Paramore:

Hayley, Taylor & Zac

Probably the second largest band to come out of Fueled by Ramen. Originally Hayley, Josh, Zack, Jeremy, Taylor up till 2009 and now just Hayley, Taylor & their new old addition Zac. They hail from the shores of Tennessee and are a beautiful pop-punk/pop-rock band with funk & gospel tendencies. I first got hooked on them in 2007 with Crushcrushcrush and just latched on and I just love them. Hayley and her crazy hair and voice, Taylor is cute with his curly hair and just the whole vibe of the band. They were also a band that took a hiatus when Zack & Josh left the band. Only to come back after two years bigger and stronger than ever with Paramore which I loved because it was all about growing up something I am going through right now. This post is also dedicated to my 10th anniversary of first falling in love with Paramore as well as the release of their fifth studio album After Laughter.

Crushcrushcrush came out October 2007. Ayisah was 15 and a Freshmen in high school and Hayley Williams became her first girl crush of all time and she would spend the next 3 1/2 years trying to copy her style cause yea I wanted to be Hayley.

The Early Years and Start of Paramore:

In 2002, 13-year-old Hayley Williams moved from Meridian, Mississippi to Franklin, Tennessee where she meet brothers Zac and Josh Farro at a meeting for home school kids. Shortly after arriving she started taking vocal lessons with Brett Manning. Hayley then participated in a funk band called The Factory with later Paramore bassist Jeremy Davis and their friend Kimee Read.

The other members of what would become Paramore had an initial hate of having Williams being the female vocalist but because they were good friends Hayley started to write for them. Williams said of the members when she first met them, “They were the first people I met who were as passionate about music as I was.”

In 2003 Hayley Williams had signed to Atlantic Records as a solo artist by Jason Flom. The original intent of signing her was to make her into a pop star but Hayley wanted to play alt music in a band. In an interview with HitQuarters the band’s A&R at Atlantic, Steve Robertson, said, “She wanted to make sure that we didn’t look at her as some straight to Top 40 pop princess. She wanted to make sure that she and her band got the chance to show what they can do as a rock band writing their own songs.” The label decided to go with her wishes and the next year Paramore was born.

Paramore officially become a band in 2004 with members Zac (drums) & Josh (lead guitar/backing vocals) Farro, Jeremy Davis (bass) and Hayley Williams (lead vocals). Later Hayley’s neighbor Jason Bynum joined the band playing rhythm guitar. When Jeremy first met Zac he was only 12 years old and admitted, “I had very, very, very, little faith in everyone in the band because of their age. I remember thinking, ‘This is not going to work because this kid is way too young,’ but that first day of practice was amazing. I knew we were on to something.” According to Hayley Williams, the name Paramore came from the maiden name of their former bass player’s moms. Once the group learned the meaning of the homophone “paramour” (“secret lover”), they decided to adopt the name, using the Paramore spelling.

For the sake of the image of the band Atlantic who was suppose to sign them originally, decided they should go with their smaller sub-label Fueled By Ramen which in my option was the best move ever and after a small performance at a warehouse were signed right away. The bands first song was “Conspiracy” which would end up on their debut album.

During the time they were touring the southeast driven by Hayley’s parents commenting that “Back then, I guess we were all thinking, after school we’ll go to the house and practice. It was what we loved to do for fun, and still do! I don’t think any of us really knew this would turn out to be what it’s become.”

All We Know is Falling Era: 

Paramore traveled to Orlando, Florida where their label Fueled By Ramen was located at the time but shortly after arriving Jeremy Davis decided to leave the band for personal reasons. The remaining four members started writing their debut album All We Know Is Falling which was based on their song All We Know. A lot of this album was based on Davis’s departure. The album artwork also reflected Paramore’s grief as Hayley Williams explains, “The couch on the cover of All We Know is Falling with no one there and the shadow walking away; it’s all about Jeremy leaving us and us feeling like there’s an empty space.”

