Michael Clifford's Solo Debut Album 'Sidequest' Proves Pop Punk Never Dies, It Just Finds a Purpose: Album Review
- Abby Anderson
- Jul 24
- 4 min read
Stand-out tracks: "give me a break! (feat. waterparks)" "nosebleed" "eclipse"
Our favorites: "cool" "enough" "fashion"
Release date: July 25, 2025
Label: Hopeless Records
For fans of: All Time Low, Mayday Parade, 5 Seconds of Summer
Michael Clifford is a lot of things. To most, "the guy who caught fire with the colored hair / from the band with the song about underwear." Sometimes, a Twitch gamer. Occasionally, an Instagram husband. Most dominantly, he's spent the last decade and a half shredding guitars and flashing his punk rock style on stage as the lead guitarist of one of the most successful Australian exports in history, 5 Seconds of Summer. Over the last few years, from the outside, Michael has seemed to have it pretty good, finding himself on the upward spiral as a musician, from producing much of the band's fifth record, 5SOS5, to headlining some of the most iconic venues in the world (see: The O2, Madison Square Garden, Sydney Opera House, and even a stop for the sunset slot at When We Were Young Festival).
But two years ago, when all that stopped, Clifford faced the greatest gift and challenge of his life thus far: fatherhood. Self-doubt, identity crises, and a fresh perspective on his purpose led Clifford to pursue something new: his solo debut record, Sidequest, released July 25 on Hopeless Records.
But don't be fooled by the depth of its emotional content; Sidequest feels like a nod to everything from the pop punk bands that Clifford plastered on his walls growing up to the most intimate of confessions to his growing family. That duality allows for a deliciously rambunctious and refreshingly oxymoronic quest into the unserious world of Osiris skate shoes and Green Day band tee nostalgia, while very much revealing the serious world of waking up as an adult with a family and a career riding on something as volatile as life as a musician.
Clifford opens the project with the understated intro of "kill me for always (feat. Porter Robinson)." A rightful introduction to Clifford as a solo artist, the emo-ballad flexes the layers of Michael's artistry, from production tricks to a sizzly guitar trip, all opened up by the super-meta "They let their guard down when you sang and you kissed them all / The castle is me / Be careful the lies you believe about me / Can't you see?" Clipping up to the sonic direction that seems to be a place of comfort from early days with the 5SOS guys, lead-single "cool" was the introduction Michael chose as a solo artist, and in the context of the full album, it continues to lock down a spot as one of the crown jewels of Sidequest. From the clever nods to life in the band to his 2015-punk core fashion, "cool" is a mantra for the kids who just never quite felt like they had it all together.
Despite that emo teen-flecked anxiety, nostalgia looks pretty good on Michael too, with "remember when" feeling straight out of a 2000s backyard party scene and "if i had a choice (feat. Ryan Hall)" giving the energy of a late-night drive home from the mall after a fight with your best friend, trunk full of impulse purchases from Hot Topic and Zumiez. And while there's a definitive punk-pop identity that Clifford has settled into establishing across the project, he also has his moments of leaning into the freedom (and possible paranoia) of setting out on his own solo venture, with the thundering ear-worm, scream-sung therapy session that is "give me a break! (feat. waterparks)" taking another spot as a high point on the album.
Life in the spotlight has gotten under his skin too, manifesting in the form of the coupling of outrageously addictive "fashion" and grandiose "thirsty." Is it punk rock to say that "Wear me on your arm like fashion / Just to get a reaction / Inside, did it cut you wide open?" is the new "eat the rich"? If not, it doesn't really matter, because Michael Clifford hit the other gold standards for punk rock: a riff to die for, a nonconformist hook that begs to be screamed into a steering wheel, and a production layering that's so headbangable that it might just make your neck ache solely from hearing it.
But where Clifford's solo venture hits its greatest highs? When Michael leans into the most humanizing of emotions of the project. "enough" drips in electric guitars that accentuate the rallying cry-meets-dejection of Clifford's gut-wrenching vocals crying out "I could never blame someone else, no / More than I blame myself / For letting you in just to fuck with my head / All I've done, is it ever gonna be enough?" His melancholia has a gristly glistening to it, too, with "nosebleed" truly just asking to be the soundtrack to your next application of smudgy black eyeliner and lacing up of your combat boots before going to sit in the rain for the hell of it.
But through it all, it's the homage to Clifford's daughter, Lua, that seems to have pulled all the parts of him together as one. Closing Sidequest with something of an opening to the future after resolving his past, "eclipse" sees Michael making sense of it all. The aches, the anxieties, the asinine antics - they've all been worth it, just to arrive here, with a reason to say that it's "Never too late to learn the meaning of what life is."
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