This Is Why by Paramore: The Long Awaited Return
Paramore, the female-led rock band, has not released a full-length album since their polarizing, pop-centric 5th album release, After Laughter, in 2017. That is, until February 10th, 2023, Paramore returns with their 6th studio album, This Is Why, after a 5.5 year hiatus. The album is a 10 track, 36 minute alternative, post-punk, new wave record with creative direction by the band members, lead singer Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and drummer Zac Farro.
Why this release is a HUGE deal
Since the release of After Laughter, Paramore has been put under a critical lens as their preceding discography was a true representation of early 2000s punk rock. After Laughter was a drastic change from what their fans know and love, leaving much of their audience disappointed and mourning the band they once knew.
I have been a fan of Paramore’s since their 2013 self-titled album and familiarized myself with their preexisting and future discography from that point. After Laughter did not have the same starkness to me, as I became a fan after they were well-established and already on the road to evolving their sound. In fact, I LOVED After Laughter when it was released and find myself returning to it frequently even still. Though I agree that it is not comparable to their punk roots seen in their previous music, it still impressed me as an individual body of work.
All of this to say, Paramore’s attempted redemption record was released into the world this New Music Friday and essentially, I think it’s fantastic.
I know to the music critics of the world or early fans of Paramore that may sound absurd, why would the band fix a sound that wasn’t broken? Does a sound necessarily need to be broken for them to switch it up? When we look at bands like Catfish & The Bottlemen, (and I would like to preface that I love them too) they released a series of three albums over the course of 5 years with an arguably identical sound throughout. While those albums are all good, they don’t stand out. Paramore’s venture into a new variety of sound is the best thing they could have done, and why this album shines.
The Album Breakdown
The opening, title track of the album, This Is Why, was the first single of their album roll-out and frankly took a lot of growing on me, though it maintains itself as a catchy and digestible track, which is hardly a bad thing. The second track, The News, packs a familiar punch that we know well within Paramore’s music, with grittier vocals from Williams and a heavily instrumented chorus touching on the destructiveness of our news calling it “exploitative, performative, (and) informative,” along with acknowledging the difficulties of consistently consuming awful
information. Running Out Of Time and C’est Comme Ça both capture a similar sonic and lyrical pattern, as well as following Williams along her frustrations with lack of control and issues with change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSFa_wOZPXg&ab_channel=Paramore
Big Man, Little Dignity is where the album starts to switch its tune, carrying a more whimsical sound juxtaposed by her detailing of men who get away with anything on the grounds of no integrity and pitiful smoothness, wishing the pattern will change as it never does.
This somberness of sound is followed two tracks later by the final three tracks of the album, Liar, Crave, & Thick Skull, a trio of reflective devastation. Liar holds some of Williams’ most dreamy vocals and layering we’ve ever heard from them, as she describes the denial of falling in love, lying endlessly about her feelings, and realizing she never had to. In the bridge she relinquishes the shame and weakening she once felt around love and grapples with admitting it over soft guitar picking, collectively making an insanely beautiful song. Crave is a standout for me, capturing the feeling of nostalgia before the moment is even over, knowing how deeply it will linger. To crave the ability to do a moment over again as it’s in the midst of happening, yearning for every mundanity and romanticizing them all. A very simple song executed in a stunning way that conveys its theme even by the instrumentation alone. Thick Skull is deeply personal to Williams, where she delves into her fears and self-blame specifically pertaining to her insecurities in the band over the years. She referred to the song in an interview for The Line of Best Fit, saying “This being the last album of this era of our career as part of the same contract I signed as a teen, I just want to leave all those fears and the bullshit here. I’m not taking it with me any further.”
The two most universal standouts so far on the album are You First and Figure 8, which are both reminiscent of their preceding pop-punk roots. With complementing themes of hero vs. villain present in both songs, looming with the presence of spiraling and karma, these songs encapsulate the feeling of remembering you and everyone else are not all good and trying to decide if there’s a “worst.”
I think the reason these songs resonate so much is in part due to the sonic aspects, allowing long-term fans to revel in the rock vocals and heavy instruments they’ve always loved from Paramore. The other part of this resonance is likely from the years of everyone coming to terms with their unrelenting angst and how terrible things and people are ever present as well as unavoidable.
A Reflective Piece on Society & Self
Paramore detailed a list on their Instagram of all the feelings and sensations they anticipate the listener to have experienced during the band’s 5.5 year hiatus, those years being a very tumultuous time in our world, as I’m sure we’re all aware. These incredibly difficult feelings, as listed in the photo, are an intense representation of what has been universally tearing at us all, and reflects beautifully in the album.
This Is Why is an album that takes us on a sonically stunning soundscape, with Williams’ strong vocal abilities and a full band of instruments that we often neglect in our current state of mainstream music. Not only that, the album also thematically functions as a self-reflection of the artist and as a mirror for humanity as a collective, as well as the individual experience. Paramore has taken an ambitious stride in a new direction that I feel is what will carry their already well-earned success with them as they create meaningful music in the future.