Before Paramore went on to touring they hired touring bassist John Hembree to replace Davis. During the summer, Paramore was featured on the Shira Girl stage in 2005 Warped Tour. After the band asked Jeremy to come back to the band after five months he returned.

All We Know Is Falling was released on July 24, 2005 and released their single Pressure with a video by Shane Drake but the single didn’t chart. Their next single Emergency was released next and the video again reuniting the band with director Shane Drake and featuring Hunter Lamb (rhythm guitar), who replaced Jason Bynum in December 2005. The third single released was All We Know and this video was just a series of live videos. All We Know is Falling and the single Pressure were both certified Gold by the RIAA.

Favorite Songs off the Album:

Pressure

My Heart

Here We Go Again

Brighter

Emergency

Emergency:

Pressure:

In January 2006, the band took part in the Winter Go West tour where they played alongside Seattle bands Amber Pacific and The Lashes. In February, Hayley Williams was featured on “Keep Dreaming Upside Down” by October Fall. In spring of 2006, Paramore was an opening act on tours for both Bayside and The Rocket Summer. The band then covered Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” for the Sound of Superman soundtrack which was released on June 26, 2006 and I love this cover.

During the summer of 2006 Paramore played select parts of Warped Tour, primarily on the Volcom and Hurley Stages, and their first night on the Main Stage was at their hometown of Nashville. Paramore also released The Summer Tic EP which was sold exclusively during Warped Tour.

Paramore went on their first headlining tour in the US on August 2nd, 2006 to a sold out audience and with support from This Providence, Cute Is What We Aim For, and Hit the Lights with the final show in Nashville. That year they were voted “Best New Band”, and Hayley Williams was voted as No. 2 “Sexiest Female”, by readers of the British magazine Kerrang!. In 2007, Lamb left the band to get married and Paramore continued as a quartet. Paramore was then named by British magazine NME as one of ten bands to watch out for in their “New Noise 2007” feature. Paramore was featured in Kerrang! magazine once more, however, Hayley Williams believed the article was an untrue portrayal of the band, particularly because it focused on her as the main component. Afterwards, Williams addressed the issue in the band’s LiveJournal, with a post saying, “we could’ve done without a cover piece. sorry, if it offends anyone at Kerrang! but I don’t think there was one bit of truth in that article.” In April, Hayley Williams’ vocals were featured in “Then Came To Kill” by The Chariot. They headlined a tour in April through May 2007 with This Providence, The Almost, and Love Arcade. The Almost and Love Arcade were replaced by Quietdrive for the second half of the tour.

Riot! Era:

Before beginning to work on their follow-up album Jeremy Davis was kicked out of the band due to “his lack of work ethic and participation in things that Zac, Hayley and I didn’t agree with,” according to Josh Faro. Once the remaining three members came to an agreement he was let back in and Taylor York came into the band as their new guitarist who had been in a band with the Faro brothers before they met Hayley.

Riot! was released on June 12th, 2007 with producer David Bendeth and sold over 44,000 copies. The name Riot! had been chosen because it meant “a sudden outburst of uncontrolled emotion”, and it was a word that “summed it all up”.

The first single off this album was Misery Business released June 21st, 2007. According to Williams, “Misery Business” is “more honest than anything I’ve ever written, and the guys matched that emotion musically.” Hayley as she has grown up has denounced the song due to its lyrics of girl bashing which is not how the singer feels now.

That summer Paramore played their third Warped Tour and they posted journals of their experience on MTV.

On October 11th of 2007 the Crushcrushcrush music video debut and was my first introduction into the Paramore world.

Favorite Songs off the Album:

crushcrushcrush

That’s What You Get

Misery Business

Hayley Williams recorded guest vocals for the tracks “The Church Channel” and “Plea” for the Say Anything concept album In Defense of the Genre released on October 23, 2007. The group performed live, acoustic style in Boston on November 29, 2007 for FNX radio. On December 31, 2007, Paramore performed on the MTV New Year’s Eve program which ran from 11:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

Paramore was featured on the cover of Alt Press mag and voted Best Band of 2007 by the readers. They were also nominated for Best New Artist at the 50th Grammy’s in 2008 but lost to Amy Winehouse.

