cool<\/u><\/a>,\u201d Clifford\u2019s first-ever solo single, which dropped earlier this year and teased a sound that\u2019s looser, dreamier and more introspective than his band\u2019s stadium-filling hooks.<\/p>\nStill, Clifford isn\u2019t leaving 5SOS behind. \u201cWe can do both,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s no weirdness, no bad blood. We still have the band and we still make music together, but now we\u2019re also creating separately. It just gives us more outlets.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Sidequest<\/em><\/em> is any indication, Clifford\u2019s outlet is one where joy and vulnerability can coexist, where music videos happen in shopping carts, and growing up doesn\u2019t mean growing dull. \u201cThere are no expectations, no past catalog to measure against,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s just fun again. It\u2019s a blank slate.\u201d<\/p>\nBelow, PAPER<\/em> chats with Clifford to discuss how the Tumblr era influenced his current work, wild fan fiction stories and becoming a dad.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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Where are you calling from right now?<\/strong><\/p>\nI\u2019m at home in Atlanta, just hanging out. I’ve been up since 5:30 am. My daughter\u2019s an early bird, so I\u2019m a little delirious.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t know you were based in Atlanta.<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, we\u2019re actually moving again soon. Probably by the time this interview comes out, we\u2019ll be back in LA. But we\u2019ve been here for a while. It\u2019s been fun. Completely different from LA. We were living way out in the country, which was actually perfect for becoming parents. Slower pace, more space. It was a good change.<\/p>\n
Have you had to totally shift your lifestyle since becoming a parent?<\/strong><\/p>\nOh, absolutely. It\u2019s fucking wild. There\u2019s just no real way to prepare for how much your life flips. Not in a bad way, but it\u2019s a complete reset. The priorities, the perspective\u2014it all shifts. It\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n
Is anyone else in 5 Seconds of Summer a dad?<\/strong><\/p>\nNope, just me.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve gone solo (congrats), but you\u2019re still fully in the band too?<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, we can do both. Why not? It\u2019s been a pretty natural transition, honestly. Everyone\u2019s done their own thing. Luke and Ash had solo projects a few years ago and just dropped new ones, and now Cal and I are both doing ours at the same time. It\u2019s felt really normal. There\u2019s no weirdness, no bad blood. We still have the band and we still make music together, but now we\u2019re also creating separately. It just gives us more outlets to be creative. And we\u2019re lucky that our fans care about us individually too.<\/p>\n
With my project, Sidequest<\/em><\/em>, I\u2019m just having fun. I\u2019m not saying no to any ideas. Sometimes I\u2019d stop myself in an idea because it felt stupid or crazy \u2014 and now I just let my brain go nuts. And it\u2019s been awesome.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s interesting. I\u2019m very obsessed with boy bands and girl groups, and I\u2019ve noticed over the years that the American ones tend to break up more quickly, but British ones seem to stick together longer.<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, that\u2019s an interesting observation. I think what we\u2019ve always loved doing is taking influences from stuff that isn\u2019t traditional for a band like us. We started as a metal band and then became a pop rock band. But we love pulling in sensibilities from other acts and different genres \u2014 things that wouldn\u2019t usually work for a band.<\/p>\n
Doing solo projects is definitely more of a boy band or girl group thing, but when you apply that to a rock band like us, it becomes something really unique. And we\u2019ve always, from the beginning, loved doing shit like that. You know, we\u2019re a rock band, and we\u2019re all singers and we\u2019re all artists. It\u2019s hard to have four singers in a band that wasn\u2019t put together, you know? But somehow it works for us.<\/p>\n
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Maybe that\u2019s the secret\u2014you guys weren\u2019t put together in, like, a Simon Cowell <\/strong>X-Factor <\/em><\/strong><\/em>way.<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, exactly. Maybe we\u2019re just glued together at this point. There\u2019s no getting out now.<\/p>\n
You just filmed the video for \u201cgive me a break! (feat. waterparks),\u201d right? I saw the treatment. It looked anime-inspired.<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, the original concept was fanfic-meets-Death Note. I\u2019ve read so much insane fan fiction over the years, and I thought, \u201cWhat if the things someone wrote actually started happening in real life?\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s definitely no shortage of Waterparks or Michael fanfic out there. Some of them are insane. We leaned into that. I really wanted to celebrate fan fiction, honestly. I think it\u2019s incredible how fans build their own worlds and narratives.<\/p>\n
