The song Hayley Williams said “mattered so much” to her
There are more than a few great feature performances that Paramore singer Hayley Williams has turned in over the years. From the number two hit ‘Airplanes’ with B.o.B. to Zedd’s 2013 hit single ‘Stay the Night’, Williams has had plenty of notable success outside of her main band.
When Williams sat down with Stereogum to discuss her career, some of her notable feature credits came up. One of her most memorable came on her 2019 collaboration with American Football, ‘Uncomfortably Numb’. When asked if the pair-up was a dream come true, Williams answered in the affirmative.
“Holy shit. Yeah. I kind of told our manager when I got the direct message about it from one of the guys in the band,” Williams revealed. “I had been really obsessing over them, the record that they put out in 2017. It was kind of coming out around the time I was recognizing that I needed to get out of my marriage. It felt like they wrote it about me, even though it sounds so self-centered… but I just felt like it mattered so much to me and it became a really close companion.”
“I couldn’t help but talk about them all the time,” she added. “And I guess when they were writing this new record they were like, ‘Well we know you’re a big fan, but we also have the song that we think you’d be great for.’”
That LP would be 2019’s American Football, the third self-titled release by the legendary emo leaders. Featuring the band’s signature mix of punk, rock, folk, and pop, the album was a continuation of the band’s past two albums. For Williams, it felt completely natural.
“American Football just have such a great way,” Williams added. “They write so beautifully. There are parts that feel proggy and there are parts that feel just like heart-wrenching and simple. I told my manager that I don’t know how many more features I’m gonna… you know, I’m not sure if I’m where I was before, where I’m gonna ever want to do a feature with a band from the scene ever again.”
“Like we came from this world and I owe so much to it, but I feel like this is a great way that if I never did a feature with an emo band ever again, this is the one,” she concluded. “That this is the end all be all for me of emo and they are quintessential to me, the quintessential emo indie band.”
Check out ‘Uncomfortably Numb’ down below.