Early 2008 saw Paramore touring the United Kingdom, supporting their album Riot!, along with New Found Glory, Kids in Glass Houses and Conditions. In early February 2008, the band began a tour in Europe, however on February 21, 2008, the band announced that they had canceled six shows due to personal issues. Williams wrote on the band’s website that “the break will give that band a chance to get away and work out our personal issues'”. MTV.com reported that fans of Paramore were speculating about the future of the band and reported rumors of trouble had begun earlier in the month when Josh Farro expressed his anger against the media’s focus on Hayley Williams.

The band, however, returned to their hometown to record the music video for the fourth single “That’s What You Get”, which was then released on March 24, 2008.

The band toured with Jimmy Eat World in the United States in April and May 2008. The band headlined the Give It A Name festival in the United Kingdom on May 10 and May 11, 2008. Also the band performed on the In New Music We Trust Stage at Radio 1’s One Big Weekend in Mote Park, Kent on May 10, 2008. Paramore played their first Ireland show at the RDS in Dublin on June 2, 2008, followed by the 2008 Vans Warped Tour from July 1–6.

On November 4th, 2008, the first movie in the Twilight Saga Twilight came out and it was a terrible movie. The soundtrack on the other hand was amazing. Paramore had two songs for the movie I Caught Myself and Decode.

Brand New Eyes Era:

In January 2009, Josh Farro spoke about the band’s next studio album. Talking to Kerrang!, Farro said: “We’re gonna try to [record] it in Nashville. I think writing the album there will inspire us, and then if we record there too it’ll be a lot easier since we can sleep in our beds at night rather than in hotels like the other 300 days out of the year! We’re not sure who’s going to produce the record yet. We did “Decode” with [producer] Rob Cavallo, which was a good experience, but we’re looking around and don’t want to make any decisions until we have a lot of songs and we know what we’re looking for. We really enjoy our live sound and we want a producer who can really capture that.”

Paramore wrote and completed their 3rd studio album Brand New Eyes in early 2009. The first single from the album was “Ignorance” and was released July 7, 2009.

Paramore was the special guest with Bedouin Soundclash, The Sounds and Janelle Monáe at the No Doubt Summer Tour 2009, starting in May 2009 in outdoor amphitheaters and arenas across the US and Canada.

The official music video for “Ignorance” aired on all MTV platforms, networks, and websites on August 13, 2009.

Paramore, along with Paper Route and The Swellers, toured in support of Brand New Eyes in the fall of 2009. Some tour dates were postponed due to Hayley Williams becoming infected with laryngitis. “Brick By Boring Brick”, “The Only Exception”, “Careful” and “Playing God” were the album’s following singles with “Playing God” being my favorite song off this album next to “All I Wanted” & “Careful”.

Favorite Songs off the Album:

Playing God

All I Wanted

Careful

Decode

Ignorance

Brick By Boring Brick

The Only Exception

To promote the album, the band recorded a performance for MTV Unplugged.

Paramore then played a sold out 15-date European tour with You Me At Six, Paper Route and Now Now Every Children. Their stadium tour culminated at London’s Wembley Arena, to an audience of 12,500. The band performed in 2010 in the Australian Soundwave Festival along with bands such as Faith No More, Placebo, You Me at Six, All Time Low, Jimmy Eat World and Taking Back Sunday. Shortly before the tour, lead guitarist Josh Farro announced via the band’s LiveJournal that he was engaged and stayed behind to plan his wedding. Justin York, brother of Taylor York, filled in for him on the tour. The band, with Farro returned, embarked on a spring tour of the U.S. in late April. Paramore supported Green Day on selected dates of their Stadium tour, in Dublin and Paris.

