Hayley Williams: Petals for Armor | Flowers for Vases / Descansos All We Know Is Falling Paramore Album ReviewsĪll We Know Is Falling | Riot! | Brand New Eyes | Paramore | After Laughter As they’ve moved closer to pop/rock in the last decade, they’ve lured me into their orbit. Paramore never interested me much during their first decade – even though Williams is an excellent vocalist, I wasn’t interested in the emo and pop/punk zone that they operated in. Paramore, however, have announced plans for a sixth album, reportedly taking them back to their pop-punk roots.
Fans were concerned that Williams’ 2020 solo debut Petals for Armor is almost an anagram of “Last of Paramore”.
York became Williams’ new writing partner, and the success continued with 2017’s After Laughter. The Farro brothers left after 2009’s Brand New Eyes, and Paramore broadened their scope with 2013’s self-titled record. Bass player Jeremy Davis rejoined in time for 2007’s Riot! along with new guitarist Taylor York. Paramore’s members, Williams, Zac Farro, and guitarist Josh Farro were all teenagers when the band released 2005’s pop/punk/emo debut All We Know Is Falling. Williams had already signed a deal with Atlantic Records at the age of 14, but opted to play in a rock band rather than become “the next Madonna”. Drummer Zac Farro was in his early teens when they formed Paramore in 2004 with bassist Jeremy Davis. She met Josh and Zac Farro in a program for home-schooled students. Like ‘Ignorance’, 2007’s ‘Misery Business’ is a speeding lyrics train with a brilliant riff – but this one’s savage lines tell a story about a girl who steals a man for fun: “ It was never my intention to brag / To steal it all away from you now / But God, does it feel so good / Cause I got him where I want him now.” Williams has explained, “I’m not the same person I was when I wrote it,” and she’s even expressed embarrassment at its lyrical content, but it remains their signature track.Paramore lead singer Hayley Williams moved from Mississippi to Tennessee at the age of 13. The oldie that’s both a goodie and a baddie. “ Don’t go crying to your mama cos you’re on your own in the real world” they chant together, taking this dose of reality double Platinum in America. Paramore’s highest charting single to date also contains one of their funkiest guitar riffs – inspired by their sometime support band Dutch Uncles, they say – and a full-blown gospel choir. The result is a strangely joyous embrace of adversity: “ I still don’t know how I even survive h ard times,” Williams yells repeatedly, “ And I gotta get to rock bottom.” It’s a riot. The trio once more included drummer Zac Farro, after several years out, and perhaps to mirror their shifting lineup, they’d replaced gnarly guitar riffs with marimba, bongos and blooming shots of colour. When the first taste of fifth album ‘After Laughter’ arrived in April 2017, it was hard to believe this was Paramore. ‘Brick by Boring Brick’ĭefinitely the most fun digging holes with shovels has ever sounded, this stormer can mainly be summed up by its volume-heavy “ BA-DA-BA BA-DA BA-BA-DA“s, which you won’t forget in a hurry. This song is incorrigibly, gorgeously emo. So angsty! So three-chordy! On this track about – you guessed it – a crush, Williams snarls: “ If you wanna play it like a game, well, come on, come on, let’s play” It’s all encapsulated in the tiny gap between the whispered “ crush“es and the guttural “ 2, 3, 4” seconds later. Chorus? Even better, thanks to Hayley Williams’ inimitable delivery on “ just like“ – and then there’s the vicious mantra that gives the song its title: “ Ignorance is your new best friend.” Perhaps Williams herself put it best when she described the track for Alternative Press: “‘Ignorance'”, she said, “is like word-vomit.” 5. The furious lead single from the band’s 2009 album ‘Brand New Eyes’ is notable for its astounding lyrical velocity and ridiculously memorable constituent parts.