Michael Clifford's Candid Conversation at The GRAMMY Museum
Written by: Ephney Tsai
At his "The Drop" event at The GRAMMY MUSEUM, 5 Seconds of Summer's Michael Clifford was joined by Joel Madden for a heartfelt discussion about his debut solo album, his personal growth, and his journey of rediscovery outside of just being a 5SOS member.
Clifford thought back to the challenges he faced when deciding to pursue his solo career, mentioning how it felt like he was breaking an unspoken rule of the band culture. Thankfully for him, his fellow 5SOS members were supportive, all also pursuing their own solo careers without the thought of disbanding the band. Titled "Sidequest," he shared the fears he confronted while preparing this solo debut album, ranging from internal self doubt to public perception.
The conversation dove into his mentions of self doubt quite often, as Clifford shared that he always feels "less than." He shared how he craves perfection and always believes what he makes isn't good enough to release, and even revealed that thirty songs were vetoed by him during the selection process for tracks in the album because of these thoughts.
Not exclusively mentioning the challenges, Clifford also shared his major turning point when it came to working on his solo music: the COVID-19 lockdown. During that period, the singer used his time to experiment creatively, crafting many songs, some of which will be in this upcoming album, and some of which were scrapped. During this time, Clifford also became a father, creating another layer of growth and altering his perspective even more. Aside from that, he also revealed that this project became therapeutic for him, teaching him to live with the imperfect parts of himself and teaching him to love the imperfect parts of himself. "The key word is just trying, because I think that's what I'm doing. I'm just out here trying, period."
Wrapping up the event, Clifford revealed some secret upcoming plans to promote his album, and also treated the audience to a live performance. He played his songs “cool,” and “enough,” an unreleased track that he described as the cynical older brother of “cool.” He followed with “give me a break!” during which he surprised the crowd by bringing out special guest Awsten Knight from Waterparks, and he closed with “kill me for always."
The evening encapsulated Clifford’s upcoming SIDEQUEST album perfectly, emphasizing the learning curve to embracing fear, staying authentic, and continuing to create, even when you feel unworthy.
