Calum Hood debuts solo single “Don’t Forget You Love Me”

Pop-rock band 5 Seconds of Summer is currently on a break, however all four members have been busy with their own projects. Lead singer Luke Hemmings released his second solo record as well as drummer Ashton Irwin, next guitarist Michael Clifford just dropped his first solo single. That leaves bassist Calum Hood, who up until recently had been pretty quiet, only posting a TikTok doing a tarot card reading. Fans began joking saying the bassist was “unemployed”, little did they know Hood had been hard at work crafting his first solo album. 

Thursday afternoon Hood posted on Instagram that his debut single “Don’t Forget You Love Me” was available and announced his new solo album ORDER chaos ORDER will be coming out June 13th. Hood also shared some feelings about the new project saying “Diving into this project has been a liberating, healing, painful, enlightening experience. It’s been a journey into parts of myself I didn’t even know I hadn’t explored until they became this music, and I’m excited to open up this part of me to you. Welcome to my world, I hope you stay a little while. There’s a lot more to come these next few months.”  

Hood is no stranger to songwriting, he has been heavily involved with writing music for his band for the past 14 years so it was not a surprise that he released a song so packed full of emotion. On “Don’t Forget You Love Me’, Hood walks the listeners through an internal conflict, owning up to not being perfect in a relationship and wishing he could have done better and was able to adequately express his true feelings. Instrumentally, there are notes of 80’s pop, a synth paired with a simple drum beat which swells when the pre chorus hits. “But I've tried enough to call you / And I'm scared that you'll pick up / 'Cause I know that I don't want you to / 'Cause, baby, I would havе to own up / To everything, oh, evеrything I've done to you / And all I did to us”, Hood admits he would need to swallow his pride and admit his wrongs. 

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Hood shared “There are things I’ve never been able to sing about in the band - my upbringing, my family, the places life has taken me. This album is about laying those things to rest and allowing listeners to connect in their own way.” ORDER chaos ORDER is now available for preorder and you can listen to Don’t Forget You Love Me on streaming platforms now.

Cover photo by Le3ay Studio