The Pop Corporation

Paramore have not had an easy ride. When they first appeared on the scene proper, they found themselves working just about as hard as a band can work in the middle of a number of Vans Warped tour where, unsurprisingly for an event made up of frat boys pretending to be skaters and a load of knuckleheaded Jackass types, they were met with astonishing sexism. Then, there was a people getting antsy about their Christian background, a hacked and leaked intimate photo, boring accusations of being industry plants, and singer Hayley Williams dispatching the bad eggs from the group and various hit-jobs in the media which proved to be wildly incorrect as those ejected revealed themselves to be appallingly homophobic and controlling.

Eventually, this saw Williams releasing a truly wonderful solo album and reconvening a rejigged Paramore who made the best music of their career, moving away from bonehead emo to sophisticated art-pop and day-glo FM ready rock. ‘After Laughter’ showed a band just as much into Tom Tom Club and burundi beat pop just as much as US college rock and punk.

While many of Williams & Paramore’s contemporaries fell by the wayside either in disgrace or by becoming obsolete, the group pressed forward and showed themselves to be thoughtful and progressive people at the same time – truly a band for the 2020’s (even if a smidge too earnest at times, which is better than the alternative, frankly).

If Williams’ ‘Petals For Armour’ LP was her dealing with some personal issues and wringing out some of the shit brought on by the murk of Paramore and former members, listeners were treated to an intimacy that the casual fan may not have been ready for. Williams was always a decent songwriter, but now? Something was happening. ‘After Laughter’ had shown she’d had big pop-chops and able to move and develop in an ever changing world of music, but rather than looking like grim opportunists, it showed breadth and variety.

They were slowly becoming everyone’s favourite band on the sly.

And so, to 2023 and we’re looking at an album where potentially, Paramore and Williams are going to finally get all the good stuff they’ve always deserved. They seem settled and the new material sounds great.

They kicked things off with ‘This Is Why’, a barnstormer of a pop-rock single which has echoes of Gang Of Four, Talking Heads and ESG – all with that radio-ready sparkle that makes Paramore so addictive. Angular guitars, hitting out at detractors, catharsis, good hooks and Williams’ always bang-on vocals.

In recent shows, ‘Misery Business’ has made it’s way back into the setlist – a giganto pop-punk hit that was dropped by Williams for being mildly problematic, but embraced by a generation of young fans and singers, and a clear inspiration for Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Good 4U’ smash. Williams co-signed Rodrigo, Billie Eilish got Williams out at a festival to do ‘Misery Business’ live – it was being reclaimed from what Williams saw as a shitty message.

But hey! The protagonists of songs can be imperfect, and not a true reflection of the person singing it, right? Anyone who gives a shiny-shit about Haley Williams knows full well she’s not advising anyone to slut shame anyone, so the song become the tale of a younger person lashing out and saying something she’ll later regret – that’s something we can all identify with.

To the new album, it’s little wonder that Williams has been in her own head about everything. Social media criticism is swift and blunt and hard to ignore… and now the news is aping that direct grifter attitude and everything feels like it’s constantly falling on our heads. As an artist, you can’t completely check out of all that, because the place to let people know what you’re up to happens to be a battleground.

Obviously, in 2023, you can’t just put a single out, then the album, then another single and tour it – we have to be teased. That’s fine, that the game. Amongst all the noise, what teasers do we have?

After the sensationally good ‘This Is Why’, they served up ‘The News’ with the zinger “So far from a front line – quite the opposite, I’m safe inside – but I worry and I give money and I feel useless behind this computer” and now, ‘C’est Comme Ça’, which leans more toward the art-rock side of their personalities than an all-out flood of pop. It’s fun stuff indeed.

It seems Williams is a bit bored of being a victim or a nihilist or whatever. She’s done that. She says in a statement: “I’m trying to get un-addicted to a survival narrative. The idea of imminent doom is less catastrophic to me than not knowing anything about the future or my part in it. The guys and I are all in much more stable places in our lives than ever before. And somehow that is harder for me to adjust to.”

‘This Is Why‘ is out February 10th and the group’s first since 2017. Then there’ll be a big-ass tour that will almost certainly sell-out everywhere.

After years of turmoil, graft and the kitchen sink, it finally finally FINALLY feels like Paramore are going to get the praise and prizes that are long overdue. And what’s better is that they might just be that little bit older and street-smart enough to enjoy it this time around. Phase two of Paramore is go, and reclaiming and easing up about ‘Misery Business’ is the icing on the cake.