The collaboration that made Paramore’s Hayley Williams “pinch” herself
Paramore singer Hayley Williams is no stranger to collaboration, but it has to be the right prospect for her to accept the opportunity. In recent years, Williams has turned down a host of huge names and only works with the artists she genuinely adores.
In 2020, Williams explained why she turned down a collaboration with rapper Lil Uzi Vert, despite the high chances of the track being commercially successful. Williams told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe: “I remember, too, Uzi asking me to do some stuff with him, and I know that fans are going to be so pissed at me for saying this, but I literally wrote him back on Instagram, and I was like, ‘Buddy, I love you so much, but I don’t want to be that famous.’ Told him like we were getting ready to take a break.”
The Paramore singer continued: “I obviously had a lot of issues going on that no one really knew about, and I was like, ‘Bro, I just need to disappear. I don’t want to be that kind of a famous person.’ Because that is … He’s like a big artist, man. My stepbrother is obsessed with them. He was pissed when I told him the story.”
Williams’ argument for refusing to work with Lil Uzi Vert is refreshing and shows where her priorities lie. Rather than chase clout by aligning herself with popular stars, Williams puts her artistry first, which remains the only criterion she considers regarding collaboration.
In her younger days, Williams featured on the B.o.B. hit single, ‘Airplanes’, which topped the charts in the United Kingdom. She also appeared on an EDM track by Zedd, but neither song accurately represented her as a musician. While the pop route could have been more fruitful financially for Williams, it’s not the road for her.
Instead, she now only works with musicians on her wavelength, such as Julien Baker. The pair see the world through a similar lens, and after a chance encounter at a concert, Williams moved to collaborate with Baker. To her delight, Baker suggested that her Boygenius bandmates Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus also contribute to the creation.
Williams proudly told Stereogum: “Having them on one of my songs was such an honour to me. I pinched myself because I’m like, man, what did I do to deserve that level of… they’re just so talented and they track their harmonies live together and just… they just did the thing. They just did the Boygenius thing and it was so fucking good.”
Elaborating on how the collaboration was birthed, Williams said: “When I ran into her, probably six months later at our friend Becca Mancari’s show at the Ryman, I was like, ‘What are you doing? I haven’t seen you in so long. I really want you to come sing on the song that I wrote.’ And it’s about women appreciating our uniquenesses and our differences and fighting any forms of comparison and all that. I was like, ‘I would love another friend to be on it.’
“And she was like, ‘Oh my God, Lucy’s here too.’ And Lucy walks up like she appeared out of nowhere. And then she was like, ‘Yes, I want to do it,’ and ‘Phoebe comes in tomorrow’ and it was beautiful. It was really like kismet, you know, it was kind of really meant to be. I just am super honoured.”
Williams’ track ‘Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris’ is everything a collaboration should be. If Boygenius want to recruit a fourth member if they ever make a second album, they needn’t look any further than the Paramore vocalist, who shares a captivating chemistry with the trio. Listen to their joint creation below.
