So let’s peel back the discourse and reveal who Paramore actually are: one of the most versatile and accomplished bands in alternative music, and the one band from the 2000s mall-emo explosion to pull off the segue into pop music with grace and skill. Music critics often referred to the other musicians in Paramore as “her” band, overlooking the more collaborative aspects of their music, which has been a source of endless frustration for all the members. What she should be renowned for is being one of the most electrifying and charismatic frontpeople to ever set foot on a stage. According to Wikipedia, Hayley Williams is renowned for being able to sing in a “whistle register” (I don’t actually know anything about music, so that sounds like fucking nonsense to me). So, while it may be true that Paramore has indeed steadily improved with each record, it would be fallacious for anyone to argue that their early work is without merit just because it sprouted from a place and time within alternative music that’s often looked at with derision. Paramore wasn’t really given the critical attention they deserved until their 2013 self-titled album, when they began to shift from effervescent, post-hardcore-indebted power-pop to a more “mature” and boundary-pushing pop sound, therefore slotting neatly into the category of the Taylor Swifts of the world– ie, the place that women are supposed to occupy within contemporary pop music, and, moreover, the place where music critics decide it’s okay to engage with their music in an honest way and without condescension.
I’ve been hesitant to write about Paramore with this series, not because of their music (which I’ve always thought was great), but because the entire critical conversation surrounding the band has always seemed a bit toxic, perhaps because Hayley Williams was the only woman in a prominent position in the scene, or perhaps because too much attention was paid to their endless lineup changes, or perhaps because their early work was (in a misogynist and dismissive fashion) often inaccurately compared to Avril Lavigne and Kelly fucking Clarkson, of all people. Luckily, I’m proud to announce that aside from a brief deviation (the new Glitterer album is actually rather good, once you get past the fact that it’s Not Title Fight), I didn’t actually care this week, because Paramore has pretty much never written a bad song.
#PARAMORE SINGLES CLUB ALBUM SERIES#
Somehow, when I decided to start doing this series weekly, it didn’t occur to me that between obsessively doing close-listens of a band’s discography over and over, going to work, and my personal life (I officially turned the age where no one likes me last Wednesday), I might not have enough time to listen to music that isn’t, you know, decade-old Hot Topic soundtracks.
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