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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UGA chapter.

2018 was a great year for 5 Seconds of Summer, aka 5SOS to their fans. They took 2017 off to write their third studio album, Youngblood, which nabbed the band their third consecutive #1 on the Billboard 200 chart in June of last year. 5SOS went on two world tours in smaller venues to promote the new music and really connect with their core fanbase. They created an inclusive community for their fans by speaking out about mental health issues and showing their support for the LGBTQ+ community and against racism. Youngblood is a whole new sound for the band—and it worked. They’re always striving to push their boundaries as artists and diversify their sound and reach new audiences. While it’s a good thing that they’re doing this, they’re going about it the wrong way this time.

 

5SOS came back from their hiatus better than ever, promised that they’ll continue to produce music and promised more tours. Because the Youngblood era had been the best era so far, it had fans excited for what’s to come. But many fans are not quite as excited anymore. There had been talk of 5SOS collaborating with pop EDM duo, The Chainsmokers, who have a bad reputation for being racist, homophobic and sexist. Last week that collaboration became a reality and fans were pretty vocal about not wanting it to be a thing.

Feb. 7 came around and “Who Do You Love” was released. The song wasn’t as bad as many feared, and fans thought that would be the end of 5SOS and The Chainsmokers—but it’s not.

Right after the song came out there were rumors and jokes that they were actually going to tour together. On Feb. 12 that nightmare became a reality because not only is 5SOS not headlining this year, but they’re opening for The Chainsmokers. After the announcement, fans started voicing their concerns and feelings about this tour on Twitter. Fans have every right to be upset because this situation is confusing and feels like a slap in the face from the band who have created this “inclusive environment” for their fans. It’s weird for them to suddenly turn around and associate themselves with sexist, homophobic racists. To make matters worse, they’ve unfollowed fans that have tried to educate them on what The Chainsmokers have done in the past, which the duo still hasn’t apologized for. 

 

 

The situation has gotten even messier since their announcement. 5SOS continues posting on social media as if everything is fine when they know the fans disapprove, which makes fans even more upset. In an interview posted on Feb. 15 with The Chainsmokers, Ashton says they pay attention to how the fans feel and take that into consideration with everything they do. It hurts fans because it feels like 5SOS doesn’t care in this situation. Maybe they are hearing what the fans are saying but can’t do or say anything about it for legal reasons and it’s too late to back out of the tour now. The truth about what is going on and how 5SOS feels about the situation might not be exposed to fans until the tour is over, which sucks, but hopefully things won’t be this bad for the rest of the year.

Hi, I'm Quincey Durham I recently started my first semester at UGA. I'm a journalism major and I love to write about all things entertaiment in my free time.