Michael Clifford is back yet again with the third single off his upcoming solo album, SIDEQUEST. Back in March, the 5 Seconds of Summer guitarist announced that he’d be following in his bandmates' footsteps and launching a solo career of his own. So far, fans have been given a taste of his project through the lead single ‘cool’, a pop-rock track that draws on the fear of ‘not being cool enough’ anymore, and ‘give me a break!’ featuring Waterparks, a song that feels like a cathartic venting session from an old friend.
On June 26th, Clifford added his third installment to the project, the album's opening track, ‘kill me for always’ (abbreviated to KMFA for ease). ‘kill me for always’ features electronic artist Porter Robinson both on the production side of KMFA and through contributing vocals upon specific request from Clifford. This marks the very first time Robinson has done a vocal feature, making it a very momentous occasion for his fans.
This is a momentous occasion for Clifford as well, with him being a huge fan of Robinson long before the two became friends. “Big time manifested this” Clifford stated on Instagram, “porter is my favorite artist and this is still wild that im even writing this wow ily porter”.
[ 'kill me for always' Single Cover by @cutehospital on Twitter ]
‘kill me for always’ is so drastically different from what we’ve heard from SIDEQUEST so far. Both ‘cool’ and ‘give me a break!’ fall into the category of punchy ‘pop-rock songs, with Clifford putting a lot of energy and emphasis into uber catchy choruses and stand out bridges that get stuck in your head for days on end, making you want to play the track over and over.
With ‘kill me for always’, listeners feel this instant shift in atmosphere, with the track setting itself apart from anything else we’ve heard thus far right away. There's this immediate atmosphere that surrounds the listener, one that is angelic and light. It highly contrasts with Clifford’s usual ‘in your face’ style, taking up a ‘Porter Influence’ instead. ‘kill me for always’ feels as if you’re being lured into a new world, one that feels adjacent to Nurture or Smile!:D but with enough of Clifford’s unique touch to create something entirely new, something fresh. It’s experimental, yet welcoming.
KMFA kicks off with Clifford's soft, slightly distorted vocals that get meshed with an acoustic guitar and a simple layered piano. Without any complexities or over-the-top production, listeners are invited to feel slightly isolated, as if Clifford is playing this song for you personally, nobody else, just one man pouring his heart out to another human. It reminds me of how it feels to be captivated by someone singing at a campfire or a half-empty open mic night, where everything feels raw, passionate, and emotionally driven.
We see an escalation in KMFA starting within the pre-chorus and continuing into the chorus. Without much preparation, various synths and an electric guitar fill out the track in a flash, clouding all your senses and making it difficult to pick out each individual layer, forcing you to just accept the sound. As Clifford enunciates the ending of each line, all the sounds appear to get tighter, with the chorus creating a faint build-up, one that doesn’t quite burst, but instead pops, with the synth crackling down until we’re back to the basics, the acoustic guitar and empty isolation.
A simple, but familiar piano riff seems to summon Robinson onto the track. Nothing much changes with the production elements here, apart from a soft marching band drum playing somewhere in the distance, the only true drum sound on the entire song. Robinson's verse both adds to and parallels Clifford, depending on your view of the song. If you believe Robinson picks up where Clifford leaves off, the two artists sharing one mind, then we learn more about this linear story, one with our main character and muse. You may also imagine that Robinson is replying to Clifford, both of them in this battle, a blame game of sorts. However, I do feel this viewpoint may be influenced by ‘kill me for always’ single cover, which shows the original characters of Clifford and Robinson duelling as medieval knights.
A small detail I noticed between Clifford and Robinson's verses is that they both follow a structure of creating this metaphor, describing it intricately, before dropping on listeners that the metaphor doesn’t just apply to any situation, but instead applies directly to them. Clifford sings, “The castles I built just to fall,” following up with “The Castle is Me”, something Robison described as being tender and heartbreaking.
In partnership, Robinson sings, “But these poisonous hands that I hold, It tore up my gardens and burnt them, every last rose…And the garden is me”, creating a lyrical parallel. While this adds nothing major to ‘kill me for always’ as a whole, it’s this soft and subtle moment of cohesiveness, something you don’t always see when two artists collaborate. It feels like recognition, something that truly drives this collaboration home.
In all, I would say that ‘kill me for always’ is a near-perfect collaboration. You’re not only finding two extremely talented artists on a single track, but artists who aren’t afraid to experiment and branch out of their usual sphere, while still holding tight to familiarity. A song like KMFA can be truly eye-opening, especially as it’s been released as a single.
[ SIDEQUEST Album Cover ]
Fans still have no clue what SIDEQUEST will sound like in its entirety, but ‘kill me for always’ has already managed to diversify the album, completely changing my expectations for Clifford’s album. Through ‘kill me for always’, Clifford is inviting listeners to ask, “Will we hear other songs like this?” and “What else could possibly be on this album?”. Somewhere inside, I’d like to believe that SIDEQUEST will play around with different production styles, coming across as a mixtape rather than a standard pop-rock album, emphasizing all these ‘sidequests’ that Clifford went on to create this project.
SIDEQUEST is set to release on July 25th through Hopeless Records.
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