Lighter (Galantis, David Guetta and 5 Seconds of Summer song)

Speaking about the song, Christian Karlsson stated,

"'Lighter' is a special song because the creative momentum between myself, David and 5SOS aligned so well – we let the collaboration flow into a piece of music that feels emotional and timeless. Michael [Clifford] is such a music lover very much like me, and working closely with him on producing the live elements like strings, guitar and drums was very inspiring. And it's always great working with David, after the amazing response we had with 'Heartbreak Anthem' it's exciting to be putting out another big record together."^[3]

"Lighter" first came up when a writer of Karlsson's played him a raw recording of the track around two years ago. Though interested, Karlsson almost scrapped the track before finding David Guetta and 5 Seconds of Summer to help work on the song.^[1] According to guitarist Michael Clifford, the idea of the collaboration was brought up a year ago.^[1]

The track was written by Bloodshy, Henrik Jonback, David Saint Fleur, Aukoustics, David Guetta, Kyle Reynolds, David Brook, Benjamin Samama, Embody, Luke Hemmings, Michael Clifford, Calum Hood and Ashton Irwin,^[4] while production was handled by Karlsson, Guetta, Clifford,^[1] Jonback, Fleur, Aukoustics, Misha K and Embody.^[4]

"Lighter" was met with positive reviews from music critics. Shannon Garner of EUPHORIA stated, "'Lighter' is a foray into dance music [...] incorporating their distinct styles, the dreamy track is produced in a way that ascends you into another reality with its breezy, danceable beats and infectious sing-along choruses."^[5] Hannah Gadd of Redbrick remarked, "The lyrics are on the simpler side, something which is unusual from 5SOS' recent music but works with this genre. The message is clear; the song details the comfort in which time spent with a lover can bring and thus feeling 'lighter'."^[6]