It was the craze of Rock Band and Guitar Hero that allowed me to play the music and learn the words of Paramore. No one could touch me in playing “Misery Business” and “Crushcrushcrush”. It was the emo pop-rock music of my generation. Paramore was at their height in my middle school and early high school years. 

Then they fell off. 

Their time was the 2000’s. I would later find out that they went through dramatic changes within the band, losing key members. These changes affected them to the point where Hayley Williams was thought to venture on her solo career. She could have but she didn’t. She remained true to her band and in 2017, the band delivered an impeccable album. 

After Laughter wasn’t overly hyped and was a bit unexpected. All listeners knew was that a project was in the works and that they started to appear on stations promoting. One of their most notable promotions was their rendition of Drake’s “Passionfruit.”

No one needed proof, but they showed that they were still very relevant.

Their return marked a sound change as well. Dropping After Laughter was the best decision they could have made.

Despite the playful, 80’s funk, reminiscent music, “Hard Times” tackles the realities in facing depression and anxiety. As the band plays, Hayley sings of wanting to hide from the world and a “rain cloud” hanging over her head. The price of fame cost the, at the time, the very young adults their normalcy. In “growing up” it is understandable that there would be a rift in all of their abilities to adapt to a life outside of fame. These and the universal tribulations people  handle, are the face of these “hard times.” The singer alludes to detachment and selfishness until she hits her “rock bottom.” It is only then that she will reach out to those around her for assistance. The song is a struggle with the uncertainty of life. It is through embracing this uncertainty and through the people she holds dear that she is able to get back up when she hits “the ground.”

The album continues on in “Rose-Colored Boy” written by Williams, Taylor York, and Zac Farro. Williams sings about conversations held with a “boy.” The “boy” is a representation of conversations with anyone who doesn’t see the bigger picture of the world. The song battles against optimism in people. She sings about the veil, or “glasses,” over the eyes that are blind to the turmoils of the world. With the “glasses off” it is clear to see that “hearts [are] still breaking, and wars [are still] raging on.” She highlights the importance of acknowledging reality because the alternate is “going blind.” She lived behind the “glasses” for so long that what is important to her is being herself. This “self” is empathetic to her surroundings, wishes everyone could be “rose-colored,” and would rather be “a half empty girl.” The song isn’t a bash on optimism and positive thinking, it is a reality check.

As the album feeds into “Told You So,” listeners can connect to something that transcends throughout wealth and social status; mistakes. This song is as much as an acceptance of fault as it is a cry against predators who hone in on weakness. The songs name sake is create from the commonly used phrase: “I hate to say I told you so.” Yet, the highlight is the internal response “They love to say they told me so.” This response is the realization that the former party already expected and hoped for a misstep. The fraudulent guise extends itself into the bridge of the song which recognizes that the same people who “throw [you] into the fire” are the same ones who “pull [you] out again.” It is internal battle to accept or deny the external battle in which people bring upon you. The first verse in which Williams states, “For all I know/ The best is over and the worst is yet to come” should be the focal point  of the song because there is recognition of uncertainty. And that is okay.

In a full flip, the song “Forgiveness” is the fourth track of the album. There is no hiding the content of the song in the name. The song is about the courage to forgive and the discipline in not forgiving. The song discusses the connection, the “invisible line,” that connects people together even if they cause each other pain. This attachment spurs inquiries within a reflective mind. Williams questions “How I thought I could love someone” and if forgiven “will [they] just be alright?” These are clear signs of accepting blame and promises for a previous norm. Running parallel are the realizations of the pain caused. There is an understanding of not being able to live up to expectations when she sings, “But it could take me all your life to learn to love.” The song is meant to convince oneself whether forgiving their counterpart is worth it or not. That is why the possibility remains with a simple: “yet.”

No matter how upbeat “Fake Happy” is, it is truly a call to a check-on-your-friends. Williams vulnerably sings of her facade in expressing joy and happiness. She expresses her satisfaction in making people “believe” that she is truly happy. The lead singer even touches on the perception of happiness just because she is famous or, simply, “smiling with [her] teeth.” It is the standout line “I bet everybody here is fake happy too” that reflects the irony of the album. In this one line, the fault in human perception is shown center stage. No one truly knows what anyone else is going through. The upbeat sound is a front. Paramore is still in the business of misery.