In 2010 Paramore performed at the MTV VMAs in a mash-up of B.O.B’s song Airplanes featuring Hayley Williams and Paramore’s The Only Exception (with an opening of Nothin on You featuring Bruno Mars). The band headlined the 2010 Honda Civic Tour, which began on July 23 in Raleigh, NC and closed on September 19 in Anaheim, CA. After a short United Kingdom tour in November 2010, the band announced, on December 2, 2010, the official dates for a South American tour to take place during February and March 2011. The band was set to take a break after their South American Tour in 2011 to write for their fourth studio album.

Farro Brother’s Leave the Band:

On December 18, 2010 a message from Hayley, Jeremy, and Taylor was released through Paramore.net stating that Josh and Zac were leaving the band. The band also confirmed the scheduled South American tour would still happen. Josh Farro wrote a statement on the departure on his Blogger, claiming that the band was “a manufactured product of a major-label.” He accused Hayley Williams of being manipulated by her management, treating the rest of the group as her solo project, and claimed she was the only member of the band who was signed to Atlantic Records, while her band mates were simply “riding on the coattails of her dream”. On December 30, 2010, MTV News interviewed Williams, York and Davis in Franklin, Tennessee regarding their reactions to Farro’s response. The interview aired on MTV.com on January 7, 2011 as Paramore: The Last Word. While the band confirmed many of Farro’s statements, notably that Williams was indeed the only member of the band actually signed to Atlantic, they said they felt the statement was irrelevant, adding that they had addressed many of the claims made already throughout the course of their career.

http://www.mtv.com/news/1654829/paramore-split-gets-nasty-josh-farro-calls-former-band-a-manufactured-product/

Singles Club |||:

On January 10, 2011, in an interview with MTV, Hayley Williams said that despite the band losing two of its founding members, they would release new music in 2011, although they had not confirmed if it would be a full album for release, or just a small number of songs. The singer also admitted that Paramore’s style was likely to change with the new lineup, but clarified that the band would still retain their core signature sound. The band entered the studio upon returning from their South American tour to record a batch of songs that were released over the summer, prior to their fourth full-length album. One of the songs included “In the Mourning”, which Williams debuted on her Tumblr page. Paramore later confirmed they were entering a studio in Los Angeles with producer Rob Cavallo to record what would be the Singles Club.

On June 3, 2011, Paramore released the single “Monster”, featured on the Transformers: Dark of the Moon soundtrack, on YouTube. This is the first song that the band released without the Farro brothers.

On June 9, 2011, Hayley Williams announced that the band had started to write their fourth album, which they hoped to start recording at the end of the year, with an early 2012 release. On September 5, 2011, Hayley Williams confirmed the release of another new song, titled “Renegade”, which was recorded at the same time as “Monster.”

On October 11, 2011, Paramore announced that they would release a new song for each of the remaining months of 2011. The band set up the Singles Club on their website which gave fans the chance to purchase the singles when they were released, as they were released exclusively through the Singles Club and were therefore not sold elsewhere. A song called “Renegade”, premiered the day of the announcement, with “Hello Cold World” following on November 7 and “In the Mourning” on December 5.

Self–Titled Era:

On April 18, 2012, Williams announced that the producer for their fourth album was Justin Meldal-Johnsen. Former Lostprophets and current Angels & Airwaves and Nine Inch Nails drummer Ilan Rubin was confirmed to be the session drummer for the recording of the album. Paramore was officially released on April 5, 2013 and a #1 at US albums chart Billboard 200.

The first single from the album, titled “Now”, was released online on January 22, 2013, and the album’s second single, “Still Into You”, was released on March 14, 2013 achieving commercial success. The third single, “Daydreaming”, was released on December 2, 2013. The album’s fourth single, “Ain’t It Fun”, was released on February 4, 2014, eventually becoming the band’s highest charting song in the United States and a winner for Best Rock Song at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. On November 24, 2014, Paramore: Self-Titled Deluxe was released, which includes a remake of “Hate to See Your Heart Break,” a song originally on Paramore, featuring Joy Williams; this is the band’s first collaboration on a song. The band embarked on the “Writing the Future” tour with Copeland, they said in a blog post that “It feels right to bring the Self-Titled era to a close. We’ve had a very personal and hugely triumphant journey with this one. What wouldn’t feel right is saying goodbye to this time in the band’s career and not celebrating it with our fans in some special way.”

