Boys Like Girls
photo: sry85 · cc by-sa 3.0 ↗Formed in Boston in 2005 by frontman Martin Johnson, Boys Like Girls rode arena-pop hooks and emo-pop sincerity to a platinum self-titled debut and the Taylor Swift duet "Two Is Better Than One." Their Wikipedia-documented influences list runs through the same early-2000s emo and pop-punk scene 5 Seconds of Summer grew up on: Jimmy Eat World, blink-182, Secondhand Serenade, Relient K, The Academy Is..., and Dashboard Confessional.
Dashboard Confessional is listed among Boys Like Girls' influences, and Chris Carrabba's confessional, acoustic-rooted emo gave the band a template for the raw, diary-entry lyricism underneath their bigger pop-rock production.
listen forDashboard Confessional's "Hands Down" and Boys Like Girls' "Thunder" both ride an insistent acoustic-guitar strum into a huge, cathartic full-band chorus about holding onto a relationship.
blink-182 is named directly among Boys Like Girls' documented influences; the band's fast, hook-first pop-punk energy and self-deprecating charm carry through into Boys Like Girls' own uptempo material.
listen forblink-182's driving, hooky "Dammit" and Boys Like Girls' breakout "The Great Escape" both build a whole song around one relentless, four-on-the-floor pop-punk pulse.
Jimmy Eat World tops Boys Like Girls' documented influences list — their platinum, hook-heavy emo-pop on Bleed American is the clearest commercial blueprint for Boys Like Girls' own radio-ready take on the genre.
listen forJimmy Eat World's "The Middle" and Boys Like Girls' "Love Drunk" share the same trick: a slightly nervy verse that resolves into a huge, universally singable pop-rock chorus.