Beyond The Song: Castaway - 5 Seconds of Summer

“Castaway” is yet another track featured on 5 Seconds of Summer’s second studio album Sounds Good Feels Good, coming in as the tenth track on the album.

Co-written by Luke Hemmings, Calum Hood, S. Johnson, J. Johnson, Lomax Coffee Jr, and Sean Maxwell Douglas, the sextet got together to create an amazing but quite an emotional song.

Castaway immediately became a huge fan favourite following the release of the album. Several fans rushing to make remarkable and impressive fanart, commemorating the song.

The song tells a tale of a toxic relationship ending in an emotional downwards spiral, leaving the male in the relationship feeling like he’s lost at sea (much like a castaway).

Castaway may have a killer tune with phenomenal lyrics, but what about the overall meaning behind the song’s entirety?

Young love close the chapter, there’s no ever after, fell fast; ended faster, yeah. Late night conversations led to complications, now my heart is in my hands.

As most would say about ‘young love’, this type of relationship does not last long, which is what this verse implies. Two very young lovers fell for each other incredibly fast with the expectation of “happily ever after”, but clearly the relationship ended pretty quickly and that fairytale ending that most long for, didn’t happen.

This verse also implies that their late night conversations which used to be about them passionately conversing about their feelings, quickly turned into toxic arguments, leaving the male’s heart in his hands which means that the female ultimately ended the relationship.

Cause you walked out and left me stranded, nothing left but picture frames, and I just keep on asking myself.

Again, the pre-chorus states that the female was the one to end the relationship and leave him behind. The only thing left of their relationship that proves its existence is the pictures of the two of them, which is presumed the female left behind on purpose.

The pictures are a constant reminder to the male of why everything turned out the way it did; leaving him with several unanswered questions and many memories to look back on and reflect.

How’d we drift so far away, from where we left off yesterday? I’m lonely like a castaway. Heartbreak that I can’t escape; a sinking ship I’ll never save. I’m lonely like a castaway.

The chorus displays the questions the male is asking himself – what exactly went wrong in this relationship? Was it something I did? Was it something I said? But the answers to those questions are unknown. To the most of his knowledge, he knows the relationship ended rather quickly and unexpectedly.

He compares his heartbreak and current state of being to that of a castaway (someone who’s been shipwrecked in an isolated place away from human interaction, otherwise known as being lost at sea).

You may think that he’s comparing his emotions to the feeling of drowning; he could be drowning in his own rapid and negative emotions, unable to save himself and unable to escape the pain/reality of it all.

All your screaming whispers slip right through my fingers, but these memories linger on. Eyes closed, all I see is good times disappearing, and I’m trying to hold on.

The verse tells us that the male is still trying to hold on and savour the memory of the female’s voice, but he feels it slowly start to slip away. Although, he can still recall the memories and moments that he shared with her.

But he feels if closes his eyes, the memories of the two of them will eventually slip away like the memory of her voice. He knows that eventually, all of his memories of them will disappear out of thin air, which is why he’s trying so hard to hold onto them while they’re still there.

Summary

Overall, the song displays many aspects of being an emotional rollercoaster or even a whirlwind of emotions (since the song itself is quite an emotional journey).

Castaway tells a story of how quickly the relationship of two young lovers rose, fell to its sudden death faster then it had come about, and the aftermath of the relationship.

This song not only has a much deeper meaning for which we just explored, but also a relatable concept that any young teenager who has experienced a relationship such as this one, can relate to.

What do you think the meaning of Castaway is? Let us know your thoughts by tweeting us @CelebMix and @CelebMix5SOS.