5SOS’ LUKE HEMMINGS bares his introverted soul on his new solo EP, ‘boy’ - a love letter to nostalgia and a quest for self-discovery.

Words: Abigail Firth.
Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
Styling: Chloe, flo fashion styling assisted by Amelia Connolly.
Hair and makeup: Sandra Hahnel.

Luke Hemmings’ time in the spotlight – now clocking in at over a decade – has been a delicate balance between facing thousands of people and facing himself when he steps off that stage.

Much more private and shier in person than you’d expect from the charismatic frontman of one of the biggest bands to blow up in the 2010s, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Luke’s second solo venture, the upcoming EP ‘boy’, is a representation of who he is alone, at home and in hotel rooms between those massive moments.

“My default mode is very introverted, like trying not to look anyone in the eyes and not talking to anyone,” says Luke. We’re chatting over Zoom, camera off. “So it does take two minutes to get in that mode. But, you know, I think that’s kind of what life is about, duality.”

The various dualities that run through Luke’s life – not only his reserved nature coming up against his job as a performer, but his longing for home and security while spending a significant portion of his time out on the road – and the anxieties that bring forth are explored on both the album and ‘boy’.

His solo debut, ‘When Facing The Things We Turn Away From’, released in 2021, was written as a pandemic-led experiment, but the introspective ideas presented on that record haven’t left him. The album introduced Luke as a songwriter who looked inwards, reflected on his unusual adolescence, longed for normality; time spent away from the band he’d always written with gave him space to explore those themes in music, and those feelings weren’t limited to his lockdown headspace.

Describing the feeling he aims to convey on ‘boy’ as a vague and constant ache, it’s wholly present on the hazy balladry of the EP’s first offering ‘Shakes’.

“I think for me, songwriting is such a way to deal with how I see the world and how I feel, like my place around people,” Luke says. “It is a constant up and down, and I think I’m just sort of capturing moments in time of how I feel. This whole EP has this sort of longing to go home, and this ache for more emotionally. I think it was a definite need to get back to normalcy at home a little bit, with my wife and just being at home. It’s difficult to explain; it’s just something that I feel within me that I need to express and get out. Otherwise, that sort of gets trapped there.”