Hayley Williams’ five favourite Paramore songs
There have been only a handful of pop-punk stalwarts who have changed their style as much as Paramore. Although they may have stayed as pop-punk legends forever off the strength of Riot!, their need to take their music further brought internal tension and the best music the group would ever make. While the classics will always be a fixture at any Paramore gig, Hayley Williams has a creative emotional attachment to what the band have made since their peak.
When originally storming onto the scene, Paramore could have been mistaken for any other emo-adjacent band if not for Williams’s voice. Possessing the powerhouse range that doesn’t come along very often in rock and roll, Williams was hitting high notes usually reserved for people like Bruce Dickinson in typical pop-punk songs like ‘All We Know’.
Once the group started to get comfortable in their skin on Riot!, they began to come into their own in the songwriting department, creating soon-to-be anthems like ‘Misery Business’ and ‘That’s What You Get’. After a few conflicts within the lineup, though, Brand New Eyes brought a subtle switch in direction that no one saw coming.
With a more mature approach to songwriting, the Farro Brothers departed after their third record, reducing the band to a trio. Soldiering on with their self-titled fourth outing, Paramore knew they needed to shake things up, going for a pop-adjacent sound on the album with hits like ‘Still Into You’. As for the next phase of their career, Williams brought the band back to the pastel colours of the 1980s.
With Zac Farro coming back behind the drumkit, After Laughter became a late-career renaissance for the group, combining their usual blend of pop melodies with the most glittery sounds imaginable, from the squelchy synth patches to the prettiest tones to come out of Taylor York’s guitar. Although the band would switch things up further down the line, Williams still contests that a handful of her favourite songs have come from this record.
When talking about her favourite tracks, Williams singled out ‘Told You So’, ‘Hard Times’, ‘Pool’, and ‘Rose-Colored Boy’ from the record. Considering where the band was in their relationships, it would make sense why Williams would pick their most recent output.
Coming right after the massive storm of lineup changes, many of the songs on After Laughter serve as a reflection of what the band was going through at the time. Basing the album title on the thought that brings people back to Earth after smiling, Paramore crafted an album that feels like two sides of the same coin, documenting what it means to be said and on edge while putting a happy face on the situation instrumentally.
For the final track, Williams also picked out the live version of ‘I Caught Myself’, saying: “The guys sound dreamy, and I get to wail and flail to it.” Included on the Twilight soundtrack, Williams is in full force throughout most of this song, going for different high notes that would take a superhuman level of endurance to reproduce accurately live for any singer. Recording the studio version as the band was fading, it’s also sadly prophetic, with Williams using a relationship guise to paint a sad picture of what’s happening in front of her.
Regardless of her favourites at the time, Williams has continued to innovate with Paramore all down the line, taking the group into a post-punk direction with their latest album, This is Why. Even though they got their foot in the door of the pop-punk world, one of the cornerstones of Paramore’s sound comes from how unpredictable they can be.
Hayley Williams’ favourite Paramore songs:
- ‘Told You So’ – After Laughter
- ‘Hard Times’ – After Laughter
- ‘Pool’ – After Laughter
- ‘Rose-Colored Boy’ – After Laughter
- ‘I Caught Myself’ (live) – Twilight Soundtrack