Favorite Songs off the Album:

Escape Route

Ain’t It Fun

+ All of Them (This is My Favorite Pmore Album to Date!)

On December 14, 2015, bassist Jeremy Davis left the band. In March 2016, Davis embroiled in a legal battle with Paramore, claiming to be eligible to enjoy the benefits of a business partnership with Hayley Williams as a co-owner of the band. Davis reached a settlement with the band in May 2017.

After Laughter Era:

On January 19, 2016, Williams announced over Twitter that the band was in the process of writing their fifth album. On June 8, 2016, the band posted a short video of themselves in a studio to their social media. This was preceded by a number of images which all included both former drummer Zac Farro and producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen, leading fans and various media outlets to speculate the return of Farro. On June 17, Farro was featured yet again in a picture uploaded to social media, this time behind a drum set, confirming that he would be recording drums for the album, though he later clarified that he was only recording drums for the album and that he had not rejoined the band as a full member. Despite this, on February 2, 2017, the band announced that Farro will return as the official drummer of the band.

On April 19, 2017, Paramore released their new single “Hard Times” & released their follow-up single “Told You So” a week later. Their new album, After Laughter, was released on May 12, 2017.

My After Laughter Review:

“After Laughter is about the look on people’s faces when they’re done laughing. If you watch somebody long enough, there’s always this look that comes across their face when they’re done smiling, and I always find it really fascinating to wonder what it is that brought them back to reality. So, that’s what After Laughter is.”- Hayley Williams

Over All Impression:

This album is amazing! The lyrics are super emo (go figure) and I definitely wanted to cry a few times both out of joy for a new album and the way Paramore albums always have a way of making me contemplate my own life. This is their most shinny, clean-cut & poppie album they ever put out but they don’t loose what makes them Paramore. The bass, drums from Zac Farro and guitars from Taylor York are very visible on the album and all though you can hear a lot of synths in many songs it still sounds like a band. Hayley’s vocals are everything on this album and are like a fine wine and only get better over time. They’re poppie when need to be but you can also hear some soul & more low-fi vocals other times. Over all this album is just a funky, fun, synth laced with great guitar and drum patterns and beautifully sung lyrics with passion.

Hard Times:

Favorite Lyric:

“Hard times
Gonna make you wonder why you even try
Hard times
Gonna take you down and laugh when you cry
These lives
And I still don’t know how I even survive
Hard times
Hard times
And I gotta get to rock bottom”

This is the poppest song the band has ever put out but also keeps that rock element in it as well. It has the greatest base groove ever and Taylor brings it with the guitar and Zac’s drum beats are very present. Of course Hayley’s vocals tie the whole song together with her and Taylor’s lyrics which are kind of dark yet go well with the upbeat nature of the song. We even get Taylor who is basically the savor of the band vocal’s in the background of the song. The lyrics are basically that we all go through hard times but can get through them and if you know the history you know they have gone through their fair share of hard times the past 7 years.

Rose-Colored Boy:

Favorite Lyric:

“Low-key, no pressure, just hang with me and my weather”

Super catchy! Loving Hayley’s voice on this track. The way she sings the chorus is amazing. Her vocals remind me of a R&B singer and the sisters in HAIM (who do sort of pop-rock style with some R&B vocals). The catchy cheerleader style backing vocals remind me of the ’80s song Micky as well as some Holler Back Girl by Gwen. The instrumentals on the track are very rock yet with pop flares. The song is basically about knowing someone who always sees the sunny side of everything and never has a rainy day. Hayley sings that just because you feel this way doesn’t mean I do and you should give me the space to feel down when I need to. This is a song I feel many relate to as we all have that person in our lives who are just cheery and joyful all the time and won’t let you just stay in your feelings once in a while.

