Last year, Australian pop-rock band, 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS), released a 10-year anniversary video for their band entitled, “The 5 Seconds of Summer Show,” on their YouTube channel. Aside from the incredible live performances and meaningful interviews, this hour-long celebration video consisted of silly skits. One notable skit called, “The Eulogy,” even poked fun at the death, yet immortality of pop-punk, a subgenre of pop-rock and inspiration for the band in their early years. Now, 5SOS is in the middle of their world tour which is also called, “The 5 Seconds of Summer Show,” and sold out the iconic New York City venue, Madison Square Garden, according to the billboard outside of the venue. With that kind of success, can pop-punk actually be dead?
Pop-rock derives from rock and roll. It is “the intersection of mainstream pop music with rock music, which is often driven by guitars and drums,” as described by Master Class. The variations of different music genres within rock parallel with pop-rock. One of these sub-genres, pop-punk, “is characterized by its anti-establishment sentiment,” according to Days of Punk. The website explained that pop-punk is a “mindset built out of frustration, curiosity, and necessity” with “fast tempos, distorted riffs, and eloquent yet frantic vocals.”
5SOS’ current success can’t be the sole proof that pop-punk is alive and well. While their earlier albums contain more inspiration from the genre, their newer music explores more individuality using pop and alternative influences. In an interview on the Zach Sang Show regarding their latest album, 5SOS5, the band’s drummer Ashton Irwin explained how their new music has its own identity. He said, “this is our words, our sounds, our concepts, our way, and that’s what people will truly become fans of… the truthful identity,” since most of the album was written and produced by themselves. Irwin later explained that the band did take constructive criticism into account, including from those who want more rock-inspired and angsty songs, when creating their album. Many 5SOS fans support the varying styles of their music, and the band mixes old hits with new songs on their current setlist.
There has been a decline in pop-rock music, according to Master Class, which inherently means there’s a decline in pop-punk. The website said that there was a revival of pop-rock in the 1990s “thanks to groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam” and that pop-punk “also found ample attention from FM radio and MTV” because of bands like Green Day. However, modern mainstream artists “do not fully embrace rock ‘n’ roll to the degree of past chart-toppers like the Beatles and Nirvana,” Master Class said.
While this may seem evident, some artists are trying to keep the genre alive. Singer Knox Morris, who rose to fame on TikTok and released his first EP earlier this year, posted a video on the platform last month promoting his music. On the video, he wrote, “me trying to prove to y’all that pop punk is far from dead” as the cover to his single, Love Letter, was revealed behind a giant curtain. Now, he has over 150,000 followers on TikTok and is releasing his second EP on October 6, 2023. He’s also joining the band, Nightly, on their “Wear Your Heart Out Tour” beginning on October 5, 2023.
Even one of the biggest mainstream artists, Olivia Rodrigo, experiments with pop-punk. In her latest album, GUTS, which was released in the United States on September 8, 2023, she follows the pop-punk premise of being ‘unhinged’ in many of her songs. Some of her latest lyrics include, “each time I step outside, it’s social suicide,” “I wanna key his car,” and “wanna kiss his face with an uppercut.” She even used sarcasm to explore societal expectations and her frustration with them, screaming to reflect internal struggles and then peacefully singing, “I’m grateful all the time” and “I’m pretty when I cry.” Pop Crave reported that GUTS received more than 60 million “first-day streams on the global Spotify chart,” showing not only major success for Rodrigo, but also for the survival of pop-punk.
So, is pop-punk dead? In short, no. If anything, there’s a minor shift in the genre’s style so artists can maintain individuality and keep up with modern pop preferences to expand or keep their audiences. But, the musicians aren’t caving too much into mainstream styles. The genre is not dead, especially with Rodrigo’s recent album. That, paired with her immense popularity, may even bring more attention to pop-punk. 5SOS’ Luke Hemmings seemed to be right in “The Eulogy” when he said, as a zombie personifying the genre, “pop-punk will never die.”
