Take a break to come back better and stronger. With this underlying currency, it returned Paramore after almost five years away from the stage. The American power rock trio released last February That is why, an album that put them back in the spotlight of the industry and which, in their own words, was “the most terrifying”. Because?
Five years ago of his previous record work, After the Laughter (2017), with which they tour the following year. Then came a “necessary” rest, as the group explains.
On the occasion of this outing, the group gave some interviews in which they were able to reflect on this work, the downtime, the situations of discrimination, as well as the moment of pressure in which it arrives. Talk to NME, the band’s guitarist, Taylor York, acknowledged that “it’s the scariest record we’ve ever made”, and continued, “We always had this loser mentality, but when we took a break, more people have discovered our group. Streams are up. I feel that pressure more than ever.” The wait was what delayed their return the most: “There are a lot more people waiting than the last time we did this,” he said.
The group, which began more than twenty years ago in a much more conservative environment, has experienced a constant evolution towards more progressive postulates. And when journalist Érica Campbell asks her boss Hayley Williams For some of her pleas for a healthier and more inclusive rock scene, she is very clear: “I hope no young woman knows the shit I’ve been through”, said. “When we were teenagers, the way to go was to be tough all the time. Our whole scene treated women like shit and everything that was not masculine.
Sober ‘That’s why’
In September 2022, it arrived That is why, the cannon shot that would give its title to the album and that manages to reach a massive audience by the urgency of its chords and, above all, by the message it contains, that loop that generates the frustration of living under constant surveillance .
The group led by Hayley Williams, now accompanied by Zac Farro (drums) and Taylor York (guitars), presented a more elegant and refined album than its predecessors, it shows a brutal compositional maturity, and above all, a creativity typical of clear minds, after a “necessary” rest, as the group put it NME.
That is why It arrives with very elaborate melodies reminiscent of the best rock songs of the 90s and early 2000s, when pop rock exploded all over the world. On his record, there are glimpses of bands like Bloc Party, The Strokes and even Franz Ferdinand. There are also post punk delights, more acidic and resplendent tracks like It’s like that. In The newsthe group unleashes its rage against information overload and urges to turn off the news.
In his words there is love and also the daily problems of thirtysomethings, such as the passage of time as in To not have enough time, which Williams reflects on in that same interview: “Thinking about the future gives me anxiety and thinking about the past makes me sad.” This toxic anticipation and nostalgia is perhaps a thought shared by many of his generation. They close the disc with a hard head, a dark theme on pain and the end (that of things and that of people, that is to say death) and with some guitars and a very dirty reminiscent of Nirvana.