Told You So:

Favorite Lyric:

“I know you like
When I admit that I was wrong and you were right
At least I try
To keep my cool when I’m thrown into a fire
And they go”

The second single from the album & I wasn’t vibing with it completely at first just do it not being as punchy as Hard Times but it definitely grew on me and fits so well on the album. Another strong vocal performance by Hayley and the instrumentation is great as well. Still very base heavy with other instruments too like the xylophone and of course the great drums and guitar. An upbeat but still a little bit darker beat wise then other songs off the album but still laced in ’80s magic. This song is about that feeling when everyone is saying you’re going to fail and then you do and those people were right and it feels like a train wreak is coming your way. That must have been how Hayley felt after Jeremy’s departure from the band as it probably made her wonder if all those things Josh said about the band and specifically her where coming true. 

Forgiveness:

Favorite Lyric:

“Don’t you go and get it twisted
Forgiving is not forgetting
Don’t you go and get it twisted
Forgiving is not forgetting
No, it’s not forgetting
No, I’ll never forget it, no”

A slower song with a little bit of their Nashville roots showing. Not as much bass is present and the focus is more on the drums, guitar and Hayley’s vocals. It’s a song about the hurt between two people were one wants the other to forgive them and move on and the other just can’t get over the hurt just yet. You just can’t forgive them for the things they have done to you. I feel this song might be about Jeremy or her dad who divorced her mom when she was little and she is now trying to have a better relationship with. This song is very relatable to me as I have a few people in my life right now were forgiveness is not an easy thing to do even though it seems like I should just forgive them for all that they have said and done to me in my life and move on, but I’m not sure I can just yet. I also know their might be a person who I wish would forgive me for something but I’m not sure they’re ready yet. 

Fake Happy:

Favorite Lyric:

“I know I said that I was doing good and that I’m happy now
I should’ve known that when things are going good that’s when I get knocked down”

This song starts off slow with an early version of the song recorded on an iPhone with just Taylor playing acoustic and Hayley singing what feel like somber lyrics. It then goes into a more upbeat version of the song starting with some groovy bass lines and synth cords. The drums and guitar then slowly creep in with the guitar being very promonite on the bridge of the song. This song is all about people who put on a fake smile to hide their pain, sadness and insecurities like with Hayley who has been dealing with anxiety and depression as of late. They mask their true feelings and try to be happy in front of people when inside they feel the opposite of that. I struggle with this everyday as I go through mild amounts of social anxiety and depression yet try to seem happy in front of my friends and family. It’s also a great social commentary on the pop music world and all the “fake happy” songs they put out & all the celebs living lives that look so glamours when at the end of the day it’s not like that.     

26:

Favorite Lyrics:

“And I’ve been chasing after dreamers in the clouds
After all wasn’t I the one who said
To keep your feet on the ground”

“Hold onto hope if you got it
Don’t let it go for nobody
And they say that dreaming is free
But I wouldn’t care what it cost me”

When I said earlier that some songs on the album made me want to start crying this was one of them. The lyrics are just too much and Hayley’s vocals really match with the airy and light vibes on the song. Being from Nashville you can definitely hear the country and folk vibes on this track. It’s a song about not giving up on hope and to go after your dreams no matter what anyone says. This features along with Taylor’s acoustic guitar skills (which is one of mine and Hayley’s favorite kinds of songs they make) some beautiful strings playing in the background tying the whole song together perfectly. If this song doesn’t put you in your feelings I don’t know what will.

Pool:

Favorite Lyric:

“I’m underwater
With no air in my lungs
My eyes are open
I’m done giving up
You are the wave
I could never tame
If I survive
I’ll dive back in”

The song starts off with this awesome wind chime sound and the sound of going back and forth on a xylophone. Then the drums, bass and guitar come in strong blending in with the wind chine so well. Hayley’s vocals become very strong on the chorus of this song. Her more R&B/soul filled vocals really shine here. This track has many water metaphors so if your into that then this is the song for you. It’s about redemption and about not giving up on your dreams. To dive right into the pool of life and take a chance on yourself which might be the best decision you’ve made for yourself or not but you won’t know unless you try. This song really describes the album as a whole as this is the bands second chance to show the naysayers that they can come back and do it again even with out past members.   

