Michael Clifford of 5 Seconds Of Summer is only two months away from releasing his debut solo album, SIDEQUEST (out July 25 via Hopeless Records). After appearing on Joel Madden’s Artist Friendly series in April, he’s returned with the new song “give me a break!” featuring Awsten Knight of Waterparks.
The song comes with a Death Note-inspired video, where Clifford and Knight bring the protagonist’s fan fiction to life. As it’s constantly rewritten, Clifford acts out his multiple deaths at the hands of Knight. “I wanted to make sure that we glorified fan fiction and how beautiful it is that people write these incredible, far-fetched stories about their favorite artists and publish them for the world to see,” Clifford says. “It’s a celebration of the dedication of the people who love us and how unorthodox their support can be sometimes.”
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Of the collaboration, he adds, “I’d been really wanting to create something unique with Awsten and Waterparks. Awsten became my person that I would vent to about different things in life, and I think that’s the kind of energy that this song has. It’s very authentic to us.”
“When Michael asked me to be involved with his album, I was beyond flattered,” Knight says. “I’ve been a fan of his for so long, and hearing he was doing a solo album instantly got my brain spinning. Writing with him was fun because we pushed every line to the limit. It’s been really sick to watch him grow this album from the early stages and can’t wait to see how much people love it.”
See the video for “give me a break!,” directed by Luke Orlando, below.