"Wildflower" is a song by Australian pop rock band 5 Seconds of Summer, released on 25 March 2020 as the second promotional single from their fourth studio album Calm, before being released as the album's fifth single to radio on 17 April 2020.
Background
Breaking the precedent set by previous 5 Seconds of Summer albums, “Wildflower” is the only track from Calm to feature bassist Calum Hood (or any member other than Luke Hemmings) on lead vocals. Talking about the song, Hood said, "We wanted to make the chorus kind of a choose-your-own-adventure, where some words are left out and then accentuated by these big stabs of synth. It lets everyone come up with their own interpretation, and fill in whatever they think those missing lyrics might be."
Reception
Chris Payne of Billboard said, "The fifth single off Calm takes root in the flashy '80s touches that have served the Aussie quartet well in the past. Booming drumbeats, psychedelic harmonies, and synthy karate chops abound."
In a review of the album, David from auspOp said "'Wildflower' is the most pop-centric these boys sound on the album... it's an addictively good song."
Lyric and music videos
A lyric video was released along with the release of the single on 25 March 2020. The video was made by the band's creative director Andy DeLuca and Sarah Eiseman and features a circle of moving flowers with the song lyrics in the centre. The video was made with stop-motion animation, using 358 different photos.
The band had originally planned a big-budget music video, but the shoot was cancelled last minute due to the stay-at-home order issued in California to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, each band member filmed themselves in front of a green screen which was passed around from house to house. According to DeLuca, who directed the video, he and assistant director Eiseman then, "quickly learned animation and drew up several blooming flowers, and also created the trippy colored backgrounds using milk and food dye. I then spent the next couple of days/nights editing nonstop until my eyes bled and the video was completed."
The resulting video was released on 16 April 2020. It was described by Rolling Stone as "trippy" and "psychedelic" and DeLuca said of the concept behind the video, "Since the song has a pretty distinct 80s/90s tone, I came up with the idea of making an 80's/90's MTV-style music video. A 'music-video-themed music video'. The stuff I grew up on and loved."
Personnel
Credits adapted from Tidal. Oscar Gorres – producer, composer, lyricist, associated performer, background vocalist, programmer Ashton Irwin – composer, lyricist, associated performer, background vocalist, drums Calum Hood – composer, lyricist, associated performer, background vocalist, bass guitar, lead vocals Geoff Warburton – composer, lyricist, associated performer, background vocalist Michael Clifford – composer, lyricist, associated performer, background vocalist, guitar Rami Yacoub – composer, lyricist Matt Wolach – assistant mixer, studio personnel Luke Hemmings – associated performer, background vocalist Dave Kutch – mastering engineer, studio personnel Mike "Spike" Stent – mixer, studio personnel
Charts
Release history
Notes
References
2020 singles
2020 songs
5 Seconds of Summer songs
Australian soft rock songs
Song recordings produced by Oscar Görres
Songs written by Ashton Irwin
Songs written by Calum Hood
Songs written by Geoff Warburton
Songs written by Michael Clifford (musician) Songs written by Oscar Görres Songs written by Rami Yacoub