Paramore release first new single in five years, ‘This Is Why’
It’s been a full half-decade since American pop-punk pioneers Paramore released their most recent studio album, 2017’s After Laughter. Things were radio silent for a good long while until some vague announcements started popping up around the band’s social media pages. Now, we’re getting the full details.
This Is Why, the band’s sixth studio album, will be released in February 2023. Even though that’s five whole months away, Paramore are showing off the album’s title track today. A bubbly and bouncy track with traces of indie rock and indie pop, the track also has some angular guitar lines that aren’t that far away from modern-day post-punk. Is this a post-punk song? Absolutely not, but it’s Paramore’s post-punk, which is still something.
“‘This Is Why’ was the very last song we wrote for the album,” singer Hayley Williams explains in a press release. “To be honest, I was so tired of writing lyrics but Taylor convinced Zac and I both that we should work on this last idea. What came out of it was the title track for the whole album. It summarizes the plethora of ridiculous emotions, the rollercoaster of being alive in 2022, having survived even just the last three or four years.”
“You’d think after a global pandemic of fucking biblical proportions and the impending doom of a dying planet, that humans would have found it deep within themselves to be kinder or more empathetic or something,” Williams adds.
The ‘This Is Why’ video is directed by Turnstile lead vocalist Brendan Yates. “It was so rad working with Brendan,” Williams says. “I’ve known the Turnstile guys for a little while and was so psyched to have our worlds collide in this way. There’s a cool kinship between the way our bands do things… Hopefully we will get to play shows with them at some point.”
Williams shared a message on the band’s Dischord server (because we live in 2022) detailing what the band has been up to in the last half-decade and what kickstarted their determination to return. There’s obviously some pandemic-related stuff, but it also just sounds like Williams and Co. enjoyed having some time off.
You can check out the full message down below.
“Hello again, dear friends. It feels like it’s been a thousand lifetimes… Not only since we’ve put music out into the world but even longer since I’ve sat down with my computer to type out a note meant just for you to read.
“The last few years at home were so crucial. We’re all in our 30’s now. Almost every single time the guys and I are together — and that’s a lot — we find ourselves reminiscing on the last 2 decades of friendship as if we’re ancient. It may sound silly but none of us can actually believe that we’re still here and that somehow, people still seem to care. It’s a massive deal… something we don’t take lightly.
“From late 2018 until today, and for the first time in my adult life, I’ve been able to spend consecutive days, months, years, etc. at home. I kept weekly appointments (shouts to my many doctors), I cooked many meals (still wish it’d been more) in my own kitchen, and saw family (in person) any chance I could. The realization of just how luxurious these things are for anyone, anywhere, also became more apparent than ever. The lessons have been endless and they’ve been so different than any of the lessons I learned from living on the road, doing Paramore 24/7/365. This was a real break from whatever living I’d done before. Looking at our calendar for the next couple of years, I know that I would not be ready to give myself back to the band and the music and the life that I love so much had we not voluntarily given it up for a season.
“For all of that, on behalf of us all, I want to say thank you for being so loving and supportive of us as humans first. The music industry is not a human-first industry. It’s not even a music-first industry. Look, we don’t even live in a human-first society!!!!!!!!!!!!! So choosing to walk away for a spell for our own sanity was not an ill-considered concept.
“I must admit, coming out of our respective holes in the ground and back into the “real world” is terrifying. Watching and reading the news is like having the wind knocked out of you on a daily basis. The idea of getting out there and doing what we do at a time like this feels heavy and futile and necessary all at once. It also feels like the perfect time to take advantage of every opportunity we are given to leverage our platform and all of that for good causes. Whether those are literal causes or whether it’s just about showing ourselves and each other that music is still a good place to be. A show can still be a gathering and not simply a crowd. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.
“And I guess I’ll end this here.
“Tomorrow, we start again!— And yet, really, we’re just picking up where we left off. For so many reasons I don’t even have words for, I think we are about to experience our happiest, most fulfilling moments as Paramore. And when I say “WE”, I hope by now you know what I mean.
“You’ll hear from me again before long. Sending you love and my gratitude and hopes and solidarity and all that exists in between.”
Check out the video for ‘This Is Why’ down below. This Is Why is scheduled for a February 10th release.
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