But yeah, sometimes it\u2019s wild to read about yourself, especially when it gets intense or weird. With the video, we wanted fan fiction to look good. We wanted the girl in the video to look like a hero too. It was all about honoring that world while making something fun and stylized.<\/p>\n
I love the absurdity of fandom and fan fiction. I was a total Tumblr kid. You guys formed in 2011, right?<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah. We were deep in the Tumblr zeitgeist\u2014that whole era really influenced what I’m making now. There\u2019s something about that specific time on the internet that I\u2019m still drawing from. It had a spirit that doesn\u2019t really exist anymore.<\/p>\n
AI has probably ruined fan fiction.<\/strong><\/p>\nYeah, now you can just ask it to write you something. But what I always loved about fan fiction was the imperfections. When you read something and there’s a repeated word, or weird grammar. It wasn\u2019t polished, and that was the point. It came straight from someone\u2019s brain, in their bedroom. That\u2019s what made it beautiful. Honestly, that\u2019s how I feel about music too. The more human it is, the better.<\/p>\n
Were you reading fanfics back then? What\u2019s the craziest one you\u2019ve come across about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\nNever willingly. I\u2019ve definitely been forced into it. There\u2019s one I just got reminded of, but\u2026 I\u2019m not saying it. I don\u2019t want to put anyone\u2019s fanfic out there like that. I do want to make a video one day where I go through a bunch, though.<\/p>\n
The ones I like most are the ones that are almost<\/em><\/em> based in reality, where it feels like it could\u2019ve happened. But yeah, some of them are totally unhinged. There\u2019s one that\u2019s so explicit I can\u2019t even say it. You wouldn\u2019t be able to write it down. It\u2019s that messed up.<\/p>\nNot safe for work.<\/strong><\/p>\nVery NSFW.<\/p>\n
How has fatherhood changed the way you approach writing music? Did that influence the decision to go solo?<\/strong><\/p>\nI already had a bunch of music that was close to ready, like a full album\u2019s worth. But after becoming a parent, I paused everything for a bit. When I came back to it, I had a totally different perspective. Watching my daughter discover the world for the first time gave me this sense of wonder again. She gets so much joy from the tiniest things. That energy helped me re-approach the album like, \u201cLet\u2019s just make this fun. Let\u2019s not overthink it.\u201d It completely changed my process, and honestly, it made the album better.<\/p>\n
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There must be emotions you can express in your solo music that you can\u2019t fully tap into with 5SOS.<\/strong><\/p>\nExactly. It\u2019s just a different thing. When you write for a band, the message has to resonate with everyone. It\u2019s a shared expression. But solo music can be purely yours. It\u2019s your experience, your voice, your way of saying something. You even see that in what Luke and Ashton have done solo. Those were things only they could say. When it\u2019s just you, the voice is more direct. It\u2019s different in the best way.<\/p>\n
You’ve been open about mental health and navigating fame. Is there a specific memory from the early 5SOS days (2011 or 2012) that really stands out?<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat I\u2019ve been realizing while releasing solo music is that, in the beginning, there was no pressure. Everything was new. There were no expectations. We hadn\u2019t released anything, so everything felt possible. After five albums, you start to feel a responsibility to do justice to the legacy of the band and what it means to people. It\u2019s this thing that has so many memories for so many people. That\u2019s not a bad thing, but it does change the creative process.<\/p>\n
With the solo project, I feel like I\u2019m back at the start. It\u2019s the same as how I felt in the very, very beginning \u2014 just pure fun. There are no expectations, no past catalog to measure against. It\u2019s just fun again. It\u2019s a blank slate, and that\u2019s such a freeing feeling.<\/p>\n
How would you describe the album to your fans? Anything you want them to know before it drops?<\/strong><\/p>\nFrom the beginning, I just wanted this to be fun. I want people to immerse themselves in it, to enjoy the world of it. I take making music seriously\u2014but everything else around it? That\u2019s just for fun. Honestly, I hope people catch the energy: this whole thing is one big side quest. Come have fun with me. Come fight me on Twitter.<\/p>\n
Fight me on Twitter. Love it. Thanks so much for talking with me.<\/strong><\/p>\nThank you! Appreciate it. Take care!<\/p>\n
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Photography: Ryan Fleming<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michael Clifford has read some crazy fan fiction about himself. \u201cThere\u2019s one that\u2019s so explicit I can\u2019t even say it,\u201d he tells PAPER. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":438,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions\/448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hubpsotemail.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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