Grudges:

Favorite Lyric:

“Why did it take so long?
Why did it take so long?
Why did it take us so long to just let go?
Why did it take us so long to stop holding on?”

This song is ’80s pop if I’ve ever heard any from 2017. Synthy yet the guitar & drums are very much present. Think Duran Duran or any New Wave bands influence on this track. The bridge finds Hayley and Zac harmonizing with Zac’s vocals in the back and Hayley’s in the front. It’s another redemption track about the friendship between Zac and Hayley and how glad she is they are able to rekindle their friendship after 6 years apart. At first it was going to be a track about the split up between the band members and how grudges are still being held but once Zac rejoined the band they flipped it to being a more welcoming, I’ve missed you track.  

Caught In The Middle:

Favorite Lyric:

“No, I don’t need no help
I can sabotage me by myself
Don’t need no one else
I can sabotage me by myself”

Starts off with a great bass & drum groove with the guitar coming in later. One of the most catchy songs on the album. This track is about growing up and facing life. Thinking about the future is scary yet looking back is cringe worthy and you don’t wanna look too far ahead but you don’t wanna look back at what you’ve already done so you get caught in the middle. You feel as though if you don’t keep going with your life people will think you’re a quitter. I personally am going through a situation right now where I don’t want to disappoint people and not finish something I have started. It’s like I can’t do what I did in the past but the future scares me so I’m caught in the middle messing up my life and not taking control of it. I love Hayley’s scream in the second chorus when she says “caught in the middle”.       

Idle Worship:

Favorite Lyric:

“Oh, no, I ain’t your hero
You’re wasting all your faith on me
Oh, no, I know where this goes
Think it’s safe to say your savior doesn’t look a thing like me”

Starts off with a strong drum beat & guitar riff then leads into Hayley’s vocals. Very poppie with the la la la la la (s) and the ah ah (s). The lyrics are all about the way a person looks at another person as if they are perfect yet that person has flaws like everyone else. Hayley sings for that person to not worship her as she is not perfect and will probably let them down. I think this could also be interpreted about celebrities or religion and how we overly obsess over these figures and their not perfect by any means and we have to be ok when they let us down. 

No Friend:

Favorite Lyric: ???

This is the weirdest song Paramore has ever put out. It’s a great instrumental track and if they had just put it out as that it would have worked well. The drums, bass and guitar shine on this track and really show the skills of Zac, Taylor & their fill in bassist for the album. The thing that makes the song weird is the vocals from the lead singer of mewithoutYou Aaron Weiss which nobody can hear very well making it hard to make out the lyrics of the song. I love every song on this album but if I had to have a least favorite it would be this one just due to not being able to make out the lyrics and the fact that the song drags on for way too long.  

Tell Me How:

Favorite Lyric:

“You keep me up with your silence
Take me down with your quiet
Of all the weapons you fight with
Your silence is the most violent”

Starts off with a haunting little piano note and then goes into a full on piano set. On the second verse drum and guitar come in to steal the show and then really drive it home at the chorus. This song is so sad and makes me wanna cry at times. It reminds of a song that another favorite band of mine Twenty One Pilots could have written. As the last track on the album it doesn’t leave us with a bang but maybe that’s a good thing as it shows us that even though this record sounds sad yet hopeful that there is still a lot of emotion & hurt still being carried by the band. I love the bridge when Hayley does the echo with her voice. The lyrics basically are asking the question after making this body of work and dealing with the pain when you left how am I suppose to feel now and do I just stay in my feelings or let all of this go and move on. A beautiful closer to an even more beautiful album.

