,” a more pop-ish sound to show the many sides of 5SOS’s style, and both tracks can be found on the upcoming LP. Overall, the She’s Kinda Hot EP introduces a more mature 5SOS, both in sound and style as well as lyrical content. They are beginning to develop an individualism that certainly holds the potential for them to break through even more in the pop punk and alternative scene, a scene where community members have been skeptical or just negative towards the Australian band. This EP, rating 9/10, promises that Sounds Good, Feels Good will surely satisfy fans of a wide variety of genres.