Calum Hood Listening Party in Berlin - Insight into his debut album "ORDER chaos ORDER"

On Wednesday, June 4th, Calum Hood invited fans to a listening party of his newly released album "ORDER chaos ORDER" In Berlin. 

When entering the location, fans got to pick three cards with songs from the new album out of a bucket and also got the chance to write down questions for Calum, some of which he would get asked later on. Attendees could also get slushies, other drinks, and snacks from a candy station.

At the start of the event fans got to listen to four songs from the new album. First was the song “Sunsetter”, a dreamy feeling overcomes you when listening to it, wanting to be with someone forever, enjoying life, holding onto it and not wanting it to be over - "just keep this dream alive”. "Sweetdreams" was the second song. The third song of the night “I Wanted to Stay” talks about the longing feeling of missing a part of yourself, the love slipping away out of your hands, and not wanting to realise that it´s slipping away - “this can’t be happening”. “Dark Circles” was the fourth song fans got to hear.

Then Calum entered the room, and everyone focused their attention on him. The moderator started off by saying “hello” in German and then asked him how he feels being a solo artist for the first time. He described it as terrifying, mentioning the absence of his three 5 Seconds of Summer bandmates. He also called it challenging having to navigate though the process alone, albeit necessary. To the question on why his album is called “ORDER chaos ORDER”, he explained that it represents a cycle throughout his life, order and chaos coexisting, neither negative nor positive.

Then it was turns for the fans´ questions! “When did you start to prepare for the album first?”, he started about three years ago during Covid, with him having started to write the song “All My Affection” then. To the question of what song on the album the most difficult one to write was, he questioningly said “all of them?”. He mentioned that it took him a while to figure out. Regarding the process behind the album artwork - Calum sat in a water tank for two hours in isolation, having chosen to put himself through this. 

“What song surprised you the most, not while writing, but when you listened to it?” - he mentioned a song “Three Of Swords”, mentioned it’s the end song of the album and said he finds it more mature writing wise, “it feels like it’s going somewhere else”. “Could you ever see yourself living in Berlin?” - Calum jokingly said that whenever he comes to a city, he can see himself moving there. In reference to Berlin he said, “there’s a lot of cool people here”, “it seems liberating to be here as a young creative”, and ended up concluding he might live there at one point - “you never know”. “Who would be your ideal opener for tour?” - he answered that he’d love for his sister “Mali-Koa“ to be one, as she’s also an artist and mentioned “I’m a huge fan of female solo artists”.

“Why ORDER chaos ORDER, not CHAOS order CHAOS ?” - Calum said, “it sounded better and I liked the abbreviation more”, but then started to jokingly think out loud on that it could actually be called “CHAOS order CHAOS”. “For Don’t Forget You Love Me, did you come up with the lyrics first or with melody and sound first?” - “It was the melody actually, the melody of the chorus”, he then sang a short example of said melody. Calum also talked about how he had the lyrics for this in his mind for a while and “it became a mantra for me”. He also talked about how back when they started writing the song, it “fits perfectly” with all going on in his life, so they created the song around it.

Just before he went on and played two songs acoustically on guitar, Calum thanked the attendees for being at the event and mentioned that it means a lot to him. He did the songs “Don’t Forget You Love Me” and “Sunsetter”, and even mentioned for the latter being one of his favorites from the album.

People then got the chance to get in line for group photos with Calum. After the event ended fans could take photos in front of a cutout of his album cover, which was also the background for the earlier group shots.

One Fan mentioned that they really liked the event and that it was nice to have gotten a pre-listen to some of the album songs. They also noted that the colours of the decorations around the room matched the colours used for e.g. the album cover and pointed out having really liked Calum’s acoustic set. They actually said they had liked the acoustic versions so much, they’d love if those versions were released, since it fits him and his voice so well. Other fans said that they also really enjoyed it and they “found it cool to have been a part of this”. One of them pointed out that they liked his acoustic performance and that they would’ve loved if the whole album could’ve been played, then mentioned again how much they liked the event.

Overall we had a great time at Calum Hood’s listening party. The vibe was right, the people were cool, and the songs especially were unforgettable. Be sure to listen to Calum’s whole album "ORDER chaos ORDER", out now, here.

Photos by

Photo 1: Press

Photo 2: Sarah Eiseman

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