Paramore's Masterpiece
Oh Paramore, how I've missed you
Paramore, a group that currently consists of Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York, just released its first song in five years, “This Is Why,” which is the lead single for an album of the same name that is coming out next year.
That song is great and you absolutely should listen to it, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.
By 2017, Paramore had already more than established itself as an incredible alternative/rock/punk group, one that has had clear influences on a variety of mainstream artists. Album after album, Paramore has always delivered, even through a pretty constant shift in band members.
At this point, the group was coming off the 2013 self-titled album that mostly maintained the exciting punk rock sound we had always known, with a few hits that veered a bit into pop like “Ain’t If Fun.”
But, like Taylor Swift did with “Red,” this was just a taste of what was to come. Paramore’s “1989,” so to speak, was “After Laughter,” a full dive into synth pop that is primarily filled with upbeat melodies and catchy vocals. It’s an album that sounds completely different than anything the group had really ever done, a major risk considering how long Paramore had been going to this point, and how much praise they’d been given.
And after releasing just one song in this style, one thing was clear: This sound absolutely works.
“Hard Times” released as the lead single on April 19. It is everything I said above: a synth pop/rock infusion with a very upbeat sound through and through. The lyrics, on the other hand, are deeply depressing, talking about failure, getting to rock bottom, nothing going right. It is an unbelievable mix that also perfectly encapsulates Paramore: turmoil overshadowed by what’s happening on the surface.
Williams is the only member of Paramore to have been here from the beginning. Zac Farro left with his brother, then returned for “After Laughter.” York joined the group in 2007. There’s no reason that a group with this much inconsistency behind the scenes should be one of the most consistent musical acts of the 21st century. And yet, here I am, raving about a five-year-old album that shifted how I think of music.
“Hard Times” was not an anomaly for the sound or energy of this album. Through 12 tracks and 44 minutes, Paramore plays banger after banger after banger, with just the occasional slow-down moment before bringing us right back up sonically. What are those bangers about?
Rose-Colored Boy: An absolute jam of a song about, in the band’s words, “about feeling pressured to look at the world with blind optimism when you actually feel very hopeless about the world and your part in it.”
Fake Happy: The epitome of the lead single, the album and why it’s all so perfect. It starts slow and real about, as expected, how we’re all faking happiness and struggling in reality. The song continues this theme throughout, but over an infectious groove and one of the best Hayley Williams performances of all-time. Idle Worship also falls in this category (is about how Williams is not what people think she is) and is equally well done.
Pool is a love song, sort of. It’s about a relationship you don’t want to give up, likely Williams more specifically talking about ex-husband Chad Gilbert. Doesn’t this chorus just warm your heart?
Side note: naming this “Pool” and not “Ocean” or “Lake” or whatever large mass of water is a subtle thing that I think is just excellent. It makes the meaning change when you consider Williams is (metaphorically) drowning in a (metaphorical) tiny body of water that she could easily leave at any moment.
There are so many examples of this throughout the record, each of which working on their own and each of which adding something to the cohesive whole that this album represents. Yes, I know Paramore is not the first and only artist to ever make sad lyrics sound happy. Phoebe Bridgers is the master of this when she wants to be (see: Motion Sickness, Kyoto), but Paramore, already taking risks with making an upbeat pop album, took another huge one by making their most dance-heavy album their saddest by a wide mile.
And it’s not just the bangers that work. Funny enough, “26,” the slowest song here, is one of the few filled with hope, with the chorus being Williams pleading with herself to keep hoping and dreaming no matter what’s happening now.
The final track, “Tell Me How,” is equally somber and sees Williams finally deciding if all this is worth her time or if she needs to let go and move on forever. The outro, with the lines “I know you see me dancing wildly in the fog of your memory,” is brilliant, and it ends with some positivity with Williams saying, after all song begging for someone to tell her how to feel, she can, indeed, make her own decision to believe in herself.
“After Laugher” is Paramore’s best album, and is one of my favorite albums of all-time. I’ll be honest here: I certainly enjoyed Paramore prior to this album release, but was a very casual enjoyer, loving singles I heard and not going much deeper. This album changed everything for me with how excellent it is both on the surface and the more you unravel it.
There are 11 perfect songs that I would not change a thing about. I may shorten “No Friend” a little, but I still enjoy it and appreciate what it went for.
If you haven’t listened to this album, please do. If you have listened and don’t remember it as fondly as I do, please give it another chance. Whatever acclaim this album has received is not enough.
Top 25
As we do here on Thursday Hoopla’s, time to completely change the subject. We’ll stay brief here, but here’s where my Top 25 currently sits.
1.) Georgia (-)
2.) Ohio State (-)
3.) Alabama (-)
4.) Michigan (-)
5.) Clemson (+2)
6.) Kentucky (+3)
7.) USC (+3)
8.) NC State (-)
9.) Tennessee (+3)
10.) Oklahoma State (+1)
11.) Washington (+5)
12.) Oregon (+1)
13.) BYU (+1)
14.) Baylor (+1)
15.) Penn State (NEW)
16.) Utah (+4)
17.) Minnesota (NEW)
18.) Kansas (+3)
19.) Ole Miss (NEW)
20.) Kansas State (NEW)
21.) Oklahoma (-16)
22.) Texas A&M (NEW)
23.) Arkansas (-17)
24.) Cincinnati (+1)
25.) Florida State (-1)
Just Missed: James Madison, Syracuse
Some thoughts:
The top stays uninteresting, but I’m one week away from No. 1 Ohio State is the Buckeyes and Georgia play as they did this past Saturday.
USC got a good, close win over Oregon State, who is a very good team. I’m still not fully sold on the Trojans but they’ve earned the spot so far.
Tennessee keeps getting good wins and jumps into the top 10 for it. Oklahoma State has proven nothing and I have the Cowboys on Fraud Watch.
Penn State being unranked last week was an error on my part. The Nittany Lions have been excellent so far.
Minnesota beat Michigan State into the earth on the road so the Gophers make a big debut. Kansas has played like a top 20 team at minimum and the AP voters should be ashamed in themselves that the Jayhawks aren’t ranked.
Ole Miss has been winning enough to get here, but the real test comes against Kentucky on Saturday. Should be a good one.
Kansas State and Texas A&M have the same records as the teams they just beat, so they get the spots right above them due to head-to-head, which should matter!
Cincy killed Indiana and deserves a small jump. I really wish I could sneak in Syracuse and James Madison for being undefeated with some solid victories, but they just miss the cut for now.
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