Hayley Williams explains why she “has to tear down Paramore”
Hayley Williams has opened up about Paramore, who are currently on a break, revealing why it wasn’t the right time for another Paramore record.
Speaking to the New York Times, Popcast, Williams ruminated on the current state of Paramore, asking aloud, “What are we? What even is Paramore? Paramore is not ever going away.”
She reiterated that taking a break is healthy for a group like Paramore, which has been around for over two decades. She shared, “If I woke up tomorrow and hated it, and was like, fuck Paramore: It’s not going away. But I love it. It’s my favourite band. And I think we need breaks.”
This decision doesn’t just fall on her shoulders: “I don’t get to say, like, ‘well this is exactly what we’re going to do next.’ Because, like I’ve been saying my whole career, Paramore’s a band. Like, I don’t get to decide. And it wasn’t time to make another Paramore record. But I had a lot of shit to say, so I’ve done what I’ve done for myself.”
She admitted, “I’m finally willing to let that happen, and it’s okay that it’s me by myself and not Paramore right now. Paramore will always have its time, because it’s just what we do. We cycle back in and out of it; resent it one minute, we want to wear matching clothes in the next minute.”
On her new solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Williams presents the song ‘True Believer’, which deconstructs the normative Western Christian outlook. She sings, “They pose in Christmas cards with guns as big as all their children / They say that Jesus is the way, but then they gave him a white face / So they don’t have to pray to someone they deem lesser than them.”
She picked up on this theme on the podcast, sharing, “While I was deconstructing my faith and my religious upbringing from around age 19 to forever, I really didn’t realise how much of Paramore for me was a religious experience, a God, a pillar in my life. You’ve got to deconstruct this system that you were a part of on multiple levels.”
As such, the ‘Misery Business’ singer revealed that “I gotta tear down Paramore the same way I had to tear down my evangelical upbringing. I have to do it for me to grow up, because I don’t want to be stuck in a traumatised 18-year-old’s headspace for the rest of my life.”
Far Out officially branded Williams’ new project “an incredible hour-long project overflowing with unique lyricism and boundless energy.” She has also hinted that there may be another track or two to be released before the project is fully completed.
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