Why Don’t We Talk About Calum Hood’s Māori Heritage?

Shitty lighting? Sustaining the whiteness of pop-punk? Racism surrounding social media? A label actually doing its job and protecting its clients?? My theories run plentiful.

Consisting of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Luke Hemmings, lead guitarist Michael Clifford, bassist Calum Hood, and drummer Ashton Irwin, 5 Seconds of Summer was my first introduction to pop-punk. Yes, you read that correctly as it wasn’t Blink-182 (though Take Off Your Pants and Jacket would have an impact later) neither was it Green Day (who I also love). It was 5 Seconds of Summer, a band out of Australia, with members not too much older than I, who opened on tour for one of my favorite bands at the time, One Direction. Being the obsessive fanboy I was/ still am when I saw that a band called 5 Seconds of Summer was opening for 1D I looked on 5SOS’ Youtube page where I saw that they not only had a couple covers out but also a couple original songs as well. I remember not doing too much of a deep dive on them but immediately knowing that a blessing by the biggest boy band in the world at the time was no small feat.

“She Looks So Perfect”, “Amnesia”, “Heartbreak Girl”. Three songs you couldn’t escape the labyrinth that was teen pop culture in 2014. I remember flicking through the dozens of teen gossip magazines (that for the most part have now all gone extinct) and ogling over the spreads 5SOS did. Luke with the lip ring! Michael with the colored hair! Ashton with the bandanas! Calum with the emo haircut and the blonde streak! They were marketed to fans as the edgier 1D. You could take any of the 1D boys to meet mom and dad but the 5SOS boys? Never.

A year or so ago while doing some late night Googling (as one does when stoned) I found out that Calum was half Māori on his mom’s side. It one hand made things a little more clear as I always could tell based on perception that Calum wasn’t full white but it still surprised me nonetheless. Why wasn’t this talked about enough? Do I get my stan card revoked because of this? I’ve reflected a little more and one theory I have is that Calum’s heritage was put in the background (could be argued erased) intentionally during the beginning of the band as a marketing tool by the label.

The images below are a couple red carpet and radio promo pictures the band took in 2014:

These images are from the same year when their debut album and the “Don’t Stop” EP were released:

Now I’m not saying that Calum in these two covers being the same paleness as the other three boys is some nefarious thing done by the label, Capitol at the time. Honestly all four of them are pretty washed out so it could simply be a lighting issue. Sometimes photographers no matter how experienced they may be have problems lighting brown people *cough* Annie Leibovitz *cough*. Is that the explanation? Maybe it’s not this erasure by the label and instead just shitty lighting.

There’s something though that I can’t find an explanation for.

If you type “Calum Hood Māori” into Google you’ll be unable to find any article or radio interview where the journalist or interviewer asked or put any focus whatsoever on Calum’s Māori heritage. He did though in 2012 tweet a fan in Māori,

Translation: Hi/ Hope you’re well

How are you xx

Especially with this interaction happening in 2012 so early on in the band's career this shows me that Calum’s heritage isn’t at all something he himself disregards. So how come more journalists or interviewers haven’t asked Calum about his Māori heritage? It’s something if done sensitively and correctly can shine a light on whether he felt like his heritage was erased in any ways by the label or media. With pop-punk (as much as I love it) being a scene that’s incredibly white was this erasure of Calum’s heritage done to market 5SOS as something different (young and Australian) but also familiar (exclusively white)? As idiotic and racist that may sound, do we really expect better of an industry that has time and time again shown how problematic it can be?

Whether I’m overthinking all of this or not I’m quite surprised Calum’s Māori heritage isn’t discussed more by not only the media but the fandom itself. It’s a discussion on not only race in the pop-punk space but also how having started off as a young band with a heavy social media presence, how that in itself may have played a role in this erasure.

Today, Black and Brown influencers on TikTok and Youtube have spoken up about the constant racial inequalities they go through and how whiteness is favored online by not only advertisers but also the general public. Social media in 2013-2014 was in a lot of ways much different than the craziness that it is today and many people didn’t speak openly about the racial biases and inequalities that Black and Brown influencers went through online. Maybe Capitol knew this and knew that marketing four white boys in a pop-punk band on social media was going to be easier than a band consisting of three white boys and one with Māori heritage.

I don’t necessarily think Capitol is the only one to look at in this situation though as I think it’s easy to blame the faceless organization that is “the label”. It could also be said that the wider media has a hand in this as well. I’ve yet to mention how a similar thing was done to Zayn during the beginning of One Direction. From a fan’s perspective it felt like Zayn’s own brownness was being erased by 1D’s team. And when Zayn’s race wasn’t being disregarded he was being attacked relentlessly whether it be from Bill Maher comparing him to one of the Boston bombers or Azealia Banks going on an extremely racist Twitter tirade.

So maybe not speaking on Calum’s heritage wasn’t something nefarious done by their management or their label and instead a safety precaution done by to protect Calum from similar racist attacks? You have to remember when 5SOS debuted Calum was only 18. It makes sense in theory that everything and anything would be done to protect these young Australian boys from the intenseness of the industry.

But I don’t think we’ll have any answers to any of these questions about the perceived erasure of Calum’s heritage until someone actually asks him about it. Until then we could only theorize.

With love,

Dev