A Review of This Is Why by Paramore
Standout tracks include: “Running Out of Time,” “C’est Comme Ça,” “You First,” “Figure 8,” and “Liar.”
BIG PICTURE
This record confirms something I’ve believed about Paramore for years. That they have always been a reflection of their time, but also somehow the mirror by which the time sees itself. The trends, as well as the trendsetters.
While musically, this record is not dissimilar to After Laughter (their previous album, released almost six years ago), it does take on a deeper, moodier tone appropriate for evolved lyrics and personality. Although it bears little similarity to the efforts of their early masterpiece, Riot!, devotees of After Laughter would have no trouble identifying this as the next logical step—as well as a surfier one. Overall, it is much heavier in tone than the fun, throwback romp that stood six years ago as a polished crown on an already perfect discography. This record maintains their streak of never having made a bad album, or even a subpar one.
Taylor York’s guitar playing has finally and forever solidified its place as the immovable struts of Paramore’s sound; as irreplaceable to the outfit as Joey Santiago is to The Pixies. Both command their groups with such minimalist, yet powerfully melodic playing. His tone has taken on as unique a sound as frontwoman Hayley Williams’ voice, and I cannot imagine the band without either. York truly steals the parade, unseen, from beneath the float.
RAW EMOTION
The lyrics of This Is Why have the brutally vulnerable honesty, of which Williams has become notorious. Including lyrics (in “C’est Comme Ça”) that depict her conflict between wanting to get better, but thriving on the chaos which comes alongside mental health problems. In “Liar,” it’s hard not to feel the raw emotion of her falsetto cries as she proclaims:
Oh my love, I lied to you
But I never needed to
Oh my love, I lied to you
But you always knew the truth
Williams asks in “Running Out of Time” if she’s a prick, a question nestled among numerous confessions of her shortcomings, which are really only a frank assessment of the truncated time window in which we all conduct our lives.
WORLD EVENTS
I can’t help but feel the pent up rage and frustration from the last three years, which invariably affected every band’s ability to earn a living for seemingly no reason—at least not one that was ever given an answer rooted in reality. Citing COVID as the reason, Paramore cancelled a tour in April of 2020, and individual shows as recently as October of 2022.
Forced agoraphobia, once a distant daydream for the artist, became a very real captor for which we all suffered Stockholm syndrome. Eventually convincing ourselves that we wanted it, and This Is Why I don’t leave the house. Williams says she’s aged 100 years in one, and her only social life is a chiropractic appointment, which accurately sums up the way we’ve all aged over the ordeal that was 2020-2022. Historians will not have to argue about when the Millennials handed the proverbial torch over to Gen Z. Even those of us in our 20’s have come out of 2022 middle-aged.
In “The News,” Williams seems to make allusions to the war in Ukraine (“a war on the other side of the planet”), while applying it analogously to a similar pain in her head. Although such an analogy is appreciated by this author, I fear that any and all attention our culture gives to the conflict only emboldens our corrupt rulers to assist in the fight at the cost of innocent lives. But I can hardly fault Williams for using such an apt metaphor which was at the forefront of everyone’s minds this time last year.
IN CONCLUSION
Williams has done what she never fails to do with every record: put me in awe of her vocal and lyrical skill, show a purge of her most negative thoughts and emotions, and make me truly worry about her. But after such an output as this one, it would be hard to believe there was any negativity left in her. Maybe she feels better than ever after this one.