5SOS's Michael Clifford Talks 'Wildflower' Video, CALM, And Quarantine

In this age of self-isolation and quarantine, it's never been more key to check in on each other and to connect. This goes for artists, also, who have been social distancing alongside us: livestreaming concerts and hangouts, creating their own talk shows, and... Well, that's what we want them to tell us, with Remote Access.


If ever there was a time for an album called Calm to be released, it's right now — and 5 Seconds of Summer was the musical group to do it. The Aussie rockers dropped their fourth album, their most musically ambitious project nevertheless, last month, although as a substitute opposed to taking those new songs on the road, they've been quarantined at residence as segment of the task to stop the spread of COVID-19. Luckily, that hasn't fully slowed their roll. Last week, 5SOS released the inventive video for "Wildflower," a sunny slice of psychedelic pop that they brought to life using a green screen that was passed between their homes. The footage was spliced with each other with charming animations that conjure an astounding feeling of togetherness, despite members Calum Hood, Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings, and Michael Clifford filming it in totally different places.


"'Wildflower' has such a bigger scope of vision than just sitting in a room," 5SOS guitarist Clifford told MTV News. "It was cool to get that across; like, look at what you could do even while stuck at home."


Below, Clifford tells us how that green-screen adventure happened and what else he's been up to at residence — from the shows he's been binge-watching and the album he can't stop spinning, to what it's been like keeping in touch with his bandmates.


MTV News: Where are you spending your time these days?


Clifford: I am spending my time in Los Angeles, at my little humble abode that I have here. I actually have a couple of different people living with me at the moment and coincidentally, they were living here before quarantine happened, so the majority are stuck here now.


MTV News: Is it true that one of these people is Andy Deluca, who directed the "Wildflower" video?


Clifford: Yeah! Andy Deluca, our creative director. We have a lyric video for "Wildflower" that was made using stop-motion with all different types of plants arranged into different circles. That was made here, then the "Wildflower" official video that we just released was made with a green screen in the backyard. We shot mine and Calum's footage here, and then Kat, who cooperates with the us, took the green screen to Luke's and Luke's girlfriend filmed him, and then took it to Ashton's and Ashton's girlfriend filmed him. So it was filmed in three different places.


MTV News: The four of you had probably never shot a music video in separate places and at separate times, right? What was that like for you, to be filming entirely by yourself?


Clifford: It's just weird. Typically any time as soon as you film a music video, you have a backdrop, you know what the scene looks like, and you also know what the vibe of the shoot is. Yet any time you're on a green screen, you have no idea what it's going to be up until soon after it's been edited with each other. And also you should trust your other bandmates that they're going to prepare an excellent efficiency as well. Or perhaps not a performance; maybe they're just going to have waterfalls coming out of their armpits, which I saw for the opening time in the video. That was pretty great.


MTV News: Right now that you've made this video and you've seen what's possible to do while you're all working from different places, do you envision the musical group doing more this sort of thing? Are there any other ways you guys are thinking outdoor of the box?


Clifford: I think it's been a cool test for bands and artists to have to do things out of their own house. I feel like it's pushed each person creatively, nevertheless I could be lying if I mentioned that I wasn't looking forward to just getting in a room with each person again and actually being able to play instruments and just feel the presence of the musical group. It's been interesting attempt to push the restrictions of how you connect with people [when] you only have the world wide web. Typically we're just so used to physically flying to another nation, like, "Hello, we're all here."


MTV News: How much are the four of you talking and keeping in touch with each other?


Clifford: We'll text all day. We of course just had an album come out, so we're habitually messaging each other. It's surprising how much we've been in contact — you wouldn't expect it from a musical group who's been with each other for like eight years right now. You wouldn't expect us to be talking almost every day, yet surprisingly, we do. We're inseparable, I guess. For better or for worse.


MTV News: You said being a musical group for about eight years right now. Any time whenever you look at Calm, do you suggest that album opens up a different side of the musical group that maybe your fans hadn't seen before?


Clifford: This album for us is so different from anything we've done before, yet it's also so familiar. I think this record was sort of acknowledging where we've come from and acknowledging our previous success and the fans that might have stuck around for a really long time. We aspire to create ensure that there really are things they can love, although we also are constantly pushing forwards and attempting to keep it fresh and keep it interesting for us, and also for other people. This one is probably one of my favorites because it's got a bit of everything.


MTV News: "Wildflower" is one of these songs that certainly puts 5SOS in a different light. Are there any other songs on Calm that you think best illustrate what you mentioned about the musical group evolving its sound?


Clifford: I mean, "Wildflower" is a song that, if someone would've played it to me at the starting of this band's career, I would've been like, "How would we ever release that? It's the weirdest song ever." I think it's cool that we're at a point where we can release stuff like that. Even a song like "Easier," which is like a dark and moody pop song. I think we're just lucky enough to be in a position where we can be super versatile and release whichever we want also it makes sense because we've been so multifaceted while in our career. We've had so several different sounds and different influences that it may go sort of unquestioned. And that's interesting as a fan as much as it is [for] the musical group. It's cool for other people have the ability to listen to it and never know what you're going to hear.


MTV News: I can only imagine you're looking forward to playing these songs live someday, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, have you been playing music at home?


Clifford: We've been attempting to identify some cool ways we can continue to play with each other as a musical group while we're all quarantined at house, although it's hard. Honestly, the hugest struggle is Wi-Fi. Calum's got the worst Wi-Fi although also the perfect Wi-Fi — it's like, the room that he sits in has the worst Wifi nevertheless next door to him is the fastest room in the residence. Mine's pretty crap all of the time. So it's tough to try and come up with a way that you could play with each other without there being any latency. Nevertheless needless to say we're really, really, really looking forward to getting on the road and playing these songs eventually. Hopefully things will return to typical soon and we can get into a room and rehearse, like the good old days a couple months prior. Touring is such a big piece of our lives plus a big piece of what makes this musical group thrive and what makes us connect to our fans.


MTV News: How else have you been flexing your creativity at house? Any creative assignments you're working on?


Clifford: It's been hard because I'm attempting to strike that balance between efficiency along with taking this time as, "Wow, I finally have a minute to myself and I can actually breathe and live." It's a weird time of self-reflection for each person. Yet I've made sure to be efficient in my physical health; I'm exercising and going in the sun a lot more, which is… I'm sure there's people out there who know me very well and who know that the sun and me do not get along and we haven't been companions for a long time. I have been going for runs and walks, which is just so alien to me. It's brand new to me and it's pretty wonderful. I can actually understand why people do it.


MTV News: Pop culture-wise, what have you been into? Any good shows you're watching or music you're listening to?


Clifford: I just caught up on the show The Witcher. I'm of course a massive nerd and I'm a big fan of the video games, and I loved it. I just watched The Morning Show as well, which was very good. You know what? It sounds weird, nevertheless I've Been trying not to listen to so much music. I sort of have taken this time as my time to be away from music for a minute. Honestly, the only album that I've listened to routinely is Calm. I'll just have it on repeat some days and I won't even realize. I've Been listening to those songs for like each year right now, so it's weird any time it finally comes out and also you could open it and listen to it on Spotify. It's a different feeling.