After Laughter Interviews:

https://www.iheart.com/news/interview-paramore-talks-hard-times-reveals-15760071/

Others After Laughter Reviews & Reactions:

Paramore Members:

Hayley Williams:

Williams wrote and recorded the song “Teenagers”, which was featured in the soundtrack for the feature film Jennifer’s Body. After the release of “Teenagers”, Williams stated that she had no plans to establish herself as a solo artist. In 2010, she appeared on the tracks “Airplanes” and “Airplanes, Part II” from alternative rapper B.o.B’s debut album, B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray. When it was released as a single, “Airplanes” peaked within the top ten in nineteen countries, including the number one position in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

EDM producer Zedd and Williams collaborated on the track “Stay the Night”, from his debut studio album, Clarity, which was released in 2013. Williams was honored with the “Trailblazer Award” in the 2014 Billboard’s Women in Music Awards for making a unique mark in music and paving the way for other artists. In 2015, Williams starred as the ‘Crimson Curse’ in Taylor Swift’s music video for her single, “Bad Blood”, alongside sixteen other celebrities. Along with band member and co-writer Taylor York, Williams was nominated for and won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song at the 2015 ceremony for the song Ain’t It Fun. In July 2015, Williams won the APMA for Best Vocalist.

In March 2013, Williams announced she was partnering with MAC Cosmetics for the release of a new makeup collection on April 9, 2013. The four-piece collection included a bright orange lipstick, an orange nail polish, a shimmery coral eye shadow and a beauty powder. Later that year Hayley appeared on the April cover of Nylon magazine to promote Paramore’s self-titled album.

In October of that year, Williams partnered with the Hard Rock Café’s PINKTOBER charity campaign to raise awareness and funding for breast cancer and its research.

In 2015, she launched the online beauty and music series “Kiss-Off” on Popular TV.

In 2016, after over four years of planning, Williams launched her own hair dye company, Good Dye Young. The colors offered by the company include an orange, Riot!; a pink, Ex-Girl; a blue, Blue Ruin; a yellow, Steal My Sunshine; and a red, Rock Lobster.

Since 2008, she has been in a relationship with New Found Glory’s lead guitarist Chad Gilbert. On December 31, 2014, Williams confirmed that she and Gilbert had become engaged, after being proposed to on Christmas Day. They were married on February 20, 2016.

Last year Hayley also blended her vocals to the song Bury It by electro pop-rock band CHVRCHES.

Taylor York:

York was born on December 17, 1989 and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. His father is Peter York, a music executive at Sparrow Records who is also a guitarist, and taught the instrument to both Taylor and his brother Justin.

York has stated that his favorite artists include mewithoutYou, Radiohead, Kent, Yann Tiersen, At the Drive-In, Failure, Björk, Kadawatha and Paper Route.

Zac Farro:

Farro was born in Voorhees Township, New Jersey.  Zac is the middle child of five siblings (Nate, Joshua, himself, Jonathan, and Isabelle) and is of Italian descent. Zac began playing drums at around the age of nine, and he was eleven years old when he played his first drum kit. Zac now resides in Nashville, TN.

Some of his favorite bands include: Radiohead, Talking Heads, The Beatles, Tame Impala, Santana, The National, Sigur Rós, Yann Tiersen and múm.

Two days after his departure from Paramore, Zac took part in a new project band called “Tunnel”, releasing a new song called “Hide Your Eyes”. The duo then renamed themselves “Half Noise” due to other bands being named “Tunnel”. The band featured Farro (drums, vocals) and Jason Clark (guitar, vocals).

Half Noise released its first single Mountain May 29, 2014. Farro also announced an album, Volcano Crowe, released on September 30, 2014.

Half Noise released its new single “Know The Feeling” on June 9, 2016 and later released a music video for the single June 23, 2016 directed by Aaron Joseph.

Their third studio album drops September 9th, 2017.

Zac was endorsed by Gretsch Drums, Pro-Mark sticks, Zildjian cymbals and Remo drum heads. He had two Gretsch USA Custom drum kits, one with a Black Marine Nitron Wrap and the other with a Vintage Champagne Sparkle Wrap, which was used for tours in Europe.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/podcasts/7469411/zac-farro-paramore-interview-halfnoise-alt-in-our-stars-podcast

Till Next Time…Paramore is (Still) A Band! |||