Hayley Williams of Paramorehad a chat to Artist Direct about the band’s latest release, what the song ‘Future’ means to her and if she could compare Paramore to a movie, which one it would be. Find out below!
What threads the new album together? Did you approach it with a distinct vision?
First of all, I think it’s the most complete thought we’ve ever released as a work of art or full album. In the beginning of the process, honestly, we were trying to write anything we could. Coming out of a tough time with our band, it was like, “Where do we go next?” We went forward with anything we fell in love with or felt fully connected to. We tried everything. We didn’t have the time or the luxury of being close-minded as a band anymore. We worked that way for a long time, even though it didn’t quite feel like we were working that way. We realized we needed to open our minds up and try new things. The thread to me was the fact it was just the three of us. That was the only thing. We looked at each song as its own album. We spent three or four days on each song alone. We’ve never really done that. We’ve always tracked different instruments for separate songs in one day. It was sort of patchwork-style. It wasn’t until the end of this album and the process of making it that we were like, “Dude, this sounds good. This sounds like us!” I could literally hear Jeremy in every song. I could hear his personality. I could hear my personality. I could hear Taylor’s. To me, that’s the thread. That’s why we called it Paramore. There’s really no other way to sum that up.
“Future” stands out.What does it mean to you lyrically?
It’s sort of a part of me that realizes moving forward is better than wallowing in the past. I tend to be a really nostalgic person. I could write books and a million albums on a feeling or something I went through at sixteen- or seventeen-years-old, but what would be the point? There’s a twenty-four-year-old person right here in me that is experiencing new life and new things that are probably more important than things I dealt with as a teenager. There are things I need to deal with now. There are things I’m happy celebrating now. It was important to the whole the record to be an ode to the future. I guess that song, long before we got ready to really write the record, shaped my thought process, where we were headed and where we needed to go. I was so tired of rehashing the past. We were doing so many interviews at the time about what was going on in the band and all of this black, negative stuff. I was just over it. So, it was a little song that got us through a lot.
If you were to compare your new album to a movie or a combination of movies, what would you compare it to?
Oh my God, that is such a good question! I love movies. It would probably take me all day to think of a good one. There are things about it that feel veryFerris Bueller’s Day Offbecause I feel like I’m a young person putting on a suit for the first time [Laughs]. It’s like I’m walking around pretending like I’ve got it all figured out. There are also parts of me I feel like were much more realistic about how little I knew about myself. I’m trying to think of what movie that would be. Man, that’s such a great question! It can’t just be one type of movie. There are so many different things on this record.
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