As Luke Hemmings puts it in the documentary: “You spend your whole life trying to get to the top of the mountain, and then you get there and you realize you’re just… cold. And lonely. And you have to figure out how to build a fire.”
Michael joined Luke at the railing, flipping a coin into the abyss of the city below. "It’s not flying," Michael muttered, a tired but sharp grin cutting through his exhaustion. "And it’s not exactly crashing either." 5 Seconds of Summer - The Feeling of Falling Up...
Consider the modern context:
While the studio version of "The Feeling of Falling Upwards" is a hidden gem, the song found a second life—arguably its definitive life—during the band’s live performances. As Luke Hemmings puts it in the documentary:
The title of the performance is a metaphor for the band's unpredictable and often dizzying rise to fame. During the show, drummer Ashton Irwin explained that the phrase describes the "leap of faith" required to pursue a career in music and the shared experience of growing up together with their fans. The event was strategically timed to coincide with the release of their fifth studio album, 5SOS5 , marking a transition from their pop-punk roots toward a more sophisticated, experimental sound. Performance Highlights & Reimagination "It’s not flying," Michael muttered, a tired but
If the lyrics describe a dizzying rise, the production by Michael Clifford and the team crafts the sensation of falling.
Ashton stepped out last, drying his hands on a towel, the adrenaline of the three-hour set still vibrating in his shoulders. He looked at his brothers—four guys who had started in a garage in Sydney and ended up as ghosts in the machinery of a global pop-rock machine. "It’s the feeling of falling up," Ashton said softly.