album review of ORDER chaos ORDER by Calum Hood

 it's clementine agaaaaaiiinn and i'm so excited to write this review!!

i just listened to ORDER chaos ORDER and i think i need to lie down for a bit. okay maybe not a bit. maybe forever.

this album feels like when you suddenly remember something you haven’t thought about in years and your chest just goes all warm and sore at the same time. it doesn’t feel like listening to music. it feels like being let into someone’s heart while they’re still figuring out how to hold it. and that someone is calum and i hate it.

it’s soft. it’s personal. it’s the kind of thing you listen to alone in your room when the sky is grey and the past memories of those who has parted and left what feels like handprints in wet cement, it just stays forever. calum’s voice sounds like he’s not even singing to the mic. he’s singing to me. like actually to me. and i don’t say that often. this feels very personal, too personal. i hope he brings out more of this part of him.

"Sunsetter" is the song that made me stare at my ceiling like i was in a coming-of-age film

so… i don’t even relate that much to the lyrics. like not directly. but the sound??? the melody is exactly what a sunset feels like imo. but actually the word 'senja' is more fitting! though it's literally sunset just in indonesian but still, sound more fitting, no? this song feels warm and golden and slow but also it's a moment in between the day and night. It reminds me of how feelings can be both heavy and gentle at the same time. it made me feel like i was watching my own life from a distance. like i was a character in a movie with no plot but lots of feelings.

what about the part that hits the hardest?

“what’s it gonna be? you and i forever.”

it’s so simple. but feels like calum is launching a punch right in my stomach i hate that man. 

and that bridge…

“have i lost it again? bending backwards again…”

yeah. me too calum. me too.

"streetwise" is if nostalgia was a person and it held your hand for 3 minutes

i know that this song is inspired by a documentary, but here's what i think.

i’m a sucker for nostalgia and this song feeds that side of me like a five-star meal. it’s about a relationship but it also weirdly feels like it’s about losing time. or losing versions of yourself.

“i miss the dog days…”

this line alone already makes me see yellow skies and blurry city lights. It’s like you're missing somethings?, but not for a person. it's for a time. a version of a time that no longer exists.

and the outro?? hello??

“will you jump off your concrete bridge and / will you dive into me sometime?”

this whole album is like… emotionally hydrated

what i mean is, it’s not dry. it’s not forced. it doesn’t pretend to be deep. it just is. it’s raw. it’s full. and i really love that.

if you only know calum from 5sos, this is something else. something calmer. more intimate. i genuinely feel like i'm figuring him out again like i did 9 years ago. he's such a private person when it comes to romantic relationship? so i think this album is so fresh coming from him! ily!!

final thoughts before i cry again

i think ORDER chaos ORDER is not meant for everyone. and that’s okay. i think it’s the kind of album that finds you when you’re ready. it found me when i needed something honest and real. it reminded me of the word 'pilu'. that silent kind of sadness that doesn’t scream. it just stays.

but also… there’s a little hope here. like when you cry and laugh at the same time. like when you’re still hurting, but you know you’ll be okay.

so yeah. terima kasih calum. for letting us in. for making something this fragile and this brave. it matters more than you probably know.

go give this album a listen! here's the link ORDER chaos ORDER or you could go to my page there's a spotify frame there :], trust me you will not regret it! i'll see you in my next post :D

-clementine, xx.