TW: mentions of body dysmorphia

Ashton Irwin is the drummer of 5 seconds of summer. He suddenly announced that he was releasing a solo album and released a single. 

Overall, he has been one of the most vocal in the band about his mental health and his struggles with it. Throughout the many years of being in the band, he has always talked about how mental health affected him and wanted to let people know they aren’t alone in their struggles. He used to tweet a lot to let people know that they would always have someone and that they shouldn’t feel alone in this. 

He has always been the one in the band to shy away from singing, usually doing backup vocals. So him announcing that he would be releasing a solo album, you can imagine how much of a shock that would be to fans. He released his single “Skinny Skinny” on September 24, 2020. In general, the song is about body dysmorphia. Body dysmorphia is a mental illness that makes you obsessively focus on a “flaw” that you want to change. Many people suffer from it, and it is a terrible thing to have. His whole album is going to be focused on his mental health. 

His new album is coming out October 23rd, it’s called Super Bloom. He announced this very suddenly, he didn’t have any promotions as most people would. On his Instagram, he announced he would be having his own single album on September 23, 2020. Obviously, for most fans, they thought the band would be splitting up. In his post, he addressed those rumors and announced that they would not be breaking up and that 5sos allows him to freely create his own music without restraint. 

According to Daily Mail Australia, he has never expressed his own feelings about body image and mental health issues in a creative way like this. He usually has just kept these thoughts to himself and hasn’t told anyone outside of the band. He felt as if he had to get to a point of lyrical maturity in order to release this album and show his true feelings. He also has a music video released with his song Skinny Skinny. In the video, he is seen dancing around while singing. There are also warped mirrors around as if to show how body dysmorphia can make someone see themselves. 

The lyrics of this song also could be triggering to some, as one part says “I wanna eat, I wanna stay thin”. This points to an eating disorder and how that could be shown. Eating disorders are becoming more and more common, despite how harmful they are. He has been a celebrity that has been pretty open about his mental health, despite getting some backlash from it. This new album goes to a whole new point of that being shown, a new perspective on how they really affect people. Overall, I believe that this song and album will be helpful to many people who struggle with their own mental health and feel alone. It will let people know from a more personal perspective that they aren’t alone.