If there was a climax to the album, it would be found in “26.” There is no upbeat tune or pop-funk centric beat that accompanies the song. This is an internal struggle between being a “dreamer” and “reality.” In an interview with Zane Lowe, Williams explains that the song is her playing out the if-she-could conversation with her younger self. She focuses in on fight her way past her own cynicism and how it is her own mind that “really bring[s her] down.” It is the words the chorus that she emphasizes “Hold onto hope if you got it/ Don’t let it go for nobody/ And they say that dreaming is free/ But I wouldn’t care what it cost me.” In that, there is no need for an explanation. Remain the dreamer.

Don’t get it twisted, “Pool” is a love song. It is a love song that displays the negativities in existences relying on another person. The image of a pool is enticing as Williams is willing to dive “headfirst” into it. The love is intoxicating enough with one kiss she “forget[s] what happens in [her] head” and, even if it “breaks [her] heart,” she will keep diving in. On her exploring the love, she has found that she created fantasies of her partner but she is willing “dive right back [in].” It is one part dependency on her partner and one part desire to feel what she once felt in the relationship.

Unlike the previous records, “Grudges” is a celebration. This celebration lies with the reconciliation and return of drummer, Zac Farro. With his return, Williams voices that there was a feeling of meeting “like it is the first time.” At the time of Farro’s departure, there were rumors of divides in the band, creative and personal. The rumors pinned the falling out of the band members on Hayley Williams becoming a diva. The lead singer owns up to this by wondering aloud if her bandmate was “recounting all [her] faults.” Ultimately, there was a realization that “grudges” shouldn’t be held. Each of them noticed the individual “change” or growth within one another. With Farro back behind the sticks there is once again a sense of “us” as they embark on their new journey and “[they’re] better this way.”

The album continues with its upbeat tune but reverts back to the anxious filled content with “Caught In the Middle.” The song describes a feeling of fear in moving forward and “nostalgia” in looking back. There is also a sense of realization in self-destructive tendencies. The only one not adhering to the call of growing up is a conscious refusing an irreversible fact of life. One line in the pre-chorus embodies the possibilities with Williams singing, “A dream is good, if you don’t wear it out.” They haven’t so far.

“Idle Worship” tackles the rumors that had followed Williams for years about the songstress being a diva. More so, the singer sings about her inability to be anyones’ “superhuman.” Throughout the bands’ career they have accumulated a large fan base. With Williams as the front woman it is her voice that has touched so many people and has even transcended musical genres. Yet, she makes it clear that she is not perfect and shouldn’t be looked at as otherworldly. She humbly reminds listeners, “We all got problems, don’t we? We all need heroes, don’t we?” She has never been the image people created of her. She refuses any semblance of a “pedestal” and, simply, wishes for everyone to “like [themselves].” In enacting vulnerability, she feels the most illuminated. 

The switch up is wild in “No Friend.” It is the first songs released by the band that did not feature Hayley Williams as the lead vocalist. Instead, Aaron Weiss from the band MewithoutYou, lends his voice and penmanship to the song. The friend of the band penned an incredible account of Paramore’s history just by putting together lines from Paramore’s previously recorded music. It is difficult to keep up with the story over the music being played but intent listeners can pick-up lines they’ve heard over the past two decades on Paramore music. 

In final form, listeners are treated to “Tell Me How.” The song is a culmination of loss that Williams has experienced. Some would argue that the sense of loss stems from the band losing its original members over the years. Some would say that the loss being discussed is the separation between the singer’s husband. It could be both. The song never specifies but rather hones in on the feeling of loss. She describes this feeling as being one of suffocation and “fog.” In the midst of it all she is “tired.” Because in the end, “no one’s winning.”

This album was one that I didn’t know I needed until I heard it. I didn’t think I’d ever see them live in concert, but I did. 

Their sound is different. The content is deeper than some emo kids in a band that made it out of Nashville. There is precision in the notes. There is dedication to the words written. 

Just as I have, Paramore has grown up.